Tag Archives: John Wright Texas Observer

Equality, Houston Politics, Texas Politics

Marriage Equality Will Face Hurdles in Harris County

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In recent years, the month of June has often meant big news out of the Supreme Court, and June 2015 is likely to be no exception.  Any day now, it is quite possible that the issue of Marriage Equality could be settled once and for all by the Federal Government.

But just because an historic ruling could be handed down in Washington doesn’t mean that the dust will settle in states or counties any time soon.  As Dianna Wray of the Houston Press reports, Texas’ largest county is still far from making same-sex marriages a reality, even if they suddenly become the law of the land…

The U.S. Supreme Court is due to hand down its decision on same-sex marriage this month. Depending on how the court rules, county clerks across the country could see countless gay couples lining up to apply for their marriage certificates. However, if same-sex couples show up to the offices of Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, it looks like they might have some trouble submitting their applications via the current state-issued application forms.

[…]

…should the Supremes rule in favor of gay marriage this month – and the fact that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the resident swing vote on the court, has written virtually every opinion the court has issued on gay rights in the past decade, and has voted in favor of gay rights consistently, implies that the court will find in favor of same-sex marriage – couples who wish to apply in Harris County will still have the flimsy but challenging conundrum of a paperwork problem standing between them and that marriage license.

[…]

While the county clerks in Travis and Bexar have publicly stated that they’ll deal with the marriage application form problem by simply rewriting the form so that it won’t be limited to a male and female couple, Stanart has no intentions of changing the form or doing anything to rush in and start letting gay couples get hitched as soon as the probably-favorable SCOTUS ruling is issued. It seems that even altering a couple of lines on the application form is way too close to supporting gay marriage. “Right now we’re following the current law and we’ll see what happens [with the U.S. Supreme Court], and then we’ll see what guidance the state attorney general gives us, which direction he wants to go,” Stanart says.

Having already issued the state’s first same-sex marriage license earlier this year, Travis County seems a sure bet for Texas couples seeking to wed if the state ban is struck down, with Bexar County not far behind.

While it is true that Harris County is far from alone in this “wait and see” approach, it’s also true that the state’s most populous county will face more pressure to evolve than some of its peers.  The LGBT community in Houston, with its strong political ties and rich history of activism, is not likely to accept a “de facto stay” of the ruling from the County Clerk’s office.

In any event, this is one issue that is definitely worth watching.

Off the Kuff has more.

Harris County LGBT

UPDATE:  While Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart has not changed his position on marriage equality (cough FAIL cough) , Dallas County Clerk John Warren wants his offices to be ready for the expected SCOTUS decision.  Here’s more from John Wright of the Texas Observer…

The Dallas County clerk now says he’ll issue licenses to gay and lesbian couples if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage later this month.

Previously, Democratic Clerk John Warren told the Observer he was concerned about modifying marriage license application forms, which are generated by the state and say “male” and “female.” Warren wrote in an email Wednesday that he contacted the Texas Department of State Health Services about the forms last week, but had not heard back, so he came up with an alternative strategy in consultation with the Dallas County DA’s office.

“When the Supreme Court issues its opinion, I will immediately meet with counsel to make sure we understand the opinion,” Warren said. “Since I feel that it will [be] in the positive, I will be ready to issue license[s]. I’ve already sent a briefing over to our commissioner’s court regarding overtime pay for my staff as well as addressed the need to have security not lock the building at its normal 5:00/5:30 scheduled time.”

Warren, who came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2013, added that he’s asked a manager to survey staff on their ability to work extended hours.

This is great news indeed.  So while Houston same-sex couples may still face discrimination in their home County, at least they know they can add Dallas to the list of places with open minds and open doors on marriage equality.

Enjoy all of those extra tourism and wedding dollars headed your way!!

Oh yes… time to update the map

Texas Counties Marriage Equality2

 

Equality, Texas Politics

Texas Wins: Business Leaders Push Back Against Discrimination Efforts

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With historic progress now being made toward the goal of marriage equality in the state of Texas, new initiatives are ready to take on a much larger, more complex fight.

