The case could set precedent in Texas for same sex couples who were together prior to the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage. A gay San Antonio man has filed for a divorce in which he seeks to prove a common law marriage existed with his former partner of 25 years when federal law prohibited same…
Texas GOP’s bills targeting transgender children have exacted a mental health toll, even if they don’t become law
As the clock ticks on this year’s legislative session, the House scheduled a Tuesday floor debate for a bill that would limit transgender children’s sports team participation. Other GOP bills that would restrict or punish transition-related health care, like puberty blockers, missed a key Sunday deadline to advance. By Megan Munce, The Texas Tribune Houston…
Time runs out on Texas House bill banning gender confirmation health care for kids, but another attempt lives on in the Senate
House Bill 1399 would have banned gender confirmation surgery, hormone therapy and puberty suppression treatments for Texas’ transgender children. By Megan Munce, The Texas Tribune A controversial bill that would ban gender affirming health care for transgender children missed a key deadline Thursday for consideration in the Texas House. But a similar Senate bill still…
Texas Lawmakers Want to Add More LGTBQ Safeguards After U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
A new ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court makes clear that it violates federal law to fire an employee on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. Now Texas lawmakers want to guarantee similar protections for LGBTQ Texans in housing, health care and other spheres. by Emma Platoff and Cassandra Pollock, The Texas Tribune…
Texas LGBTQ Advocates Aren’t Worried About Challenges to Austin’s Nondiscrimination Ordinance
The advocates say lawsuits challenging the city’s code prohibiting employers from discriminating against an “individual’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, or disability” won’t hold up in court. By Matt Zdun, Texas Tribune After two conservative Christian groups filed lawsuits against the city of Austin over the past week challenging…
Equality Texas Joins Opposition to Appointment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to SCOTUS
In an email to supporters, Equality Texas announced it was joining state and national LGBT leaders in opposing the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. On July 9, President Donald J. Trump nominated Kavanaugh, who has spent 12 years serving in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to…
What the U.S. Supreme Court’s Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision Means for Religious Refusal Laws in Texas
By Emma Platoff, The Texas Tribune Last year, a dispute over a Colorado wedding cake made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — and this week, the reverberations of the high court’s ruling made it all the way to Texas. After the high court ruled Monday in favor of a Christian baker…
A Gay Texas Teacher Is on Leave After She Showed Students a Photo of Her Wife. She Has Few Legal Protections.
By Emma Platoff, The Texas Tribune Stacy Bailey has been employed as an art teacher at Charlotte Anderson Elementary School for a decade, but she hasn’t been in the classroom since September. Instead, she’s in limbo: She isn’t fired — her contract with the district has even been renewed — but she’s not working. Mansfield…
In Lawsuit, Texas Couple Claims They Were Illegally Turned Down as Foster Parents Because They Are Lesbians
By Sydney Greene, Texas Tribune This story has been updated to include a comment from the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops. Two female Texas A&M; University professors who say they were denied a chance to become foster parents for refugee children because they didn’t “mirror the Holy Family” have sued the federal government and a…
Why a Colorado Case Over “Religious Refusals” Could Matter to Texas
By Emma Platoff, The Texas Tribune June 26, 2017 When the U.S. Supreme Court rules next year on a religious refusal case that started in 2012 at a bakery in Lakewood, Colorado, its decision could have reverberations in Texas. The court announced Monday that it will take up Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission,…