Tag Archives: wendy davis

Could TX elect a lesbian governor?

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Mayor Annise Parker polled 40 percent against Gov. Rick Perry’s 47 percent in a Public Policy Polling poll

Public Policy Polling’s latest indicates that Texans are ready for a change in the governor’s office. The polling outfit looked at everyone from one of the LGBT community’s staunchest opponents to a member of the LGBT community.

Of Republican Primary voters, 41 percent want Gov. Rick Perry to run for another term while 47 percent want someone else. Among Texans in general, 31 percent favor another Perry term while 61 percent don’t.

Attorney General Greg Abbott is the governor’s closest opponent and trails Perry by just 3 points. But Abbott doesn’t have good name recognition. Among voters who know him, he leads 55 to 33 percent. (Abbott is perhaps best know in the LGBT community for challenging two same-sex divorces.)

The poll shows that Democrats have a better chance to taking the governor’s mansion if Perry wins the Republican Primary.

Against three Democrats, Perry would get 47 percent of the vote, according to PPP. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro polls 42 percent, State Sen. Wendy Davis would get 41 percent and Houston Mayor Annise Parker would get 40 percent.

Castro was a strong supporter of nondiscrimination in San Antonio. Davis ran for re-election last year with support from Equality Texas and Stonewall Democrats of Tarrant County. Parker, who is lesbian, is in her second term as mayor, making Houston the largest city with an LGBT person at the helm.

None of the Democrats has indicated whether they have interest in running for governor yet. Abbott has told supporters he plans to run.

The general election will be in November 2014.

—  David Taffet

Dallas, Tarrant County Stonewall Dems endorse in general election

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Marc Veasey

Stonewall Democrats of Dallas members voted unanimously Tuesday to endorse state Rep. Marc Veasey for Congress and municipal court Judge Phyllis Lister Brown for district judge in the general election.

Stonewall had endorsed other candidates in the primary, but Veasey and Brown won their runoffs. Veasey is running for the new Congressional District 33 and Brown is seeking election to become judge of the 162nd civil district court.

At last week’s Tarrant County Stonewall Democrats meeting, the group voted on a slate endorsement of the Democratic ticket in Tarrant County with a special mention of Veasey, state Sen. Wendy Davis, Nicole Collier in House District 95, Lon Burnam in House District 90 and Chris Turner in House District 101.

Tarrant Stonewall doesn’t endorse in primaries, so President Felipe Guttierez said the special mention just highlights the group’s strategic plan to get those Tarrant County candidates elected.

—  Anna Waugh

Tarrant County Stonewall Dems fundraiser banks $20K to back Sen. Wendy Davis, House candidates

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State Sen. Wendy Davis addresses the crowd at the Tarrant County Stonewall Democrats Spring Fundraising Kick-off Party in Fort Worth Wednesday, May 23. (Anna Waugh/Dallas Voice)

The Tarrant County Stonewall Democrats raised close to $20,000 Wednesday night at the Spring Fundraising Kick-off Party in Fort Worth.

The event was the group’s launch for fundraising efforts and will go toward backing Sen. Wendy Davis’ campaign in the general election. She is unopposed in the primary. In addition, funds will go to state House candidates and the Congressional District 33 Democratic candidate selected in the primary, chapter President Felipe Gutierrez said.

About 100 people attended to donate, mingle and hear Fort Worth Councilman Joel Burns and Davis speak about local and state issues.

Burns spoke first, addressing the national attention focused on marriage equality. He said the president’s announcement was among the things he “never thought I would see in my entire life.”

“Things like the president of the United States telling me that he wants me and my husband to legally marry here in the state of Texas,” he said. “This is something we should have all along. This is something that we are owed. It is a fundamental right that we should’ve already have but it’s still monumental.”

He also acknowledged local success, recapping the efforts of the Fort Worth City Council to embrace equality by adding transgender protections to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance, something he said he was “incredibly proud” to accomplish and acknowledged Stonewall and Fairness Fort Worth for the groups’ efforts in helping make it a reality. He also said the city has extended partner benefits for LGBT city employees and improved police and firefighter training.

