Tag Archives: Texas Legislature

Anti-bill would cut funding for TX school districts that offer DP benefits

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Springer.Drew

Rep. Drew Springer posted the above flier on his Facebook promoting his bill to cut funding for school districts that offer benefits to domestic partners.

 

A Republican state representative from Cooke County wants to cut funding for school districts in Texas that offer benefits to the domestic partners of employees.

Last year, the Pflugerville school district became the first in the state to offer DP benefits, extending them to both gay and straight domestic partners.

Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, on Wednesday filed House Bill 1568, which would reduce a school district’s healthcare funding by 7.5 percent if they offer DP benefits to anyone other than an employee or a dependent of an employee.

“Our tax-dollars are for educating kids, not for enacting policies that attempt to get the state to recognize homosexual relationships,” Springer said in a release. “To think Pflugerville has sued the state for more funding, while at the same time bankrolling a lifestyle most Texans do not agree with is quite disturbing to me.”

Jonathan Saenz, president of the anti-gay group Texas Values, said: “This bill is a clear message to every Texas school district, if they mess with the Texas Constitution, it will cost them, dearly.”

Springer’s release says those who have questions about the bill should call him at 512-463-0526 or email him at Drew.Springer@house.state.tx.us for more information. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Read Springer’s full press release below.

Continue reading “Anti-bill would cut funding for TX school districts that offer DP benefits” »

—  John Wright

State Sen. Chuy Hinojosa files bill to legalize civil unions in Texas

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Sen. Chuy Hinojosa

State Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, D-McAllen, has filed a bill to legalize civil unions in Texas if the state’s 2005 constitutional amendment prohibiting both same-sex marriage and civil unions is first repealed.

Hinojosa’s SB 480 would take effect in 2014, but only if the 2005 amendment is overturned under resolutions filed last week by Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, and Reps. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, and Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. To pass, those resolutions would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to be placed on the ballot, then support from a majority of voters in November.

Hinojosa’s bill would repeal a portion of Texas’ 2003 Defense of Marriage Act (not to be confused with the federal version), which is part of the Family Code and states that Texas and its political subdivisions are prohibited from recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions from here or elsewhere. The 2003 DOMA was passed in response to the legalization of civil unions in places like Vermont, as well as a Beaumont couple’s attempt to obtain a divorce from their civil union in Texas.

According to a press release from Equality Texas (the bill text was not yet available on the Legislature’s site), Hinojosa’s bill would remove the prohibition on civil unions and provide for the establishment of civil unions for same-gender couples, granting them “the same rights, benefits, protections, and responsibilities under the law as are granted to spouses in a marriage.”

Executive Director Chuck Smith said while Equality Texas supports marriage equality, civil unions would be a step in the right direction.

“We believe that every Texas family should be able to take care of those they love. Today’s action by Senator Hinojosa is a landmark first step in the process of dismantling Texas’ discriminatory ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ and charting us on a path toward full equality,” Smith said. “Equality Texas supports full equality and the freedom to marry. Our work for equal recognition of all Texas families will not be complete until the discriminatory Texas Marriage Amendment is repealed from the State Constitution and DOMA is fully repealed from the State Family Code, thus allowing committed same-gender couples the freedom to marry. Until then, this legislation would provide committed couples with some of the important protections they need in order to take care of their families.”

Read Equality Texas’ full press release below.

Continue reading “State Sen. Chuy Hinojosa files bill to legalize civil unions in Texas” »

—  John Wright

WATCH: Why is Texas’ ‘homosexual conduct’ law still on the books?

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I went on WFAA-TV’s Inside Texas Politics this week to talk about Texas’ “homosexual conduct” law, which remains on the books despite being declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court 10 years ago. Watch my commentary at the 8:30 mark in the video below.

Continue reading “WATCH: Why is Texas’ ‘homosexual conduct’ law still on the books?” »

—  John Wright

Texas media outlets highlight problem of anti-LGBT workplace discrimination

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Trans woman Lisa Scheps tells her story of anti-LGBT job discrimination to Austin’s Fox 7. Watch the full report below.

