Tag: Texas

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Texas: Gov. Bang Bang will not seek reelection

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced today that he will not seek reelection.

“The time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership,” he said at a rally in San Antonio. “Today, I’m announcing I will not seek reelection as governor of Texas.”

Perry has served as governor since 2000, when then-Gov. George W. Bush (R) became president. Perry was elected to full terms in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Perry also alluded to a potential 2016 presidential run, saying he will “pray and reflect and work to determine my own future path.”

Since his 2012 presidential bid floundered – capped off by his “oops” moment at a presidential debate — Perry has eyed a second run.

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Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis in hour 12 of filibuster blocking GOP abortion bill

Over 100,000 people are watching the live-stream as Democratic Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis enters the twelfth hour of her filibuster to block a bill that would shut down 37 of the state’s 44 abortion clinics.

Wendy Davis represents my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, and I could not be more proud.

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Texas state Senator Wendy Davis begins 13 hour filibuster for pro-choice rights

The Texas state senator who represents my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, is attempting a one-woman 13 hour filibuster today to stand up for pro-choice rights today:

Wearing pink tennis shoes to prepare for nearly 13 consecutive hours of standing, a Democratic Texas state senator on Tuesday began her one-woman filibuster to block a GOP-led effort that would effectively close most abortion clinics across the nation’s second-most populous state.

Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth began the filibuster at 11:18 a.m. CDT Tuesday. To derail a vote in the GOP-dominated Senate, she must keep speaking on the bill until midnight — the deadline for the end of the 30-day special session.

Before Davis began speaking, her chair was removed. Rules stipulate she remain standing, not lean on her desk or take any breaks — even for meals or to use the bathroom.

In her opening remarks, Davis said she was “rising on the floor today to humbly give voice to thousands of Texans” and called Republican efforts to pass the bill a “raw abuse of power.”

Davis was greeted by loud applause and cheers of “Go Wendy!” from hundreds of abortion-rights activists who packed the Senate. Davis motioned for them to be quiet and Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the chamber, warned the spectators against making loud outbursts.

Watch Sen. Wendy Davis’ progress in the livestream above.

Read more at Talking Points Memo.

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Texas: High school salutatorian comes out in graduation speech to friends, family

From KTEM.com:

During his senior year, Belton High School’s 2013 Salutatorian Mitch Anderson had a GPA of 112.2, and scored a perfect PSAT score in his junior year. He said when he found out he would be the senior class salutatorian, he immediately began thinking about what he would say to his graduating class. He decided to “come out” at his high school graduation in his salutatorian speech, a decision Anderson said “felt natural.”

The ceremony took place at the Bell County Expo, in Belton on Thursday, with the largest graduating class in Belton High School’s history. But Anderson said he was intimidated by the crowd.

“Once I got up there and stared talking, I felt completely fine,” Anderson said of Thursday’s night speech at the Bell County Expo. He said he told no one of his plans to come out during the speech.

In his speech, Anderson addressed his struggles with coming out and finding acceptance with who he is.

“I myself am guilty of self-doubt, relying on others to give my life definition,” he said in his speech, “But that time has passed, and I feel the moment has arrived for me to be publicly true to my personal identity. So now, I can say, I’m gay. It is both a significant portion of who I am and an inconsequential aspect. It’s as natural and effortless to me as breathing. I couldn’t change myself even if I wanted, and believe me, I have.

He said no one, not even his parents and close friends, knew he was gay prior to the speech. So far, the teenager said reaction has been positive.

“I’ve received so much support and kindness,” Anderson said of fellow classmates and others. “Knowing that [people] found the speech inspirational has been really amazing.”

As for what inspired him to come out, Anderson said pop culture icons such as Madonna, Lady Gaga and Star Trek star Zacharay Quinto all played a role in helping him feel confident about his identity.

“They are all about standing up for who you are, being different, being unique,” he said. “They’ve gotten strong positive reception for their [actions].”

Anderson said he was aware of some negative reaction directed towards the speech, mostly posted on various community Internet message boards. Some expressed that it was wrong for the student to use the opportunity to make the speech about himself. Anderson noted that Valedictorian Jacob deKeratry also spoke about his own personal experiences as a teenager.

“I didn’t make the speech all about me,” he said. “It’s about acceptance, about celebrating everyone.”

Read more at KTEM.com

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Texas: Senate committee advances bill to repeal sodomy law 5-0

Texas’ Senate Committee on Criminal Justice voted 5-0 this afternoon to advance Senate Bill 538, which would repeal the state’s law banning sodomy.

