Tag: Texas

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Woman Who Mocked COVID-19 Dies From Virus Two Weeks Later

The first confirmed case of the omicron variant in the U.S. has been discovered in California.

A Texas woman who mocked the ongoing COVID-19 health threat as a “hoax” on social media has died of the virus. As Twitter user @sunnmcheaux posted, on March 14th Karen Kolb Sehlke shared a lengthy coronavirus “hoax” rant on her Facebook. On April 2, her family launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for her medical and funeral costs. The third tweet below carries a Facebook post that has been attributed to a friend of the deceased, but I haven’t been able to confirm that.

The same Twitter user noted that initially, the GoFundMe listed the cause of death as COVID-19. The campaign has since been edited to now say cause of death unknown. The campaign raised more than $35,000 before the family stopped further donations. The Facebook rant has reportedly been removed as well. I agree with Sunn m’Cheaux that the point of highlighting this story isn’t to mock the woman’s death but to understand the ongoing risks and widespread effects of the disease. (h/t JoeMyGod)

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Houston Chronicle Endorses ‘Electable’ and ‘Pragmatic’ Amy Klobuchar

The editorial board of the Houston Chronicle endorses Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in the upcoming March 3 Democratic primary in Texas:

From supporting a $15 federal minimum wage to her very personal pledge to invest in research, prevention and treatment of addiction and mental illness, Klobuchar seems driven to improve Americans’ daily lives.

She eschews “Medicare for All” for a pragmatic public option. She has a strong record on combatting gun violence, and has prioritized universal background checks, funding research and closing the ‘boyfriend loophole’ — all commonsense reforms that she says won’t hurt responsible gun owners such as the oft-mentioned “Uncle Dick in his deer stand.”

She supports California-style mileage standards and opposes a fracking ban, instead seeing natural gas as a “transition fuel,” but her goals on climate change are aggressive: 45 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2050.

Above all, Klobuchar has the secret sauce many Democrats prize most: electability.

A candidate whose presidential election would make history, her crossover appeal in and of itself packs a powerful punch. Democrats need someone who can stare down a bully while keeping an eye out for the little guy, someone who can grow the ranks, not divide them. Klobuchar is the woman for the job.

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Ellen Surprises Teen Told To Cut His Dreadlocks With $20,000 Scholarship

Ellen DeGeneres welcomed Texas high school senior DeAndre Arnold to her show today, who made national news after he was told by school officials that he had to cut off his dreadlocks in order to return to classes. DeAndre sat down with Ellen to share that as it now stands he won’t be allowed to walk at graduation and why he has stood his ground. DeAndre shares that his father is from Trinidad where men wear their hair long as part of their culture. The high school student says he’s surprised schools won’t embrace other cultures outside of Texas. “Like, I’ve worked for this all my life. I’ve strived for this. I deserve this moment, to walk across the stage and enter into life. My parents deserve this. Like, they’re the ones who, you know, they got me through anything. And you know, they just taught me everything. They deserve to see me walk across the stage,” Arnold said. DeGeneres made an on-camera appeal to the Texas school district, asking them to do the right thing. And, of course, it wouldn’t be Ellen without a surprise. Alicia Keys shows up to surprise Arnold with a $20,000 scholarship from Shutterfly. Happy Hump Day!

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Judge Sues State Commission After Reprimand For Turning Away Same-Sex Weddings

Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley (screen capture)
A judge in Texas is suing the state agency that oversees judicial misconduct after she was reprimanded for refusing to marry same-sex couples. Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, of McLennan County, has filed a lawsuit against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct saying the disciplinary action constituted a violation of her rights under the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. On Monday, December 2, the Commission issued a warning to Hensley saying her refusal to perform same-sex marriages cast “doubt on her capacity to act impartially to persons appearing before her as a judge due to the person’s sexual orientation.” According to the Houston Chronicle, such warnings are the second-highest order of discipline the committee can take against a judge. Continuing to turn away same-sex couples could result in impeachment by the Commission, removing her from her judicial post. In 2017, Hensley told the Waco Tribune-Herald that her “Bible-believing” Christian conscience keeps her from performing same-sex weddings and she feels she’s entitled to a “religious exemption.” The Tribune-Herald reports Hensley is seeking $10,000 in damages as well as a declaratory judgment that the commission violated her religious rights. Additionally, she asks for class-action relief to allow any justice of the peace to turn away same-sex couples who want to get married. After the historic June 2015 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which made marriage equality the law of the land, some judges and justices of the peace who did not approve of same-sex marriages stopped performing wedding ceremonies altogether to avoid discriminating against LGBTQs. The court filing notes that Hensley has officiated 328 wedding ceremonies since August 2016, all of them were for heterosexual couples. In the clip below, Hensley tells the local news station KXXV, “I have no desire to offend anybody, but the last person I want to offend is God.” A local LGBTQ activist, Carmen Saenz, told the news station Hensley is “free to believe however she wants.” Saenz added, “But you can’t discriminate against people as an elected official.” Hensley issued a statement to KXXV saying, “I sought a solution so that anyone in McLennan County who wants to get married can do so. I have, do, and always will follow the law.”

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Teacher Fired For Sharing He’s Gay With High School Students

Dr. Josh Hamilton (screen capture)
Dr. Josh Hamilton teaches professional communications and college readiness at Grapevine High School near Fort Worth, Texas. He is also the coach for the school’s competitive speech team that won state and national championships last year. But the school district he works for recently fired him saying he texted inappropriate messages to a student. Hamilton says the trouble started the day after he mentioned being gay to his speech team. During preparation on September 5, 2019, for an upcoming oral interpretation tournament, Hamilton felt his team was distracted by personal issues instead of the topic at hand. “Guys, I get it,” Hamilton told the students in an attempt to motivate them. “We all have something going on. Heck, you all watched me struggle last year with my mental health and met me this year on the other side as a happy, open and honest gay man.” “So, I get it life is hard,” added the PhD. “Let’s put that to the side and get our work done.” The next day he was called into Human Resources where he says he was asked about his communication with students, did he text them, and what was the content? Hamilton said he did text some students as the team coach and in the context that one of the students handled babysitting chores for him. Finally, the HR representative asked, “Josh, have you told the students anything about your personal life changes in the last month?” Hamilton says his response was as straight-forward as he could make it. “Are you asking if the kids know that I am gay?” he told the representative. “Sure, just like they know that I was married, I have kids and travel each day from Fort Worth, sure they do its part of my life.” He was placed on administrative leave at that time pending an investigation into whether he ‘shared too much information’ with his students. That was a Friday. On Monday, he was told by the HR persona, “Josh, we have done our investigation and decided we are no longer going to continue employment.” Hamilton says he was given no due process nor provided with any evidence. When he asked to see the text messages the school insisted he was being dismissed for, he was told, “No, we need to protect the privacy of the student.” After hiring a lawyer, who asked for the text messages in question to be forwarded pending legal action, the school stopped communicating. A few days later, he was finally allowed to review the text messages that the school says are the basis for his firing. The messages were with a student who regularly took care of Hamilton’s young son, Jackson. Hamilton says the topics in the 8 text messages ranged from his son to separating from his wife to his new dating life. The instructor says the student was babysitting when he would go on dates, so the issue came up. “If we’re going to fire a teacher for texting a kid, we’re going to fire a lot of teachers in Texas,” Hamilton told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And he insists none of the messages have ever been inappropriate. The student’s parents didn’t see it that way. At a meeting this week of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District, board members voted unanimously to fire Hamilton due to the District’s policy on texting students. During the meeting, Human Resources executive director Gema Padgett said, “Dr. Hamilton violated the standards by developing inappropriate relationships with students, providing inappropriate information to the students concerning his personal life, through text messages, treating students as family members or close friends and providing inappropriate personal information to the students.” Hamilton told the local NBC News affiliate NBC DFW, “Sitting in the board room and hearing her use the word inappropriate, inappropriate, inappropriate painted me to the public as a child predator. This has been the worst experience of my life.” But the school district, contending Hamilton’s firing was not because he is gay, issued this statement: “Mr. Hamilton has been proposed for termination for good cause due to violations of the District’s electronic communications policy, violations of student privacy, failure to follow written directives, and violations of the Texas Educator’s Code of Ethics. In GCISD, we hold all employees to high standards for their interactions with our most important people, our students. His conduct is not acceptable for an educator in GCISD.” Hamilton plans to appeal the decision to the Texas Education Agency, which would provide a due process hearing. He says he hopes to retain his teaching position. The state of Texas has no legal protections on the books prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people in the workplace. (source: NBC DFW)