Fort Worth Councilman Joel Burns speaks about the important accomplishments made in favor of equality locally and nationally at a Tarrant County Stonewall Democrats fundraising event May 23. (Anna Waugh/Dallas Voice)

While many lawmakers are following the president’s lead, he said he was “incredibly proud to have an ally” like Davis in Austin fighting for the rights of everyone. He told the audience to unite in the coming months to help motivate voters in Senate District 10 to re-elect Davis by “reminding them of just how incredibly kick-ass awesome Wendy Davis is.”

Davis then spoke about “shifting the dialogue” about what Texas has and can accomplish. She praised the state Legislature for passing an anti-bullying bill in the last session, but reminded the crowd to continue to fight for education and healthcare funding, two things she relied on as a single mother at 19 attending college. Davis has been outspoken about Texas defunding Planned Parenthood.

“I certainly didn’t ever look like I was going to be one of those people who made my way up into a place in the world that has the meaning that my life has today,” she said about her upbringing.

At 19, Davis said she destined to love the life of her mother, who raised her and her three siblings on her own. She was divorced with a 1-year-old, working two jobs and sometimes still couldn’t pay her bills.

But when a co-worker brought a brochure for Tarrant County College to work, Davis enrolled in classes to become a legal assistant. Later, she received a Texas Equalization Grant to attend Texas Christian University on her way to becoming a lawyer and graduating from Harvard.

The grant was “obliterated” in the last session, Davis said, placing the future generations at risk without opportunities others enjoyed in the past and what voters have the power to bring back by voting for candidates who want to improve people’s futures.

Davis was elected to the state Senate in 2008 in a district that still leans to the Republican side, she said. But that may not hinder her support in November because the voters in her district understand the issues she fights for.

“It doesn’t matter whether you have an R or a D next to your name when what you care about is your healthcare, your children’s future and education and so many of the other issues that we’re working on,” she said.

Founding members awards were given out at the end of the event to recognize the charter members who founded Tarrant County Stonewall Democrats. Certificates were presented to state Rep. Lon Burnam,  Mary Edward, Lisa Thomas, Steve Bratka, Drew Sutton, Bayliss Camp, Lynn Johnson, Glenda Thompson, Chris Randolph and Tim Meagher.

—  Anna Waugh

Fate of Texas primaries still up in the air after SCOTUS hearing today

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Anybody expecting to get some hint of resolution to the redistricting battle raging here in Texas following oral arguments over the issue today before the U.S. Supreme Court is probably disappointed, as it seems the justices want to see the Texas primary elections, already postponed from March to April 3, pushed back to an even later date.

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis

According Associated Press legal affairs reporter Mark Sherman (as quoted on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s blog, PoliTex), “The justices discussed moving the primary date back further to give the courts handling different aspects of the case more time. ‘Why can’t this all be pushed back, and wouldn’t that eliminate a lot of the problems we are grappling with in this case?’ Justice Samuel Alito asked.”

And TheHill.com indicates that justices were not happy with either the map drawn last year by the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature or with the interim map drawn last month by federal judges in San Antonio, quoting Chief Justice John Roberts as saying during today’s hearing, “How do you decide between two wrong choices?”

TheHill.com also said, “Most justices indicated they thought both maps were unacceptable and could not be put into law without violating the Voting Rights Act.”

The Legislature’s map favors Republicans, especially in Tarrant County where Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis saw her district taken away, with portions of it allocated to more Republican-leaning areas north and south of Fort Worth.

Continue reading “Fate of Texas primaries still up in the air after SCOTUS hearing today” »

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WATCH: Youth First Texas’ ‘You’re Not Alone’ project, a peer-to-peer version of ‘It Gets Better’

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When members of Youth First Texas went to Austin in March to lobby for anti-bullying legislation, they did a better job of explaining the importance of such laws than any of the adults who were there. They were able to look senators and representatives in the eye and tell them personal experiences about having been bullied. Some of the youth told lawmakers they had attempted suicide, something that wouldn’t have happened if schools took bullying more seriously.