For the first time I can recall, non-LGBT media outlets in Texas are reporting on the fact that it’s perfectly legal for employers here — and in about 30 other states for that matter — to fire someone just for being LGBT. Which is critically important because, as Equality Texas Executive Director Chuck Smith tells Austin’s Fox 7, 80 percent of the public wrongly believes that LGBT people are already protected against employment discrimination. Again, just to be clear, we’re not. Except in Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth — which have city ordinances — you can legally be fired in Texas just for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Coincidentally, Fox 7′s story highlighting transgender woman Lisa Scheps’ story of workplace discrimination aired on the same day that Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, filed SB 237, which would ban anti-LGBT employment discrimination statewide. Equality Texas’ Daniel Williams says it’s the first time a version of the bill has been filed in the Senate, where one Republican at least, Dallas Sen. John Carona, told Dallas Voice recently that he would vote for it. The House version was again filed this year by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, who’s also interviewed in the Fox 7 story. Even the Dallas Observer posted something about Van de Putte’s bill. The Observer says the bill’s chances of passage in the Republican-dominated Legislature are “almost zilch,” and that’s probably true, but just getting the media to report on it is progress.

Watch Fox 7′s report below.

Continue reading “Texas media outlets highlight problem of anti-LGBT workplace discrimination” »

—  John Wright

El Paso Rep. Mary Gonzalez sworn in as Texas’ only openly LGBT legislator

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State Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso, is sworn in at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday. (Andrea Grimes/Dallas Voice)

ANDREA GRIMES  |  Contributing Writer

Out of the 150 voices swearing to do their democratic best in the Texas House of Representatives at the state Capitol this morning, only one belonged to an out pansexual: El Paso’s history-making 29-year-old educator Mary Gonzalez.

Today, she became the first openly LGBT female to serve in the Texas Legislature, the first known pansexual elected official in the nation and the first woman to serve District 75. Oh, and she’s also the youngest member of the 83rd Legislature.

Safe to say, there are some eyes on Mary Gonzalez.

“Today was a really wonderful experience,” Gonzalez told Dallas Voice this afternoon after the House’s first session of the year. She brought a number of friends and family members to her first day of work, including her father — “my Republican father!” noted Gonzalez, laughing — and her girlfriend.

Gonzalez effectively won her seat in May 2011 when she won the Democratic Primary in El Paso’s District 75, where there was no Republican challenger. Gonzalez was the first LGBT candidate elected to the Legislature since Glen Maxey, D-Austin, left office in 2002. During her campaign for the seat, Gonzalez’s challengers kept bringing the conversation back to her sexuality. It’s a topic she doesn’t shy away from, but she also tells the Dallas Voice that it is not, and shouldn’t be, the sole definer of her political career.

Now that Gonzalez and her staff are busy moving into her sparsely decorated office in the Capitol, she’s ready to get to work — especially since it’ll give folks something to talk to her about besides her sexual orientation.

“One of the reasons identity has been so central to my public persona is because there’s nothing else,” said Gonzalez. “I haven’t been able to take votes yet, I haven’t been able to give, hopefully, amazing speeches yet. So I hope to fill the void of information out there.”

As the youngest member of the House, she’s also part of a new generation of politicians who focus on intersectionality, recognizing that race, gender, class and other identifiers can’t necessarily be separated from each other.

“It is a little bit suffocating to only be known as this queer, lesbian, pansexual representative,” said Gonzalez. “While that’s important to me, it does create an invisibility to other parts of me. I don’t want it to overshadow the work I want to do to serve my district.”

Gonzalez calls intersectionality the “lens” through which she “views the world,” and embraces the different aspects of who she is: Latina, working class, pansexual. Through that “lens,” Gonzalez says she’ll look at three major issues during the session: agriculture, the border and education.

First up is a dairy farm bill that could help shore up Gonzalez’s economically struggling district. She remembers her first time walking into the agriculture council meeting, “all dolled up” and surrounded by older white male legislators: “They’re like ‘Who are you?’ I grew up on a dairy farm!’”

She’ll also be working on issues surrounding a new international bridge in El Paso, tackling how to “manage growth and development” in a way that doesn’t create more colonias, border settlements with little-to-no infrastructure or access to sanitation and water.

