Tag Archives: Equality Texas

PHOTOS: Lobby Day draws record crowd to Capitol

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Openly LGBT state Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso, addresses the crowd on the south steps of the state Capitol on Monday during Equality Texas Lobby Day. (Anna Waugh/Dallas Voice)

AUSTIN — Hundreds of LGBT Texans and allies from across the state told their personal stories of discrimination, love and hope for a better future to lawmakers Monday during Equality Texas Lobby Day.

With more than 540 registered attendants, it marked the biggest Lobby Day ever, Equality Texas Executive Director Chuck Smith said.

Smith started working with the statewide LGBT advocacy organization as a lobbyist in 2003. He shared his experience with the crowd Monday morning, explaining that he came out to former state Rep. Carter Casteel, who had been his eighth-grade history teacher. He told her that he and his partner of 17 years, Rick, had loved each other dearly until his death in 2001.

And he asked her not to vote for the state’s Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage between a man and a woman and passed later that year.

Smith said she acknowledged his love between him and his partner but told him she couldn’t vote against DOMA because she would lose her seat.

“The day changed my life because I learned that the people who serve this state are real people just like me,” he said, adding that more legislators need to hear stories to earn their support. “They just need to hear from enough of us to give them the strength to do the right thing for the people of Texas.”

Pansexual state Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso, thanked those who attended for standing behind her when she came out during her contested Democratic Primary last year and for encouraging her with their fight for LGBT rights.

Continue reading “PHOTOS: Lobby Day draws record crowd to Capitol” »

—  Anna Waugh

While LGBT Texans lobby in Austin, EQTX asks others to lobby virtually

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Today is Equality Texas Lobby Day, and our own Anna Waugh, who’s at the Capitol, will be filing her report soon. But for those who were unable to make it to Austin today, Equality Texas suggests participating in Virtual Lobby Day by sending lawmakers’ messages in support of pro-LGBT legislation:

This past Friday was the deadline for the filing of proposed legislation in the Texas House. The good news is Equality Texas has over two dozen pro-equality bills filed, including five first-time-ever bills in the Texas Senate.

The Equality Poll 2013, which was released last week by The Equality Texas Foundation, clearly shows that our vision of a state of equality for all Texans is, indeed, a mainstream value shared by the vast majority of Texans. Texas voters now support all eleven rights issues that pertain to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens.

Among the two dozen pieces of legislation are employment nondiscrimination, repeal of the marriage ban, removal of the unconstitutional sodomy law from the penal code and insurance nondiscrimination. Several bills relate specifically to the transgender community, including adding gender identity to the hate crime law and another relating to name change and vital statistics.

Messages can be sent to legislators through the Equality Texas website that will direct messages by zip code.

—  David Taffet

PHOTOS: Advocates march on Austin before Lobby Day

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LGBT advocates march in Downtown Austin to the state capitol during GetEQUAL TX's Texas March for LGBT Justice on March 10, 2013. (Anna Waugh/ Dallas Voise)

LGBT advocates march in Downtown Austin to the state Capitol during GetEQUAL TX’s Texas March for LGBT Justice on March 10, 2013. (Anna Waugh/ Dallas Voise)

AUSTIN — More than 300 LGBT advocates stormed the state capitol Sunday evening in preparation for today’s Equality Texas Lobby Day.

Participants at GetEQUAL TX’s pre-lobby day event, Texas March for LGBT Justice, walked hand-in-hand, holding signs and chanting, “What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Now!”

Several onlookers joined the mob as marchers made their way from Austin City Hall to the state Capitol a few blocks away.

GetEQUAL Dallas activate Cd Kirven encouraged the crowd to remain active in the fight for civil rights as she shouted from the Capitol’s steps.

“Don’t let this be the only time that you participate. Don’t let this be the only time lawmakers hear your voice,” she said. “Nothing is free. Justice has a price.”

Austin activist Sami-di Williams told the crowd that when she and her partner Amy began looking for other same-sex parents, she discovered that her daughter was friends with a girl who also had lesbian moms.

She then realized that her daughter hadn’t thought to tell her that her friend also had gay parents because it didn’t matter to her and she hopes one day it won’t matter in Texas either.

But until that day, being a gay parent in Texas still matters, she said.

“When Amy can’t sign documents for school, it matters. When she can’t take the kids to a doctor appointment without me, it matters,” she said. “When I’m not protected from discrimination whenever I volunteer at my kid’s school, it definitely matters. …When our family is looked at with disdain in public places, it matters.”

Daniel Williams, Equality Texas field organizer, spoke about the many monuments on the grounds of the Capitol that remind lawmakers what makes Texas great and what makes the state not so great.

But he stressed that there is no reminder of LGBT Texans. Not of the more than 19,000 same-sex couples raising children in the state or the 989 hate crime victims who suffered last year.

“You must be that monument. You must be the reminder, the daily sentinel to those Texas lives,” he said.

More photos from the march below.