Walking back from the Capitol to a local church that was hosting lunch, the YFT members had an idea to make videos about their experiences. First, they sent copies to State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, who shared them with other members of the Education Committee. But the videos also had another purpose — saving lives. While the “It Gets Better” videos are mostly adults telling teens they’ll get through their bad experiences in high school, YFT’s “You’re Not Alone” videos contain messages from LGBT youth to LGBT youth.

Watch the first set of videos from YFT’s “You’re Not Alone” project after the jump.

Continue reading “WATCH: Youth First Texas’ ‘You’re Not Alone’ project, a peer-to-peer version of ‘It Gets Better’” »

—  David Taffet

What’s Brewing: Retiring anti-gay bigot Chisum says gay marriage ban was his toughest battle

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Your weekday morning blend from Instant Tea:

Wendy Davis

1. The Texas Legislature begins a special session today to try to reach an agreement on a school finance plan that currently contains $4 billion in cuts, including the first reductions in per-pupil spending since the Great Depression for a state that already ranks 44th in school spending. The special session became necessary after a heroic 75-minute filibuster of the cuts on Sunday night by State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. Davis is an LGBT ally who was succeeded on the Fort Worth City Council by Joel Burns, whom she had appointed to the city’s Plan Commission. Although the focus of the special session is school spending, other issues are likely to come up, including a proposed ban on so-called sanctuary cities that’s backed by Gov. Rick Perry. There could also be anti-LGBT legislation, such as Sen. Tommy Williams’ bill aimed at barring transgender people from marrying people of the opposite sex.

Warren Chisum

2. State Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, a longtime anti-gay leader and one of the the architects of Texas’ constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, was honored by the House on Monday as he prepares to retire from the Legislature. In an interview with the Texas Tribune, Chisum called the marriage amendment his toughest battle in 22 years. Really? Getting a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage passed in Texas was your toughest battle in 22 years? Chisum, who’s stepping aside because his district was combined with that of another Republican incumbent, says he plans to run for railroad commissioner.

3. Lt. Dan Choi was among dozens of LGBT marchers arrested Saturday during a gay Pride demonstration in Moscow. Watch video of Choi’s arrest below.

—  John Wright

Davis challenging redistricting plan

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As we told you in David Taffet’s May 6 story on redistricting efforts under way in the Texas Legislature, the redistricting plan under consideration now would split Senate District 10, currently represented by Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis, into as many as five pieces, splitting up her mostly minority constituents and putting them instead into other districts dominated by Anglo Republicans.

Sen. Wendy Davis

Today, Terrance Stutz with the Dallas Morning News reports that Davis “has fired the first shot” at the redistricting plan, claiming that the plan violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

After pointing out that Democrats weren’t allowed to have any input into redrawing the districts, Davis said that black voters in southeast Fort Worth would be pushed into a mostly rural district to the south while Hispanic voters in the northern part of District 10 would shuffled into a district with what Stutz called “hundreds of thousands of Anglo Republicans in Denton County.”

Davis told Stutz: “It is my duty as the elected representative of Senate District 10 to fight the [Senate redistricting] committee proposal with every resource I can muster. I cannot allow the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of constituents in Tarrant County to be trampled to satisfy the partisan greed of the Senate leadership.”

Davis, who narrowly beat out Republican incumbent Sen. Kim Brimer in 2008 to take the District 10 Senate seat, easily winning re-election in 2010, is considered one of the LGBT community’s strongest allies in the Texas Senate and was the author of an anti-bullying bill that Equality Texas called the best of the bunch introduced at the beginning of the 2011 legislative session.

—  admin

Texas Senate didn’t take up transgender marriage ban today — but may take it up on Tuesday

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The Texas Senate adjourned today without taking up SB 723, the bill by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, that could prevent transgender people from marrying people of the opposite sex in Texas.