In the long term, Gonzalez will focus on creating a state work-study program, confident that it would be “huge” if she can show “how work study programs help students graduate.” And as for LGBTQ issues, she’s working on those, too, hoping to co-author bills with Dallas Democratic Rep. Rafael Anchia.

Whatever happens over the next 139 days, Gonzalez certainly doesn’t intend to cut herself, or her staff, any slack: “I want it to be the most progressive, most inclusive, most welcoming office to everybody who comes in.”

—  John Wright

Gay El Paso House candidate Mary Gonzalez to visit Dallas for LGBT fundraiser next week

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Mary Gonzalez

Mary Gonzalez, an openly gay candidate for Texas House from El Paso, will be in Dallas on Thursday, May 3 for a fundraiser sponsored by the Texas Equity PAC, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, and Annie’s List.

Of the four known openly LGBT candidates for Legislature in 2012, Gonzalez arguably has the best chance to become only the second out lawmaker in the state’s history and the first since Glen Maxey, who served from 1993 until 2001. Texas is one of only 18 states that lack an openly LGBT legislator, and according to the Victory Fund, no state has ever passed relationship recognition without one.

Gonzalez is one of three candidates in the May 29 Democratic Primary  in El Paso’s District 75 who are vying to replace Rep. Chente Quintillia, who isn’t seeking re-election.

“The oldest of eleven children, Mary Gonzalez is a natural born leader,” an invitation for next week’s fundraiser reads. “Before putting herself through college to eventually become a PhD candidate and Adjunct Professor, Mary spent her adolescent years advocating for underserved colonias in her hometown of El Paso. Now, Mary is putting her education and experience to work for the people of El Paso and is poised to become Texas’ only LGBT voice in the state legislature. Come meet this remarkable young woman and catch a rising star on her way to the Capitol!”

The fundraiser will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the home of Equality Texas Executive Director Dennis Coleman and his partner, Gregory Pynes. Other hosts include Cece Cox; Jack Evans and George Harris; Scott Green and Garrett Warren; Chris Luna and Kent Mecklenburg; Karl Meyer and Craig McCartney; Dr. Mark Parker and Eric Johnson; and Andy Smith and Paul von Wupperfeld.

The suggested donation is $100, or become a host for $250.. For more information or to RSVP contact Chuck Smith at 512-474-5475 ext. 2 or chuck@texasequitypac.org; or Michael McCall at 202-567-3304 or michael.mccall@victoryfund.org.

—  John Wright

Victory Fund endorses 28-year-old out lesbian Mary Gonzalez for Texas House in El Paso

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Mary Gonzalez

The Washington, D.C.-based Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund has endorsed 28-year-old rising star Mary Gonzalez, one of four openly LGBT candidates for Texas Legislature in 2012. And that’s good news because the Victory Fund only backs candidates the group believes are viable.

As we noted in our story about Gonzalez and the other out candidates two weeks ago, Texas is one of only 18 states that lack an openly LGBT legislator. And, according to the Victory Fund, no state has passed same-sex relationship recognition without one. In other words, we need a seat at the table in Austin.

After the jump, read an excerpt about Gonzalez from our recent story. You can also read about her on the Victory Fund page, but it looks like you’ll have to go to Gonzalez’s campaign website to make a contribution. You can also follow Gonzalez’s campaign on Facebook.

Continue reading “Victory Fund endorses 28-year-old out lesbian Mary Gonzalez for Texas House in El Paso” »

—  John Wright

Lawmaker to file repeal of TX marriage ban

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State Rep. Garnet Coleman

OK fine, he does it every biennial session, so it’s not huge news, but hey, made you look!

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, sent out a Policy and News Alert today in which he recaps recent advances for marriage equality across the country. Coleman also confirms his plans to continue filing bills to repeal Texas’ 2005 constitutional amendment, which bans both same-sex marriage and civil unions. From Coleman’s email:

“While major progress is being made state by state for marriage equality, the fight is not over. Texas and thirty-seven other states have laws in place denying marriage equality to all couples. For this reason, I file a bill every session to repeal the ban on marriage equality in Texas. Barring same-sex couples from legally entering into a lifelong commitment of marriage comes from an old school of thought and is a blatant denial of civil rights. Every American and Texan should have the ability to enter a loving and committed relationship with the person of their choice.”

