Most Recent in Texas Politics:

1For Greg Abbott, All the Border’s a Stage

2How Far Can Texas Democrats Take the Quorum Break?

3After Kelcy Warren’s Energy Transfer Partners Made Billions from the Deadly Texas Blackouts, He Gave $1 Million to Greg Abbott

4Texas House Republicans Vote to Track Down Absent Democrats and Arrest Them If Necessary

5Greg Abbott’s Summer Special Session Sideshow

6Texans With Disabilities Fear Voting Will Get Harder for Them as Special Session on GOP Restrictions Nears

Most Recent in Environment:

1In West Texas, Astronomers Worry About Growing Oilfield Light Pollution

2After Kelcy Warren’s Energy Transfer Partners Made Billions from the Deadly Texas Blackouts, He Gave $1 Million to Greg Abbott

3Communities of Color in Houston Will Face Another Hurricane Season Without Adequate Flood Control

4“People Are Wiped Out”: Costs Pile Up as Hurricane Season Begins

5In the Drill Zone, Children’s Health Is Looking Bleak

6The Unlikely Demise of Texas’ Biggest Corporate Tax Break

Most Recent in Border:

1For Greg Abbott, All the Border’s a Stage

2Moments From the Reopening of Balmorhea Pool

3Undocumented Immigrants Continue to Be Expelled From the U.S. Under Title 42 COVID-19 Measures

4Follow the Money

5Siguiendo La Ruta Del Dinero

6Texas Activists Took Their Fight Against a Natural Gas Project Abroad—And They’re Winning

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1In Memory of Santos Rodriguez

2Home, But Not Free: NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Adjusts to Her Release From Prison

3A Wrongful Execution in Texas Points to the Fallibility of the Death Penalty

4Mentally Ill and Sentenced to Death

5An Irreversible Sentence

6Yet Again, Texas Lawmakers Face Crisis Conditions in Texas Prisons

Most Recent in Education:

1Resignation Letter

2The Unlikely Demise of Texas’ Biggest Corporate Tax Break

3Texas Educators Worry Bill Limiting the Teaching of Current Events and Historic Racism Would “Whitewash History”

4‘I Felt Like They Were Demonizing My People’: Advocates and Families Point to Biases in Texas Curricula

5The Long, Winding Road that Led to the SBOE’s Decision for Texas Schools to Teach Abstinence-Plus Sex Education

6Efforts to Save What’s Left of Mary Allen Seminary Reveal The Challenges of Preserving Black Placemaking in Texas

Most Recent in Health Care:

1The People’s Scientist

2Profit Before Patient

3Texas Expands Access to Medical Cannabis—But Advocates Say It’s Not Enough

4In the Drill Zone, Children’s Health Is Looking Bleak

5Editorial: Even ‘Turning Texas Blue’ Won’t Fix Us If We Don’t Face Some Hard Truths

6Portraits of the Pandemic: Part Two

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Researcher Howard Henderson on Reimagining Policing in the U.S.

2Texas Observer Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Reflects on 65 Years of Publication

3How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

4Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

5Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform

6American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

Most Recent in Books:

1In ‘Al Norte,’ a Through Line of Transience That Is Still True Today

2A Feminist Rewrite of Lot

3‘Forget the Alamo’ Unravels a Texas History Made of Myths, or Rather, Lies

4‘On Juneteenth’ Refuses Easy Answers About the Importance of People of Color to Texas History

5‘Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing’ Tours Dark Places That Are Hard to Call Home

6Jung Young Moon’s Strange Novels Cross Continents

Most Recent in Features:

1How to Die in Texas

2Young Texans Keep Spelling Bees Going From Home

4San Antonio Embraces Mandaean Refugees

5The Ghosts of Jefferson

6Little Arthouse on the Prairie

Most Recent in Essay:

1An Irreversible Sentence

2Editorial: Look Down Ballot for Democratic Wins in Texas

3What the Black Lives Matter Protests Mean for East Texas

4Raise a Glass to the Class of COVID-19

5What’s a Bookstore for?

6Lessons on the Long Game from Goose Island’s Whooping Cranes

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: The Essential Women of Austin

2Eye on Texas: A House Divided

3Eye on Texas: The Black Yearbook

4Eye on Texas: Border Tuner

5Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

6Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Poem: ‘Late Night at the Lege’

2‘My Cousin Dies, Like a Deer, On the Side of the Road’

3Poet Claudia Delfina Cardona on Her Debut Poetry Chapbook

4Author Saeed Jones on Empathy, the Power of Memoir, and Growing up Gay in North Texas

5Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

6Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

Articles tagged: HERO

by Michael Barajas

Meet Dave Welch, the ‘Pastor of Pastors’ who Mobilizes Texas Churches Against LGBT Rights

The Houston conservative's ability to blend politics and religion makes him a particularly potent force.

Tue, Dec 19, 2017 |

Editor’s note: With the far right ascendant in Texas politics, once-marginal ideas and people have found a place in the political mainstream. Our recurrin...Read More

Houston Mayor Annise Parker at Dallas' 2015 Black Tie Dinner LGBT fundraiser.

Houston Mayor ‘Running Out of Runway’ on HERO Relaunch

Mon, Nov 16, 2015 |

In the aftermath of HERO’s resounding defeat at the polls November 3, Parker had indicated the current City Council could consider an amended non-discriminati...Read More

Houston skyline.

by Eesha Pandit

Fallen HERO: The Campaign That Couldn’t Save Houston

An equal rights ordinance would have offered protections for all Houstonians, but many groups say they weren’t represented by Houston Unites’ strategic leadership.

Fri, Nov 6, 2015 |

HERO would have offered protections for all Houstonians, but those who live at the intersection of multiple points of marginalization simply weren’t reflected...Read More

Southside Place Police Detective Michael Kelly

by Andrea Grimes

HERO Opponents Serious About Bigotry, Not Preventing Rape

Wed, Nov 4, 2015 |

In October, police say, a man raped a 12-year-old girl in a Houston public bathroom. Well, that’s not actually what police say. The detective, a man who is pa...Read More

vote here sign

by Christopher Hooks

What to Watch (Besides HERO) as Texas Goes to the Polls

Tue, Nov 3, 2015 |

If you haven’t voted yet today, don’t worry, you’re not alone! These constitutional amendment elections don’t garner much attention or excitement, but t...Read More

Experts: HERO ‘Too Close To Call’ Ahead of Tuesday’s Vote

Fri, Oct 30, 2015 |

Early voting numbers could spell trouble for Houston’s embattled Equal Rights Ordinance, according to three local political scientists who’ve been closely m...Read More

Cons-Queer-Acy? Petition to Repeal Houston ERO Fails

Tue, Aug 5, 2014 |

Foes of Houston's new equal rights ordinance are crying foul after Mayor Annise Parker announced that thousands of petition pages were disqualified....Read More

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