SB 723, apparently prompted by the Nikki Araguz case, would remove a “court order of sex change” from the list of identifying documents that can be used to obtain marriage licenses in Texas. And while transgender people could still theoretically use their driver’s licenses to obtain marriage licenses, advocates say the “legislative intent” of Williams’ bill would allow courts to declare those marriages invalid. Moreover, they say the bill could effectively lead to the state refusing to recognize the existence of transgender people for any purpose.

“If SB 723 gets a favorable vote it will enshrine Littleton vs Prange (1999) logic — you are what the doctor put on your birth certificate — into Texas State law,” writes Meghan Stabler, a transgender woman from Round Rock who serves on the Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign. “This will lay the foundation for the State of Texas to cease to recognize the transitioned status of transgender people.”

The bill was on the Senate’s intent calendar for today, meaning it could have come up for a vote if two-thirds of the Senate agreed to consider it. While the Senate didn’t get to the bill today, it remains on the intent calendar, and advocates are continuing to ask people to call Democratic senators and ask them to vote against SB 723. Republicans are one vote short of a two-thirds majority in the Senate, meaning if no Democrats vote to take up the bill it will die.

Contact info for Democratic senators is after the jump.

Continue reading “Texas Senate didn’t take up transgender marriage ban today — but may take it up on Tuesday” »

—  John Wright

ACTION ALERT: Tell Senate Democrats to vote against bill to ban transgender marriage

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dead firefighter's transgender wife
Nikki Araguz

As we noted below, the Texas Senate is slated to consider a bill Monday would effectively bar transgender people from marrying people of the opposite sex. The bill is a direct response to the case of transgender widow Nikki Araguz.

In order to take up the bill, the Senate must have 20 votes. Republicans are one vote short of a 20-vote majority, meaning they will need at least one Democratic vote.

The Transgender Education Network of Texas issued an action alert this morning for people to contact Senate Democrats and urge them to vote against Senate Bill 723 by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands. Here is contact information for Senate Democrats:

Mario Gallegos (512) 463-0106
Wendy Davis (512) 463-0110
Rodney G. Ellis (512) 463-0113
Kirk Watson (512) 463-0114
John Whitmire (512) 463-0115
Carlos I. Uresti (512) 463-0119
Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (512) 463-0120
Judith Zaffirini (512) 463-0121
Royce West (512) 463-0123
Leticia R. Van de Putte (512) 463-0126
Eduardo A. (Eddie) Lucio, Jr. (512) 463-0127
José R. Rodríguez (512) 463-0129

—  John Wright

LEGE UPDATE: Anti-bullying bills advance; Senate to consider trans marriage ban Monday

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Daniel Williams

Anti-bullying bills were voted out of committee in both the House and Senate this week, the 14th of Texas’ 20-week regular legislative session held in odd-numbered years.

Back on April 5 House Public Education Chairman Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, appointed a subcommittee on bullying. Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, who has filed anti-bullying legislation for the last two sessions, chaired the subcommittee.

On Tuesday, Strama’s subcommittee presented a compromise designed to appease conservatives on the Public Education committee. The bullying subcommittee recommended amending House Bill 1942 by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, to include the least controversial elements of other anti-bullying bills and to add the authors of the other bills as co-authors on HB 1942. The newly formed compromise bill requires that anti-bullying materials be included in school health classes and updates the education code to recognize the existence of cyberbullying. Unlike Strama’s original anti-bullying bill, House Bill 224, the compromise only allows administrators to address cyberbullying if it happens on school grounds or at school events. The compromise bill would also allow for the transfer of bullies to different classes or campuses than their victims (currently only the victim may be transferred).

The subcommittee avoided any recognition of LGBT students in its compromise. The bill neither prohibits anti-LGBT discrimination (as legislation filed by Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, would do) nor requires school districts to report if homophobia or transphobia motivated an incident of bullying (as legislation filed by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, would do).

Continue reading “LEGE UPDATE: Anti-bullying bills advance; Senate to consider trans marriage ban Monday” »

—  admin