Major TBLGQ Rights Cases Being Argued At SCOTUS Today

Just wanted to remind the five conservafools on the SCOTUS as they do oral arguments in the two cases that will determine our human rights that  TBLGQ, and especially trans Americans are Americans.

Those cases being argued by the way if you haven't heard are Zarda v. Altitude Express and Bostock vs Clayton County Georgia, which have been consolidated in a single case to determine whether gay peeps can be discriminated against, and Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC, the trans case.

These cases are being argued on the basis of whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to anti-TBLGQ discrimination. They will also affect all federal laws banning discrimination on the basis of sex including Title X of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Fair Housing Act.  Just wanted to leave y'all with this reminder courtesy of the season 2 finale of POSE.

If it's Monday It's Austin, Tuesday It's San Antonio

One of the things about odd numbered years is that going into them, I know I'll be doing a lot of travel inside and outside of the state of Texas.

An odd numbered year on the calendar means that the Texas Legislature is in session, and I'll be doing a lot of scheduled and unscheduled trips to Austin to lobby or testify for and against bills.

Monday afternoon was one of those unscheduled trips, as TENT's ED Emmett Schelling invited me to come to the ATX to do battle against SB 17.

It is the unjust bill sponsored by Sen.Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) that would allow anyone with a professional license to discriminate against people based on their 'sincerely held religious beliefs' and not face repercussions for doing so.

Translation, it's the 'religious freedom' BS once again.   Perry is also the conservafool who stated that 'being Christian in America is like being Jewish in Nazi Germany.'

Yep, that was the level of conservaidiocy we were taking on Monday.

That meant for the fourth time this session I would make the 175 mile trip from Houston to Austin to handle some political business under the Pink Dome.  This was the first time this session I would get to testify for or against a bill.

In case you're wondering, my personal record for Austin trips during a session is eight, set during the 2017 session.  I 'missed a ninth trip because I was handling San Diego Comic Con business during the special session, and Senate State Affairs called for a hearing on SB 6 while I was on the Left Coast.

The joke running around in the Texas activist community about me not being there for that ninth time is that the TXGOP heard I was leaving the state for a few days and decided to call that SB 6 hearing while I was in Cali because they didn't want to see or deal with me calling their conservaazzes out

Emmett, his family, Brad Pritchett, Lou Weaver and I piled into a minivan and rolled from Houston late Sunday afternoon for the hearing that was scheduled to take place at 9 AM the next day in the Senate State Affairs Committee.

But interestingly enough, this hearing took place on the floor of the Texas Senate chamber since as you probably guessed, committee hearing rooms are hard to get this time of year.

You can watch here as I said my piece along with other Texans opposed to it about that unjust bill.   It was also nice to spend some quality time talking to peeps in the community like Ashley Smith, Claire Bow, Finn Jones, Ash Hall, Fran Watson and my high school classmate Lawrence Allen, Jr

He was with his Omega Psi Phi frat brothers for their advocacy day, and also sits on the State Board of Education.  It was also nice bumping into Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, Rep. Ron Reynolds, Rep Shawn Thierry, and spending some quality time with my own state senator Borris Miles.

In case you're wondering, he's opposed to SB 17

The next day instead of going back to Houston, since I was riding with Emmett and had nothing important scheduled back home, I made the short drive down I-35 south with them to San Antonio.

It was actually the first time I'd done the drive to San Antonio from that direction, and noted all the home and other construction going on along I-35.

While I was in Bexar County, Emmett, Andrea and I stopped by the northwest San Antonio campaign office of Frankie Gonzales Wolfe, who is running for the District 8 seat on the San Antonio City Council against an unpopular incumbent.

Frankie, should she be successful in doing so on May 4, would become the first out trans person elected to public office in the Lone Star State.  She'd also become if it happens the first trans Latina elected to public office anywhere in the United States. 

Was happy to hear that her campaign is starting to pick up positive momentum in the Alamo City, but our trans sister could still use some donation dollars from y'all who pride yourselves on helping to build trans political power.

So after allowing for some time for Andrea to hang out with her mom Elsa, and grabbing a bite to eat to allow for San Antonio rush hour traffic to die down, we hit I-10 east for the journey back to Houston and to get a few days of rest before it was time for me next Monday to head back to Austin for another lobby day.

And nope, I didn't get to destroy any Slurpees in either Austin or San Antonio despite the plethora of 7 Eleven locations in both cities.

Well, maybe next time.

Laverne's 'The View' Suggestion As To Why Trump Hasn't Done A Pride Proclamation

Had to chuckle when I saw this video of Laverne Cox's recent appearance on ABC's The View and Joy Behar asked her for her thoughts on Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) Orange Is The New Black, transgender rights issues, trans people in the media and why 45 hasn't issued a pride proclamation like his predecessor President Obama did.

Laverne as usual does a fantastic job in driving home the point that TBLGQ Americans are also Americans, then slides a comment aimed at 45 you'll have to watch.

Enjoy

Be Known For Your Flawless FDA Anti-Smoking Ad

One of the things I noticed when I first started hanging out in the Montrose gay clubs in June 1980 that was in stark comparison to the straight clubs I hung out in during the 80's was that there were far more people smoking in those gay nightclubs

It was so bad that when I went into those gay clubs, any clothes I wore smelled like cigarette smoke for several days after those visits.   After Houston passed its non-smoking ordinance, that abated somewhat,  but I ran into the same problem in Louisville when I moved there in 2001.

The clouds of cigarette smoke were so thick in The Connection, the largest and most popular bar there,  I would literally have to go outside for fresh air.  I quit going to it and clubs in Da Ville period until Louisville passed its non smoking ordinance in 2006.

The reason I'm going down Moni Memory Lane about LGBTQ smoking is this PSA ad campaign launched by the FDA to tackle the fact that the estimated 2 million TBLGQ youth ages 18-24 are twice as likely to smoke as their hetero counterparts   That translates to thousands of TBLGQ adults dying from smoking related causes and diseases later in their lives.

The $35.7 million The Free Life ad campaign features this groundbreaking 'Be Known For Your Flawless' ad  that features several drag queens, Shangela, Tammie, Trixie and Manila discussing why they don't smoke and urging BTLGQ youth to live 100% tobacco free.

Here is the ad.