Texas

From CNN on Sunday, Annise Parker, the mayor-elect of Houston. Speaking on her historic win becoming the Houston’s first openly gay mayor, and making Houston the largest U.S. city to ever have an openly gay individual serve as mayor, Parker said: “I understand that I’m a role model for my community … and I understand […]

Annise Parker has been elected mayor of the nation’s 4th largest city, making Houston the largest U.S. city to ever have an openly gay individual serve as mayor. Recognizing the significance of her victory to the LGBTQ community nationwide, Parker said, “I acknowledge that. I embrace that.” “I know what this win means to many […]

An 18-year-old West Texas man was kidnapped and repeatedly sexually assaulted earlier this week in a possible hate crime that’s being compared to the 1998 murder of gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard, reports the Dallas Voice. Citing a report from the The Big Bend Gazette, a monthly newspaper in Alpine, TX, the Voice reports […]

Another day, another horrifying report of violence against a gay teenager, reports the Dallas Voice. Jayron Martin, a 16-year-old high school freshman from Houston, tells KHOU-TV that he was chased down after school and beaten with a metal pipe last week while eight classmates stood around and watched. “All they kept saying was, ‘We going […]

HOUSTON — A group of socially conservative Houstonians is planning a campaign to discourage voters from electing City Controller Annise Parker in the December mayoral runoff because she is a lesbian, according to multiple ministers and conservatives involved in the effort, reports the Houston Chronicle. The group is motivated by concerns about a “gay takeover” […]

FORT WORTH — The City Council voted 6-3 late Tuesday to expand its anti-discrimination ordinance to include transgender people, capping a marathon debate over a series of gay-rights proposals that were forwarded after a controversial inspection of a gay bar, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A majority of council members spoke in favor of the […]

From the Dallas Voice: FORT WORTH — The disciplinary actions handed down to three Fort Worth police officers for their part in the June 28 raid on the Rainbow Lounge were “absolutely inadequate,” according to Jon Nelson, spokesman for the LGBT community group formed in the wake of the raid. Two officers, including the sergeant […]

Houston could be largest U.S. city to elect openly gay mayor on Tuesday. A Lake Research poll released this week showed Annise Parker in the lead with 27 percent of the vote. Parker, the current city controller, is known for her low-key manner, and if the polls are indicative of Tuesday vote, she could become […]

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) has sent the White House two suggestions for the post of U.S. attorney in San Antonio. One of the candidates is a highly regarded career prosecutor and judge who also, it turns out, is openly gay, reports the Dallas Morning News. Some Republicans are vehemently and unapologetically not ready for […]

FORT WORTH — There was more shouting than kissing Saturday in the Stockyards as two opposing groups armed with bullhorns squared off on opposite sides of East Exchange Street. About 40 members of Queer Liberaction said they needed to take a stand against intolerance by carrying out public displays of affection in what they considered […]