The new campaign, called Texas Wins, is focused on stemming the tide of Anti-Equality populism that has taken over many state legislatures across the country.  Here’s more from their inaugural press release…

AUSTIN, TX – A new multi-million dollar campaign, Texas Wins, kicked off today amid alarming efforts to openly promote – and expand – discrimination in the Lone Star State. Through business outreach, strategic communications, advertising, opposition research, and grassroots mobilization, the campaign will amplify the values of opportunity and fairness shared by a majority of Texans. Former George W. Bush media advisor Mark McKinnon will serve as chair of Texas Wins.

“All hardworking Texans should be able to put food on the table and a roof over their heads,” said Christina Canales Gorczynski, Texas Wins campaign director. “So it’s shocking that gay and transgender Texans can still be fired from their jobs or denied housing simply because of who they are. And, just as bad, such discriminatory policies are potentially expanding beyond the LGBT community to include veterans, single moms, people of faith, and many others. This is a can of worms we don’t want to open. Discrimination of any kind is not in line with Texas values.”

At the Capitol, aggressive efforts from Republican legislators are seeking to roll back municipal protections passed in many Texas major cities, like the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which seek to ban discrimination of all citizens including the LGBT population.

But within weeks of the launch of Texas Wins, the state received possibly its biggest win on the issue.  Here’s more on that from John Wright of the Texas Observer…

The Texas Association of Business has come out against two religious freedom resolutions that critics say would enshrine a “license to discriminate” against LGBT people in the Texas Constitution.

TAB, which is the state’s powerful chamber of commerce, unanimously adopted a resolution last month opposing House Joint Resolution 55 and Senate Joint Resolution 10, by Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) and Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), respectively.

Chris Wallace, president of TAB, said more than 100 members of the board voted to add opposition to the resolutions to the group’s legislative agenda at a statewide meeting Feb. 17.

“We feel that this will certainly make our state look very much unwelcoming when it comes to business recruitment,” Wallace said of the resolutions. “We also have several businesses within the state, our large corporations for instance, that have diversity policies already in place, and what we’re hearing from them is they want their state to look the same way.”

[…]

In addition to LGBT issues, the chamber is concerned the resolutions would allow people to claim religious exemptions to criminal, tax, health and safety, environmental quality and zoning laws. Wallace said the resolutions would also lead to a spike in litigation, costing businesses and taxpayers.

No matter how severely Rep. Villalba and Sen. Campbell want their bills to pass, most wager it will be hard to do so without the support of the state’s most powerful business organization.  In all likelihood, TAB’s resolution moves HJR 55, SJR 10 and any legislation like it in the “no-go” category for this session.

One can’t be sure that the resolution by the Texas Association of Business and the launch of Texas Wins are directly related, but timing does seem to matter in these events.  As people hear of TAB’s decision not to support the bills, they also encounter the voices of prominent Texans like Billionaire Mark Cuban come out against discrimination.

Whatever the case, one thing is for sure… Texas definitely scored some wins this week.

Visit Texas Wins and the Texas Association of Business for more on those organizations, and Off the Kuff has more on the story.

Texas Wins

(photo credit:  Texas Wins twitter feed) 

 

 

Equality, Houston, Politics, Texas Politics

Big Government Texas Part 1: TX Lege Defending Discrimination??

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You know the old saying Everything is bigger in Texas right?  Well that’s especially true when it comes to government oppression from the state legislature and Governor’s office.  Sure, Texas TEA-CONs (TEApublican CONservatives) like Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick love nothing more than to scream and yell about how President Obama and Washington are violating their rights and liberties to govern their own state how they see fit.  But the ugly truth??  In an ultimate show of hypocrisy, the TEA-CON leaders turn right back around and oppress the citizens of Texas and our municipalities with a much heavier hand than Washington could ever hope for.

So, as a way to finally expose this TEA-CON oppression, Texas Leftist is beginning a new blog series for the 2015 Texas Legislative Session.

B-I-G Government Texas.  

And on this first day of the 84th, hypocrisy abounds, especially for any and all fighting for equality.  Here’s the story from John Wright of the Texas Observer…

Four Republican lawmakers from the Plano area plan to introduce legislation that would bar cities and counties from adopting ordinances prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people, the Observer has learned. The proposed legislation also threatens to nullify existing LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances in cities that are home to roughly 7.5 million Texans—or more than one-quarter of the state’s population.

