Shortall helped found Texas Competes, a coalition of more than 1,350 Texas employers and chambers of commerce, committed to making the data-driven, economic case for LGBTQIA+ equality in the state. She is also the Director of America Competes, a national coalition within Freedom For All Americans, which advocates for these same rights on a national scale. As background for her talk, in the spring of 2017, the Texas State Legislative was in the midst of a highly contentious debate about whether transgender people should be restricted to using the bathroom designated by their birth gender.