Coleman, among the staunchest LGBT allies in the Texas Legislature, faces a challenge in this year’s Democratic Primary from controversial gay activist Ray Hill.

Read Coleman’s full email on his blog.

—  John Wright

Texas’ hate crimes law still largely unused

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Nearly five years ago, shortly after joining the Voice, I wrote this in-depth story about how Texas’ hate crimes statute is rarely used by prosecutors. This weekend, the Austin American-Statesman reported that little has changed since then:

Each year for the past decade, local law enforcement agencies have reported about 200 crimes that police said were motivated by the perpetrator’s animosity toward the victim’s race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, among other identifiers , according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which collects statewide data. Yet since 2001, when the Texas Legislature adopted its current hate crime statute, prosecutors have earned convictions on 10 cases — less than one a year statewide, according to figures kept by the state Office of Court Administration. Most have come in plea arrangements: Over the past decade, a single hate crime has been taken to a jury in Texas. …

The number of Texas hate crime prosecutions also pales when compared with some other states. In 2010, California prosecutors filed 230 hate crime cases. New York state prosecutors convict on about a dozen hate crimes a year.

—  John Wright

Glen Maxey to sign copies of Rick Perry book, appear on radio show in Dallas on Wednesday

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If you haven’t read gay former Texas Rep. Glen Maxey’s memoir about his investigation of Gov. Rick Perry’s alleged homosexual escapades, you can hear the dirt on the Lambda Weekly Radio Show Wednesday morning, Dec. 28.

The radio show, which airs Wednesdays at 7 a.m. on 89.3 KNON-FM, will feature Maxey telling all about his tell-all, Head Figure Head: The Search for the Hidden Life of Rick Perry. Maxey plans to stay over in Dallas for a few hours after the radio show for an afternoon book signing that will be announced during the show. He will be signing copies of the book at TapeLenders, 3926 Cedar Springs Road in Dallas, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

The book, which got its title from an offhand remark allegedly made by a hustler who claimed he serviced the governor, became available for reading about two weeks ago online through Amazon.com. Since then the paperback has become available, and interest seems to be running high in the LGBT community, which has long buzzed with rumors about Perry’s alleged sexual trysts with other men.

Maxey said a book signing he attended in Austin Dec. 23 at Progress Coffee on San Marcos Street grossed him about $1,600 in sales for the $19.99 book. That computes to the sale of about 80 books.

Since the publication of the book, Maxey said he has received several phone and e-mail messages from others who claim they have more information to share about Perry’s alleged secret life. About a couple of dozen people now claim to have the goods on Perry, the author said.

Maxey said that while his book has attracted a lot of interest from bloggers nationwide and the LGBT community, it has also attracted the ire of conservatives who support Perry. The author said he moved from his Austin apartment to a temporary “safe house” as a result of threatening messages he received.

Maxey, who is the only openly gay politician to ever have served in the Texas Legislature, wrote his book after assisting a reporter for The Huffington Post in researching the story. Huffington Post publisher Arianna Huffington reportedly killed the story after the reporter finished writing it and his editors approved it, according to the author.

Maxey said he believes the story was killed to avoid a lawsuit by Perry. The governor’s campaign for president reportedly hired a prominent libel lawyer to send a letter to Huffington threatening to sue if the story ran, according to Politico.

Huffington said she thought the story failed to rise to the standard for publication, an assertion Maxey called a “double standard.” The former legislator, who is now a gay activist, said he believes the story would have been published if it involved heterosexual trysts.

Maxey said his frustration about the book not being published after all his work and his desire to expose Perry’s alleged hypocrisy prompted him to write the book.

Perry is the most virulently outspoken anti-gay governor Texas has ever seen. Rumors about his alleged homosexuality activity led him and his wife to take the unusual step of sitting down with an Austin American Statesman reporter six years ago to refute the allegations.

—  admin