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Former Conversion Camp Scammers Arrested For Child Trafficking

Husband and wife who previously ran 'conversion therapy camps' have been arrested in Texas on child trafficking charges The ringleaders of a former ‘conversion therapy camp’ have been arrested in Texas on child trafficking charges. From local NBC News affiliate KXAN:

More than a year after boys were removed from a nonprofit in Burnet County, the couple who ran it are facing trafficking charges. A grand jury indicted Gary Wiggins, 49, and his wife Meghann Wiggins, 34, on Trafficking of Persons charges.

They are both accused of “knowingly” trafficking four underage boys and “through force, fraud or coercion” making them “engage in forced labor or services.” The two ran Joshua Home, which officials described as a place that “purports to be a residential home for troubled boys.”

According to the indictment, the trafficking allegedly occurred between May 17, 2018 and July 25, 2018. Eight boys between the ages of 10 and 17 were removed after a multi-agency investigation into allegations of abuse, neglect, labor violations, fraud, licensing violations and human trafficking.

Watch the report from KXAN below:

The Advocate reports the couple has hopped from state to state setting up so-called ‘conversion therapy’ camps where they tried to torture the gay out of young boys.

Before the Wigginses set up the home in Missouri, they ran the Blessed Hope Boys Academy in Robertsdale, Ala., where Wiggins was referred to as Brother Gary. The shuttered school was the subject of a 20/20 investigation in which boys who’d been sent there spoke out against the abuse that included forced exercise, solitary confinement, withholding food, and various conversion therapy tactics.

“He took off his belt and started swinging,” Lucas Greenfield whose mother sent him to Blessed Hope because he is gay, told 20/20 in 2017.

“I’m going to get the demon out of you and make you straight,” Gary Wiggins told the boys he terrorized, Greenfield told police in 2016.

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Texas Gay Bar Faces Boycott After Trump-Supporting Owner Announces Run For Congress

Mauro Garza (image via campaign website)

The LGBTQ community of San Antonio, Texas, is boycotting a local gay bar after the Trump-loving owner announced he is running for the Republican nomination for Congress in the county’s district.

Mauro Garza is the openly-gay owner of the Pegasus Nightclub in San Antonio.

He has announced he will be running for the GOP nomination for the state’s 20th Congressional District hoping to face-off against incumbent Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, a longtime LGBTQ ally.

His announcement tweet garnered one ‘Like.’

Texas’ 20th District is located in Jefferson County – the state’s only ‘pivot’ county. Pivot counties are those that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but went to Donald Trump in 2016.

Castro, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, easily won reelection in 2018 with more than 80 percent of the vote.

Garza proudly identifies as conservative and is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans.

An enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump, he campaigned in 2018 to be the Republican nominee for Texas’ 21st District but fell woefully short of winning the nomination coming in 15th in the Republican primary garnering less than 1 percent of the vote.

He’s mainly remembered for running around in a red MAGA-type hat with the slogan “Make TX-21 Greater.”

Hardly the stuff of political legend.

If you check out Garza’s Twitter feed, you’ll find a litany of anti-Democratic attacks and retweets from the Donald’s account. He’s also a staunch supporter of virulently anti-LGBTQ Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

The LGBTQ folks in San Antonio aren’t having Mr. Garza’s campaign announcement, and a boycott of his nightclub has been launched.

Local activists have launched a Twitter account, @ProtestThePeg, urging local patrons and performers to ditch the club.

