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Posts Tagged ‘Equality Texas’

Legislative quick hits

This is the time of the session where there’s lots happening, and there isn’t always the time or space to stay on top of it all. So here are a few quick updates on things that are happening in an attempt to at least not be too far behind. A bill to give Tesla Motors [...]

Romeo and Romeo and Juliet and Juliet

This is a small step forward, but it’s an important step. In a state where attempts to expand gay rights have hit a wall of conservative Republicans, a Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill to provide a new legal protection for sexually active gay teens. Under Senate Bill 1316, gay and lesbian teens who [...]

The Equality 2013 Poll

From Equality Texas: The Equality Texas Foundation envisions a state where all Texans are treated equally, with dignity and respect. Equal rights for all are fundamental to our society and are long overdue. Everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, deserves to be treated fairly and equally. Many of these equal rights issues are [...]

Some people still want to move backwards on equality

I’ve noted several bills that aim to move Texas forward, however incrementally, towards greater equality. These are all good and fine things, but don’t mistake their existence for evidence that the Legislature is through trying to move us backwards. The first Texas school district to offer health insurance benefits to domestic partners is under fire [...]

Repealing the Texas double secret illegal anti-gay marriage amendment

Some things you do because they’re the right thing to do. Reps. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, and Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, are seeking to reverse the state’s prohibition against gay marriage or same-sex civil unions. Their proposed constitutional amendments — HJR 77 and HJR 78 – would repeal a 2005 amendment passed by Texas voters that bans [...]

Pushing for equality in Waco

Glad to hear it. A group of Waco residents is seeking a city ordinance to bar public and private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Advocates of the measure plan to propose it Thursday to the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Committee and hope to get Waco City Council to consider it [...]

How long before marriage equality comes to Texas?

As is so often the case, the state of Texas will lag behind the rest of the country on the issue. If DOMA is struck down, questions will be raised about states that don’t recognize same-sex marriages and if it matters where a couple lives to receive federal benefits, [Ken Upton, a senior staff attorney [...]

Nikki Araguz

I support Nikki Araguz. The wife of a Wharton firefighter who died in a massive July 4 blaze decried allegations lodged by her late husband’s family that she is a fraud because she was born a man. “Really, all I have to say is that I’m absolutely devastated about the loss of my husband, a [...]

Help Equality Texas

Equality Texas, which lobbies on behalf of equal rights for all Texans, had the misfortune of its office being vandalized over the weekend. The offices of Equality Texas were vandalized over the weekend sometime  Saturday night or on Sunday.  The large front plate glass window was broken out.  Nothing was taken from the office and [...]

Why words matter

On Sunday, I mentioned HB1323, the anti-bullying bill that Equality Texas helped to draft. It was originally scheduled to be on the House calendar on Monday; it’s on today’s calendar now, but nothing is carved in stone these days. Anyway, Karl-T and the AusChron’s The Gay Place blog have a clear illustration of why legislation [...]

Updates on some criminal justice bills

As Grits notes, this is the time of the session in which bills die because there’s no longer the time for them to make it through the process. Fortunately, as he writes in that post, many of the bills related to innocence and exoneration are in a position to be debated and voted by both [...]

More on the Union Bar

KHOU has a story on the incident at Union Bar on Friday. [T]he bar’s owner said it was all a big misunderstanding, and apologized for the incident. He said since the bar opened late last fall, it has been booked solid with private parties. The bar is small, with a total occupancy of 117 people. [...]