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—  Anna Waugh

Poll: TX voters back marriage equality

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A growing number of Texas voters support the freedom to marry for gays and lesbians, according to new polls released today by Equality Texas and University of Texas/Texas Tribune.

The Equality Texas poll was similar to one commissioned by the organization in 2010 and asked about 11 key issues, including discrimination, domestic partner benefits and relationship recognition.

The biggest change was that 47.9 percent of voters support marriage equality compared to 47.5 percent who oppose it. In 2010, 42.7 percent of voters supported marriage equality.

The poll also found that 64.7 percent of voters support civil unions, compared to the 63.1 percent who favored it three years ago.

The poll was conducted by Glengariff Group, Inc. and surveyed 1,000 voters between Jan. 24-27. It has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

Other areas with a high increase in support were making medical decisions for a partner, inheriting possessions without a will, extending domestic partnership benefits to government and public university employees, and recognizing same-sex marriages from other states.

A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll also released today found that 37 percent believe gay and lesbian Texans should be able to marry, 28 percent answered they should have civil unions and 28 percent said they shouldn’t have either.

As for what they feel is the most important issue facing Texas, 0 percent answered gay marriage. Only 1 percent answered that gay marriage is the most important problem facing America today.

The results are close to a similar October 2012 poll that found 36 percent support marriage equality, 33 percent support civil unions and 25 percent don’t support either.

That poll questioned 1,200 respondents between Feb. 15-25, with a 3.3 percent margin or error.

A summary of the Equality Texas finding is below.

—  Anna Waugh

WATCH: Equality Texas legislative update

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This week’s installment of Equality Texas’ update on the state Legislature focuses on the removal of the “homosexual conduct” law.

State Rep. Jessica Farrar, D- Houston, filed a companion bill to state Sen. Jose Rodriguez’s bill, which would remove the language form the Texas Penal Code, which remains even after the statute was found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas.

Even a Republican strategist agreed this week that the bill needs to be removed after a lawsuit in El Paso in 2009 when police threatened to charge them under the law for kissing in public.

Watch it below.

Continue reading “WATCH: Equality Texas legislative update” »

—  Anna Waugh

Equality Texas among groups to file joint brief in marriage equality cases

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Equality Texas has joined more than two-dozen statewide organizations in filing a joint amicus brief in the two marriage equality cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The “Red State Brief” is a brief supported by the Utah Pride Center, Campaign for Southern Equality, Equality federation and 25 statewide advocacy groups. It calls for the court to uphold appellate court rulings that found the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 unconstitutional. It explains the history of anti-gay legislation in many states that degrade LGBT citizens and deny them freedoms.

“This brief calls for an end to the systemic denigration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans,” Equality Texas Executive Director Chuck Smith said. “The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to consider whether all Americans are entitled to equal treatment under the law regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The Court must answer this question with a resounding, ‘Yes, ALL Americans must be treated equally.’”

Read the brief here.

—  Anna Waugh

Rep. Jessica Farrar files bill to remove sodomy law from Texas Penal Code

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Rep. Jessica Farrar

State Rep. Jessica Farrar

Houston Democrat Jessica Farrar has filed HB 1701 to remove Texas’ “homosexual conduct” law from the Texas Penal Code.

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court finding the law unconstitutional in the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, the law remains on the books as a misdemeanor offense, even though it is not enforceable.

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who has filed the bill every session since the law was found unconstitutional, said he planned to file the legislation again this year.

State Sen. Jose Rodriquez, D-El Paso, filed the companion bill, SB 538, earlier this month. It has been assigned to the State Affairs Committee.

“There is absolutely no justification for this antiquated and unconstitutional provision to remain on the books,” Equality Texas Executive Director Chuck Smith said. “It is past time for this relic of the past to be repealed from the Texas Penal Code.”

Read the full release below.

Continue reading “Rep. Jessica Farrar files bill to remove sodomy law from Texas Penal Code” »

—  Anna Waugh

Racist, anti-gay bill would allow college student groups to decide membership

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State Rep. Matt Krause

Conservative freshman state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, has filed a bill that discriminates against people based on race, gender and sexual orientation.

HB 360 would deny state funding to colleges and universities, including private institutions, that require a “student organization, including a religious student organization, to allow any student enrolled at the institution to participate in the organization, regardless of the student’s beliefs or status, including race, gender, and sexual orientation.”

The bill states that colleges requiring a religious organization to accept any member regardless of “status or beliefs” violates the First Amendment, “including the rights of free exercise of religion and of freedom of association.”

When asked what the bill’s purpose was, Elliott Griffin, Krause’s chief of staff, said the bill was currently being redrafted to be more narrow. He said he would discuss it more after the language was final.

Krause is perhaps best known in the LGBT community as the Liberty Counsel attorney who defended Fort Worth student Dakota Ary after he was suspended for making anti-gay remarks in class.