The group also demands that Garza “sell Pegasus & the property itself so that LGBTQ money no longer goes to supporting xenophobic, racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ ideologies.”

In their call for a nationwide boycott, Protest The Peg singled out RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Kennedy Davenport who performed at Pegasus in July and has shown no public support for the boycott.

“We understand there are many artists who rely on the entertainment industry as their source of income,” they wrote in a statement. “We are fully aware of the limits systemic oppression can impose on us to secure employment and meet our needs. We recognize that our spaces are the safest for LGBTQIA+ talent to work.”

“However, the LGBTQIA+ entertainment industry provides different platforms that reach large audiences,” the group continued. “We ask that you use those platforms responsibly and refrain from contracting talent to attend or perform at Pegasus Nightclub.”

On his campaign website, Garza promises to “advocate Conservative Reform for the LGBT+ Community,” whatever that might be.

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Trump Gives ‘Thumbs Up’ In Photo With Infant Orphaned In El Paso Shooting???

Donald and Melania Trump (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

When none of the eight hospitalized shooting victims in El Paso, Texas, agreed to meet with Donald Trump during his visit, the White House asked that a tiny infant who had already been sent home be brought to the hospital for photo opp with the president and First Lady. Reporters were told they couldn’t trail the president during his visit at the hospital because the White House didn’t want the trip to be about photo opps. And then Trump and Melania posed for this photo – what in the hell is there a thumbs up for??? – and the photo was posted to the White House Flickr account. The First Lady tweeted the images as well. Baby Paul is the child of Jordan and Andre Anchondo who were among the 22 people killed in a mass shooting Saturday at a Walmart in El Paso. Doctors told reporters he appeared to “lack empathy,” while he was filmed bragging to medical staff – who have spent the week dealing with the aftermath of the massacre – about the size of a rally he had previously held there. https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/1159672574927753216

Continue reading “Trump Gives ‘Thumbs Up’ In Photo With Infant Orphaned In El Paso Shooting???”

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Touching Anonymous Note Demonstrates Why Showing LGBTQ Pride Is Important

An note from a young neighbor told a Texas lesbian her Pride flag inspired them to come out.

Earlier this week, partners Meghan Stabler and Sal Stow found a touching note placed under a rock on their doormat in Williamson County, Texas.

“You don’t know me, but my name is [redacted]” the note read. “We’re moving today, but I wanted to thank you.”

“Seeing a pride flag waving so proudly out side your house every day has given me the courage to come out to my family and be more comfortable with who I am,” the note concluded.

“This is why visibility is SO important,” Sal Stow wrote on Facebook in sharing the note. “You never know who needs the support and to know it’s ok. I hope this person is ok, their family is being supportive and they find a community to connect with that can help them through this brave process.”

She also explained that county officials recently voted 4-0 to not allow the Pride flag to be flown over the courthouse, but that won’t stop her from showing her pride.

“I am proud of who I am and the person I love” Stow wrote. “I will continue to be visible in whatever way I can.”

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News Round-Up: June 7, 2019

(via Instagram/JoeBlizzard)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Joe Blizzard (above) has one lucky dog.

• Less than half of the 20+ presidential candidates mention LGBTQ rights on their campaign websites.

• Brad Pitt has demanded the organizers of the so-called ‘Straight Pride Parade’ in Boston to cease and desist using his name and likeness for their event.

• Christians surprise LGBTQ Pride parade marchers with signs apologizing for anti-LGBTQ views.

• Sad news from Philadelphia – Deputy Sheriff Dante Austin, the department’s LGBT liaison, was found dead in his office on Friday morning of what is thought to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

• Pride Flag flies over Wisconsin capitol for the first time; Republicans whine, “This is divisive.”

• Carolyn Vaughn, a county commissioner in Texas, refused to sign a Pride Week proclamation honoring the lives lost in the Pulse nightclub shooting. “Just because you’re the LGBT—whatever it’s called, community, does not mean that I have to suck it up and support it.”

• And how about one more from InstaHunk Joe Blizzard as I send you all into the weekend 🙂