LGBT Rights
The GOP Failed to Ban Paid Sick Leave and the Business Lobby is Livid
Texas Republicans’ War on Workers Roars Back to Life in the House
One of the GOP’s top priorities — banning local labor protections like mandatory paid sick leave — stalled for much of the session. Now, Republicans are putting their foot on the gas.
The Texas GOP has finally returned its attention to its perpetual war on workers. After unexpected delays and with less than a month left in session, Republican...Read More
Religious Exemption Bill Could Leave LGBTQ Texans Scrambling for Health Care
About a quarter of Texas counties have two or fewer primary care doctors and pharmacists. What happens if they refuse service?
Matthew Glass said the first red flag was when the pharmacist called across the room, loud enough for other customers to hear, “What’s the Truvada for?” T...Read More
Texas Republicans’ Push for a Religious ‘License to Discriminate’ is Depressingly Familiar
Today’s targets of religious discrimination are members of the LGBTQ community. Not long ago they were African Americans and women.
One of the landmark constitutional questions of our day is being fought at the Texas Capitol: Does the right to religious freedom give people license to discr...Read More
‘License to Discriminate’: Texas Senate Advances Anti-LGBTQ Bill
Doctors, child care providers, counselors and other state-licensed workers who refuse to provide services based on “a sincerely held religious belief” would be protected under Senate Bill 17.
The Texas Senate on Tuesday gave its initial OK to a bill that civil rights advocates say would give state-licensed workers — including doctors, child care pr...Read More
Dan Patrick May Have Just Sparked Bathroom Bill 2.0
The GOP’s effort to ban local paid sick day ordinances morphed into what advocates see as an attack on LGBTQ protections that cover 6 million Texans.
Skeptics of the unusual kumbaya rhetoric in the Texas Capitol have been waiting with bated breath for Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick to throw a grenade loaded ...Read More
Christian Conservatives Bring Alarmist #BanTheBible Message to Texas Capitol
The religious right’s desperate new messaging strategy speaks to the shifting dynamics around LGBTQ equality at the Texas Legislature.
In hopes of protecting their religious right to discriminate against LGBTQ people, Texas conservatives have turned to a perplexing new message this legislative ...Read More
What I Learned from Ray Hill, Houston’s Citizen Provocateur
On Saturday, Uncle Ray, as he was known to many, died in hospice at age 78. His legacy of unrepentant rabble-rousing made Texas a more welcome place for the underdog.
The story goes that Texas singer-songwriter Gerald Bates was driving in Houston one night and tuned his radio to KPFT, a listener-sponsored community station, w...Read More
How Madeline Snyder, a Trans Woman in Tyler, Got Her Driver’s License Fixed
After she came out, Maddie Snyder worried she wouldn't be able to get her name and gender updated on her driver's license. Then the local LGBTQ community rallied to help her, and Texas attorneys across the state are pitching in.
How Madeline Snyder, a Trans Woman in Tyler, Got Her Driver’s License Fixed After she came out, Maddie Snyder worried she wouldn’t be able to get her na...Read More
A New Pray-the-Gay-Away Drama Suggests Conversion is Possible (Just Not the Kind You Think)
Poignant awards-season fare, Boy Erased makes the case against the Christian “cure” for homosexuality.
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? That, more or less, is the question asked by the new Joel Edgerton-directed film Boy Erased, w...Read More