By Rishika Dugyala, The Texas Tribune January 24, 2018 A self-described “gun-toting, truck-driving, true Republican,” Shannon McClendon avidly followed state politics and served as a five-time appointee for various boards under former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. But until now, she never pushed herself to run for elected office. “I’m a Republican who happens to be…
Texas Equity PAC Announces Endorsements
On December 29, Texas Equity PAC announced four end-of-the-year endorsements of candidates running for the Texas Legislature. In a statement on its Facebook page, Texas Equity PAC describes its mission: “Pro-equality legislation happens with the support of pro-equality lawmakers. The Texas Equity PAC is the political action committee of Equality Texas. It supports the election…
2017 in Review: A Year in the Life of LGBT SA
A select month-by-month recap of stories about our community reported here and elsewhere in 2017. JANUARY Jeffrey James is Fiesta Cornyation’s King Anchovy LII The board of directors of Fiesta Cornyation, billed as “the raunchiest, cheapest event of Fiesta,” announced in January that this year’s King Anchovy LII was Jeffrey James, the proprietor of James…
Marriage Equality Pioneer Mark Phariss to Run for Texas Senate
Plano attorney Mark Phariss, who in 2013 was a plaintiff in the successful Texas marriage equality lawsuit, announced his candidacy for Texas Senate District 8, which covers portions of Collin and Dallas counties. The District 8 seat has been held by Republican Van Taylor who is vacating the office to run for Congress. Phariss will…
Texas Conservatives Are Still Fighting Marriage Equality
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. On Wednesday, March 1, the Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments over a lawsuit that not only targets the rights of married gay couples in the state but also seeks to blunt the impact of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that granted marriage equality nationwide in the…
Gay couple in federal suit will return to SA for marriage license
Two years ago on October 3, 2013, Vic Holmes and Mark Pharris went to the Bexar County Clerk’s office in San Antonio, applied for a marriage license and were turned down. “We don’t do that in Texas,” they were told. However, on Friday, September 25 the two men, who now live in Plano, will return…
Abbott responds to motion by plaintiffs to lift stay on Texas marriage ban
State Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a response on November 25 to a motion filed by the plaintiffs in the Texas equal marriage case asking Judge Orlando L. Garcia to lift the stay he imposed in February after finding the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The motion was filed on November 24 by attorneys…