Equality Texas Executive Director Chuck Smith said the legislation could possibly apply to a faith-based organization at a private university that wants to limit membership to straight white men. He said the bill is so offensive it likely won’t go anywhere.

“It’s pretty much offensive across the board,” Smith said. “I think that piece of legislation is dead on arrival. It’s an equal opportunity offender.”

This week’s Equality Texas’ legislative update focuses on the other anti-gay bill filed this session by Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster. His bill would penalize school districts who offer domestic partner benefits to its employees.

Watch the video below.

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—  Anna Waugh

Warren Chisum: ‘I don’t think Texas has changed their mind’ on gay marriage

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Warren Chisum, who authored Texas’ 2005 marriage amendment that prohibits same-sex marriage, still thinks voters support the measure.

Despite increased support for same-sex relationship recognition across the country and in Texas, conservative state leaders believe voters still agree with the state’s constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.

Five pieces of legislation have recently been filed by state lawmakers to repeal the state’s marriage amendment and to allow marriage equality or civil unions if the amendment is repealed.

But former state Rep. Warren Chisum, who authored the amendment, still believes that Texas voters support it.

“I know there’s a big push, seems like, around the United States, but you know, I don’t think Texas has changed their mind,” Chisum told the San Antonio Express-News. “We’ll be the oddball of all of them, I guess. If everybody else in the country switches, I still think the view of Texas is a little more conservative than the rest of the country.”

A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry’s also said he agrees with voters who passed the amendment in 2005 and the definition of marriage in Texas should stay between a woman and a man.

State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, filed a bill Thursday to bring marriage equality to Texas and mandate the recognition of same-sex marriage performed in other states. The legislation would go into effect only if legislation to repeal the marriage amendment were first successful. The repeal legislation would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers and a majority of support from voters in November.

While lawmakers and LGBT advocates have admitted the process to repeal the amendment would be a challenge, nine lawmakers signed on as co-authors of Burnam’s bill yesterday — Reps. Mary Gonzalez, Ana Hernandez Luna, Donna Howard, Eddie Lucio III, Poncho Nevárez, Mark Strama, Chris Turner, Armando Walle and Gene Wu.

Burnam’s office said the bill was sent out to the Democratic Caucus last night, so more lawmakers are expected to sign on as co-author.

Equality Texas’ field organizer Daniel Williams released a special Valentine’s Day issue of the organization’s weekly legislative update, which highlights the need for five pieces of recently filed legislation for marriage equality, as well as a Friday edition. Equality Texas is calling on supporters of the legislation to contact their representatives to encourage them to sign on as co-author and support the bill.

Watch both legislative updates below.

Continue reading “Warren Chisum: ‘I don’t think Texas has changed their mind’ on gay marriage” »

—  Anna Waugh

Lon Burnam files marriage equality bill as Valentine’s Day gift to LGBT Texans

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State Rep. Lon Burnam

State Rep. Lon Burnam

As marriage equality supporters prepare for marriage counter protests today, State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, gave the LGBT community a Valentine’s Day gift in the form of HB 1300.

The bill filed this morning would remove provisions in the Texas Family Code from 2003 that deny same-sex couples the ability to marry in the state. It would also allow Texas to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

“Marriage has been the greatest and most rewarding experience of my life,” Burnam said in a statement. “Continuing to deny all Texans the freedom to marry robs them of that experience and is detrimental to their families. Texans want a state where anyone can work hard and provide for their families. Our Texas values mandate defending the right of all Texans to have their rights and responsibilities as couples recognized by the state.”

This is the fifth relationship recognition bill filed in two weeks in the Texas Legislature. Reps. Garnet, D-Houston, and Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, filed joint resolutions to repeal the state’s anti-gay marriage amendment last week, as did state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, marking the first time the repeal legislation had a Senate companion bill. And earlier this week, state Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, D-McAllen, filed legislation to create civil unions for gay couples.

The marriage amendment repeal legislation would need to receive a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to be placed on the ballot, as well as support from a majority of voters in November, in order for Hinojosa or Burnam’s bill to go into effect.

Hinojosa has already received harsh criticism from both opponents of marriage equality and members of the LGBT community who want full marriage equality, not civil unions. Equality Texas’ field organizer Daniel Williams wrote about the threats and hateful comments the senator has received since filing the legislation Monday, adding that while he disagrees with him, he still supports his efforts to move Texas toward equality.

“I know that Sen. Hinojosa filed SB 480 because he is a good, kind man who sincerely wants Texas to be a state with fairness, freedom and equality for all people,” Williams wrote. “I respectfully disagree with the Senator that civil unions are the best avenue for achieving equality (let me rephrase that: I STRONGLY disagree with the Senator that civil unions are the best avenue for achieving equality), but that disagreement doesn’t mean that he’s evil or stupid… it just means we disagree.”

Watch Burnam’s video announcement and read Equality Texas’ full release about the bill below.

Continue reading “Lon Burnam files marriage equality bill as Valentine’s Day gift to LGBT Texans” »

—  Anna Waugh