The bill comes in response to the Plano City Council’s passage last month of an equal rights ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations.

“There is legislation that’s being worked on,” Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano) told a group of pastors who gathered in mid-December at Plano’s Prestonwood Baptist Church in response to passage of the city’s equal rights ordinance, according to an audio recording obtained by the Observer.

“Jeff Leach, who’s also a state representative—he and I represent the majority of Plano—he’s actually leading an effort to nullify these types of ordinances statewide,” Shaheen said. “There’s actually four state representatives that represent Plano—all of us will be joint authors of that legislation—but Rep. Leach will lead that effort.”

Shaheen declined the Observer’s request for an interview about the legislation, which had not yet been filed as the session got under way Tuesday. Shaheen, Leach and the other two GOP Plano lawmakers—Reps. Pat Fallon and Jodie Laubenberg—wrote a letter to the Plano City Council opposing the equal rights [ordinance] prior to its passage. Calls to the offices of Fallon, Leach and Laubenberg went unreturned.

In one swoop, this bill would take away critical protections for Texans living in Texas’ largest cities like Dallas, Houston Austin and San Antonio, along with other smaller, brave municipalities.  It is a bill based solely on discrimination and lies, most of which are against the LGBT community.

As if that wasn’t offensive enough, the greater hypocrisy here is that the state legislature, many of whom have made their careers preaching about “liberty” “freedom” and “self-governance” all day every day, are now seeking to squash the rights of Texas cities and counties to prevent and discourage the discrimination of their citizens!  It’s the textbook definition of “Big Government”.  Last time I checked, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance was passed by that city’s governing body, the Houston City Council.  They have every right to make decisions about the laws governing their municipality.

For a true Conservative or Libertarian, this bill slowly creeping into the Texas Legislature has got to be most troubling.  How can one stand against government interference at the Federal level, but then condone an even more substantive intrusion from the state??

So the next time you hear that Texas TEA-CON lawmakers are trying to “limit government” or “ensure personal freedom”, you’ll know what they are really trying to do.  If passed, this bill would put decades of hard-fought gains for Texas equality behind bars.

Texas Equality Behind Bars

The Lone Star State cannot let that happen.  If you or your loved ones live in Texas, now is the time to contact your state representatives and urge them not to support this bill.  They need to know that YOUR rights and freedoms stand to be violated if this monstrosity is passed.

Texas Politics

Texas 2015: New Year, New Leaders, New Lege

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It’s a whole new year in Texas politics.

With the New Year comes a whole crop of new leaders for the Lone Star State.  With the election of Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and everyone else, Texas has now had its most significant transition of power in the 21st century.  Indeed, Abbott will only be the second person to hold the state’s top job in this century.

But despite the time-tested song lyric, old acquaintance shall not be forgot, at least not totally.  Ex-Governor Rick Perry is sure to dominate the news cycle as he mounts his second run to be President of the United States.  Funny… for a guy that spends so much time complaining about the “burdens of government”, Perry sure does seem to enjoy government jobs.  It’s quite ironic.

The other really big news comes from Austin, as lawmakers reconvene for the 2015 legislative session.  Despite strong campaign pledges to the contrary, pressures are mounting for the legislature to find a Texas solution for Medicaid Expansion.  If left undone, state hospital funding sources will be decimated, and many more smaller healthcare facilities will be forced to close down.  Whether Republicans hold ideological opposition to the law or not, ignoring the issue could spell certain doom for the state’s rural hospitals.

Fracking will also monopolize much political attention this year, as the lege tries to deal with how to punish the citizens of Denton for voting to ban the controversial practice within their municipality.  Legislators also have to figure out a response to new clean air proposals for the EPA from the Obama administration, which would force the state to cut pollutants.

It’s no secret that the composition of the 2015 legislature will be much further to the fringe right than virtually any previous year.  Which is why it shouldn’t be surprising to see that a bunch of Anti-Equality legislation has already been filed in advance of the upcoming session.  As LGBT rights watchdog John Wright reports for the Texas Observer, it could be a tough couple of months for the Texas LGBT community…

…a month before the session begins, the flurry of legislation suggests that, thanks in part to the legalization of same-sex marriage across much of the nation, conservatives will challenge gay rights in the name of religious freedom in the 84th Texas Legislature.

