Texas Newsbites

When I write about Texas attitudes, it's from my perspective stuck out here in Bumfuck County, where if you squint and overlook the tatoo parlors, meth labs, and cell phones, it could easily seem nothing has changed since Eisenhower was president.  But in the big cities, I reckon things are loosening up when it comes to the gays . . . and about damn time.  I just don't get to see it happening - as I have to remind myself.

Several good news items today.  As I mentioned yesterday, City Controller Annise Parker may just be the next mayor of Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city; she'll face former City Attorney Gene Locke Parker in a runoff on December 12th:

More Texas gay news from Austin, Fort Worth, and Denton below the jump.

Down in Austin, Hank Gilbert, Democratic candidate for governor, announced tonight:

a 10-point policy proposal, which includes an LGBT antidiscrimination law in housing and employment, an end to discriminatory insurance practices, especially for transgender people, and repeal of the state's "defense of marriage" act. "I was raised in a home where discrimination had no place," he said Wednesday. "I was raised to treat all people equally. For me, knowing that discrimination exists in Texas and doing nothing about it goes against everything I stand for. It also makes all those who remain silent passive participants in discrimination."

Other proposed policies include starting an anti-bullying campaign for LGBT students. In a policy proposal, Gilbert mentions Eric Mohat, a 17-year-old who was harassed so much in high school that he committed suicide.  Gilbert added that he wants Texas to be at the forefront of LGBT rights because his state "came to sit at the table of equality very late" when it came to civil rights for African-Americans and Latinos.

Write that man's name down, fellow Texans, and remember it at the primary election next March.  My God, a Texas governor on our side?  There's a 9 to 1 chance hell will freeze over first, but I'm definitely voting for him.

Over in Cowtown, the Fort Worth Police and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission are releasing their final reports tomorrow on the internal investigations those agencies conducted into the raid on the Rainbow Lounge last June 28th - ironically, the 40th anniversary of Stonewall - during which patrons were shoved around, verbally abused, and made to lie on the floor amid broken glass.  One patron suffered a severe head injury during the incident and was hospitalized a week.  Two TABC agents have been fired, but the FWPD says it plans to fire none of its officers, perhaps reprimanding only one of them for excessive force.

However, the good result is this:

A city manager’s diversity task force, which was created after the incident, made 20 recommendations to the Fort Worth City Council Tuesday afternoon. The proposed changes include diversity training, doing more to recruit gay and lesbian workers, extending benefits to same sex partners and allowing insurance to cover gender reassignment surgery.

Many council members praised the measures, saying they will contribute to fairness and equality. One council member called it a simple matter of the "Golden Rule." But, not everyone is pleased. Stephanie Click, Tarrant County's Republican Party chairwoman, called the recommendations “a little extreme.” "This is Fort Worth, not San Francisco,” she said.

Your Head Trucker thinks he had better reserve comment on that last quote just now.  Let me just say, it's typical Texas backwoods thinking.

And in Denton, home of the Mean Green, the University of North Texas student senate has voted 22-1 to allow UNT students to vote online next week whether to allow same-sex and gender-neutral couples to run for Homecoming King and Queen in future.  The student government voted last September not to allow any queer people to be part of Homecoming, but reversed itself after campus protests like this one:



Way to go, kids!  Harvey would be so pleased.  We are the ones we've been waiting for . . . .