On May 12, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote a letter of warning to the mayors and county judges of the Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio metropolitan areas saying that local officials could not impose stricter Covid-19 restrictions than those mandated by Governor Greg Abbott. However, in a letter to the City of Austin and…
Texas GOP Primary Ballot Proposition Challenges Rights of Parents With Trans Children
When Texas Republican voters go to the polls for the March 3 primary election, they will have the opportunity to reply to 10 propositions including one that seeks to control the rights of parents with transgender children. The GOP’s proposition raises false alarms about what some have inferred to be the abuse of transgender children…
Backlash Builds against UTEP President Nominee Heather Wilson
Student activists, professors and community members have rallied to oppose Wilson’s nomination, citing her anti-LGBTQ voting record. By Arya Sundaram, The Texas Tribune Earlier this month, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson was chosen as the next president of the University of Texas at El Paso, with President Donald Trump’s Twitter blessings and praise. But over…
Dan Patrick dismisses need for bathroom bill in 2019: “It’s been settled and I think we won.”
By Emma Platoff, The Texas Tribune At a Governor’s Mansion press conference on the second day of this year’s legislative session, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — who last session was the top state leader championing the measure, which would have regulated the use of certain public facilities for transgender Texans — suggested there’s no need…
During Debate, Gov. Abbott Says Bathroom Bill No Longer on His Agenda
During the first and only gubernatorial debate with his opponent, former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said passing a bathroom bill was “not on my agenda,” marking a change from the position he held during the last session of the state legislature. Valdez, the first openly LGBT major party candidate for…
Valdez Agrees to Debate Abbott on Sept. 28 in Austin
By Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune Lupe Valdez, the Democratic candidate for governor, has agreed to debate the Republican incumbent, Greg Abbott, on Sept. 28 in Austin, ending weeks of uncertainty over whether the two would face off. Earlier this summer, Abbott announced his RSVP for the Austin debate, which is being hosted by Nexstar…
A Houston Judge Could be Elected First Gay Justice on Texas Supreme Court
A state district court judge from Houston will be on the ballot in November as a candidate for the Texas Supreme Court and if he wins, he will become the first openly gay justice on state’s highest court and the first openly LGBTQ statewide official in Texas history. Democratic Judge Steven Kirkland of Harris County’s…
Abbott Agrees to Debate with Valdez, Who Says, “Call Me, Maybe?”
By Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune Gov. Greg Abbott has accepted an invitation from a TV station group to debate Democratic opponent Lupe Valdez on Sept. 28 in Austin — and she says she’s “in” but doesn’t sound sold on the specifics yet. The Republican governor’s campaign made the first move Wednesday evening, announcing it…
Lupe Valdez Becomes First Openly Gay and First Latina Candidate to Win a Major Party Nomination for Texas Governor
By Patrick Svitek and Brandon Formby The Texas Tribune, May 22, 2018 After a tight race throughout much of the evening Tuesday, Lupe Valdez pulled ahead late to comfortably defeat Andrew White in the Democratic runoff for governor, according to unofficial returns. Valdez goes into the November general election as the first openly lesbian and…
How the “Bathroom Bill” Helped Push a Republican PAC to Spend Millions on Moderates in Texas
By Cassandra Pollock, The Texas Tribune May 16, 2018 In September, the Texas Capitol was finally starting to calm down. A couple of contentious legislative sessions had pitted the Legislature’s Republican centrists against hard-line conservatives, largely over measures regulating which restrooms transgender Texans could use. Members had returned to their districts, almost certain the “bathroom…