[…]

Experts say the amendments could limit cities’ ability to enforce LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances. In addition to Plano, cities that have passed LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances include Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

That’s because business owners could claim exemptions from the ordinances if they have sincerely held religious beliefs—such as opposition to same-sex marriage—making it legal for them to fire employees for being gay or refuse service to LGBT customers.

“It blows a hole in your nondiscrimination protections if people can ignore them for religious reasons,” said Jenny Pizer, senior counsel at the LGBT civil rights group Lambda Legal.

These “license to discriminate” bills will definitely be something to watch out for in Austin starting next week.  But this week, all of the major legal action will take place in New Orleans, as the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear challenges against the state’s marriage ban.  As the nation’s most Conservative appeals court, no one is quite sure how the ruling will come out.

Finally, just because the 2014 election fever has broken doesn’t mean that the fun stops until November 2016.  This month, there will be a whopping 3 special elections, as voters try to fill seats vacated by State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Rep. Mike Villarreal and Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt.

Whatever triumphs and challenges lie ahead, you can be sure that Texas Leftist is on the case for 2015.  No matter who leads in the state house or City Hall, the Progressive, Common-Sense Agenda will always be a a vital part of Texas politics.

Equality, Texas Politics

LOOKOUT! Marriage Equality May Soon Land In Texas

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Some very exciting news may be ahead for LGBT Texans, as reported by John Wright in the Texas Observer…

Last week, plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging Texas’ marriage bans asked U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia to lift his stay of a February decision striking down the bans. If Garcia lifts the stay, it could create a window for same-sex marriages to occur in Texas before Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott can seek a new stay from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is set to hear oral arguments in the case on Jan. 9.

[…]

“I don’t think there is anything keeping them from issuing the licenses once the stay is lifted, but an argument could be made that they aren’t required to do so until it [the outcome of the case] becomes final,” Upton said.

Fortunately, same-sex couples from Fort Worth will be able to obtain licenses in Dallas, where Democratic clerk John Warren said he’s prepared to issue them.

“You take an oath to uphold the law, and if the law changes, you’ve got to do it,” Warren said. “If the law says I can’t, then I won’t. If the law says I can, then I will.”

Democratic Republican Bexar County Clerk Gerhard C. “Gerry” Rickhoff said in addition to keeping his office open ’round-the-clock, he’s considering setting up tables in Main Plaza to accommodate same-sex couples. Rickhoff said he’s also lined up district judges to waive a 72-hour waiting period before ceremonies can occur, as well as officiants to conduct them.

“There’s a pent-up demand to stop these civil rights violations that are pretty evident,” Rickhoff said. “I would imagine they’ll be driving into San Antonio in droves, and that’s what we’re prepared for. Nobody will be turned away. We’ll work until there’s nobody left.”

Democratic Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said her office will also be ready to extend its hours if Garcia lifts the stay.

This same “marriage window” occurred earlier this year in the state of Arkansas, where a judge struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, but state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel did not file an emergency stay upon appeal of the judge’s ruling.  As a result of this window, 541 couples were able to marry in the Natural State, but for now the validity of those marriages is in legal limbo.

But Arkansas seems to be following a very familiar playbook… that of California.  Because of the marriages established for the state beginning in 2004, the Supreme Court had no choice but to strike down California’s ban once and for all in 2013.  These are all important steps in the process.  It’s one thing for a state to ban any and all possibilities of marriage.  But once people are allowed to obtain official marriage licenses from any counties willing to issue them, it’s going to be hard for Texas to keep up appearances with the state’s marriage ban.

So there you have it… we’ve got at least 3 Texas County Clerks that are ready to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses at any time.  Let’s hope that judge Garcia lifts the stay soon, and if you’re an interested couple that doesn’t live in Dallas, Austin or San Antonio, get your bag packed for a quick trip!

LGBT marriage County Clerks

(Photo credit:  Equality Texas)