From Equality Texas:

SB 538 would repeal §21.06 of the Penal Code, the Homosexual Conduct Law, which was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision. The bill would also amend the Health and Safety Code to delete the statement that “homosexual conduct is not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense under §21.06, Penal Code.”

SB 538 is the first legislation ever filed in the Texas Senate to repeal the unenforceable §21.06 of the Penal Code. Identical legislation has been filed in the Texas House this session [HB 1701 by Farrar and HB 3232 by Coleman] and in every session since the Lawrence v. Texas decision.

The legislation was filed by Senator José Rodríguez of El Paso.

(source)

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Texas A&M student body president to veto anti-LGBT center legislation

(pic via GLBT Aggies)

I reported yesterday that the Texas A&M student senate voted to allow “religiously objecting” students to withhold the portion of their student fees that funds the campus LGBT Resource Center.

Today, the student body president, John Claybrook, has vetoed that vote.

From The Eagle:

News this week that some student senators had targeted the center thrust the traditionally conservative university into the national spotlight, and [student body president John] Claybrook said it was time to “stop the bleeding.”

“The damage must stop today,” Claybrook wrote in a letter announcing his intention to veto. “Texas A&M students represent our core value of respect exceptionally and I’m very proud of the family at this university. Now, more than ever, is the time to show great resolve and come together, treating each other like the family that we are.”

A veto by Claybrook means that the legislation passed 35-28 on Wednesday will not represent the official opinion of the student body at Texas A&M.

Due to the close margin of the original vote, it may be difficult for the student senate to try to override the veto, should they even attempt the override.

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Texas A&M student senate votes to allow students to “opt out” of funding LGBT Center

The student senate at Texas A&M University voted Wednesday night, by a vote of 35-28, to allow students to “opt-out” of having their activities fees fund the campus LGBT center.

Originally, the measure was called the “GLBT Funding Opt Out Bill” but was renamed the “Religious Funding Exemption Bill” so that it would not sound as bigoted. Thomas McNutt, a co-author of the bill, tried to say the name change changed the point of the bill and that it did not discriminate against specifically against gays. “We came up with the new bill — the new bill that does not point out anyone,” McNutt said of the reworked proposal. “If you think this is pointing someone out, it is a fabrication in your head that you have created on your own.”

Student Andrew Lupo, who identified as openly gay, spoke against the bill.

“The Religious Funding Exemption bill is a facade to deprive GLBT students of resources to create a safe environment,” Lupo said to the senators. “I see so many of you, you’re young — 18 and 19 years old– and there is a great future for you. Is this how you want to begin your career — by attacking your own Aggies, your own community?”

Student Aaron Ackerman disagreed and somewhat overly dramatically compared forcing students to pay for the GLBT center to forcing doctors to perform partial-birth abortions.

The bill now moves to the desk of student body president John Claybrook, who told The Eagle that a “veto is always on the table” but that he was still mulling the decision.

The traditionally conservative university landed at the top of the list of “LGBT-unfriendly” schools in Texas by the 2012 installment of Princeton Review, and was ranked as the seventh least-friendly public university nationwide.

(source)

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Texas: Lesbian vicously attacked for defending bullyed 4 year old

A Texas lesbian was the victim of a brutal attack that came when she attempted to stop older children from bullying her girlfriend’s four year-old son at a local playground.

The victim says the assault began when the parent of another child realized that she is a lesbian. Thus far police are refusing to consider the attack to have been a hate crime.

Scarber is grateful simply to be alive. She said she was attacked at an elementary school playground for protecting a bullied four-year-old boy. The scuffle between children, however, quickly escalated into violence among adults, Scarber worries, because she is a lesbian.

“She was just helping him, defending him from a big kid, and this is what happened to her,” said Scarber’s girlfriend and the boy’s mother, Hillary Causey.

SeabournThe couple had taken Causey’s son, Jaxon, to the playground at Mesquite’s Seabourn Elementary on Feb. 17. Shortly after arriving at 2:30 p.m., though, the couple said some older children began pushing Jaxon around.

“Sondra said, ‘Can you please keep your hands off of him, he’s only four,’” Causey said.

The father became enraged, she said, when he realized Scarber, who wears baggy clothes and has short hair, is a woman, and that the two are lesbians. Friends since the third grade, Scarber and Causey have been girlfriends for three years. They’re raising Causey’s young son together.

“When he walked up thinking it was father and mom with the kid, he wasn’t as angry,” said Causey, 26, “but then when he figured out it was a female, he got like super pissed, and I don’t know why.”

She said the man punched and kicked Scarber repeatedly, hurling homophobic slurs at her while she lay on the ground, unconscious.

(via WFAA)