Shady Behavior By Presley In HD 29?

One of the reprehensible tactics used by the Texas Republican Party as they clawed their way from somnambulant minority party status to a majority by 2002 was having people run in the Democratic Party primary. 

In the 70's and 80's, that basically meant you would win in the general election because of the Democratic dominance of the state at the time if you won your contested Democratic Party primary race.

That GOP ringer person would after capturing the nomination, either wait until after they had won the November general election, then switch parties and declare they were 'now a Republican' after using Democratic Party resources and funds to get the office, or after winning the Democratic nomination, wait until it was too late to take their name off the ballot or for the Texas  Democratic Party to replace them to cite some reason to withdraw from the race, allowing the Republican candidate in that race to basically run unopposed.

When I saw this FB message from James Patrick Presley announcing that he was ending his campaign for the Pearland area HD 29 seat south of Houston, it not only sent deja vu vibes of back in the day Republican meddling in our Democratic primaries, but pissed me off on multiple levels.

Patrick Presley

          23 hrs

Friends, Family, Voters, and fellow Candidates,
With my deepest apologies, I regret to inform you that I will no longer be pursuing the position of State Representative, HD 29, as it is no longer within my best interests. I have made this decision within the last two weeks. I am not being threatened or coerced to do this. I know this will come as a shock to many, and that many will be upset with this decision, but please allow me to explain: 

When I decided to run for this office, I had the complete belief and motivation that if I gained the full support of the Democratic Party in this area, I could win this office with moderate stances and a voice of reason/unity. Freshly coming from the Libertarian Party, and even after winning my primary, this is not what has happened. I have been talked about behind my back, lied about, misrepresented, misunderstood, and unsupported. I have tried to explain multiple times that my former beliefs from my time in the LP were no longer my beliefs, as they quickly changed the more I researched specific areas of psychology pertaining to political viewpoints. My current political standings label me as a centrist, moderate, independent, and left-of-center. None of this mattered in the mind of the Democratic Party. As a Republican friend of mine told me, “When you won your primary, we were worried. When we saw how the Democrats reacted, we were relieved.” 

I no longer feel the need to explain myself. I no longer feel the desire to talk about moderate viewpoints to a group who only wishes to hear progressive stances. I will no longer feel the stress of having to spend my own money against a $500,000 tank. I simply do not have the influence and support within my own party to win this race. I would rather spend my time, money, and resources on myself, my education, my friends, my family, and possibly some wonderful candidates we have within the Democratic Party. I am particularly excited about Beto, Mike Collier, Kim Olson, Sri Kulkarni, Eliz Markowitz, FJ Jones, and Robin Burgess. (This is not a complete list of who I will vote for, but Criminal Justice Reform (Judge Reform) and Education Reform are my top priorities). 

I would like to specifically apologize to Dylan Forbis for taking this opportunity away from you. You have been nothing but helpful and kind to me this entire time. I messaged Dylan one day with absolute excitement and motivation that I could raise $100,000. He told me I was being too ambitious. I didn't believe him, but he was correct. I still believe need YOUNG REPRESENTATION in our government. I hope the next candidate the Democratic Party chooses is young (Below 40), influential, and a community leader. Preferably a veteran and a business owner. 

From here I will continue to go to school on my GI Bill. I hope to go to Physical Therapy school in the next couple years. I need a high GPA, and I may be required to move to find a school that is right for me. This is another reason it is not best for me to pursue this office. I will continue to preach Criminal Justice Reform and Education reform. 

However, I will not be pursing any type of office in the near future. I do hope to sit down with Ed Thompson to discuss my concerns within the state of Texas. Hopefully we can come to agreements. He has been very kind to me and already told me he would vote to repeal section 22.06 of the penal code (Deemed unconstitutional: Outlawing Homosexuality). This would be progress, but understand that this is not a reason I am not pursuing this position. We need Criminal Justice Reform, Education Reform, Father's Rights, and Healthcare Reform. 

I wish to not be harassed. If you feel a certain way about this decision, you are free to discuss it. Do not tag me, do not message me, and if you so choose, delete me from social media. However, I hope that we can understand and remain friends/acquaintances.

Yeah Patrick.  I do wish to discuss it. 

Presley beat Dylan Forbis back in March to get the nomination, and this situation has the unpleasant stench of Presley being a ringer for several reasons. 

Presley was a Libertarian, I'm  highly skeptical until they have spent at least five years in the Democratic Party that your change of party affiliation is genuine. 

Because we have been burned by GOP fake Dem ringers in the past. I and other Texas Democrats are justifiably skeptical of people from the right who join the party until we feel comfortable that your claim of seeing the political light is genuine and you have paid your dues in this party.

Just donating money to the Kentucky Republican Party combined with his conservative stances was enough to sink Andrew White's bid to get the Democratic nomination for Texas governor 

If  Presley wasn't sure he was committed to campaigning all the way until November, he should have never jumped into the race in the first place.

Another thing that is pissing me off about this late drop out and fueling my suspicion that he was a ringer is that under the Texas Election code, a political party may replace its candidate after a withdrawal if that candidate:

*Falls “critically ill” and would not be able to execute his or her duties if elected
*If no other party has a nominee for the position that is being contested,
*If the candidate withdraws because he or she was elected or appointed to another office. 

Since Presley's withdrawal from the HD 29 race doesn't fall under any of those parameters, it looks like for the second time since 2014, unless Democratic Party attorneys find a way out of this mess, Ed Thompson is going to go unopposed in a general election for his HD 29 seat.

That's disappointing and disrespectful to the 4056 Democratic residents of the district who voted for you over Dylan Forbis to be the Democratic nominee to take on Thompson.  

As you acknowledged in your comment, you not only took away an opportunity for Dylan to possibly serve HD 29 as its elected state rep, more importantly, you took away a historic opportunity for the Texas trans community, a community demonized in the last session by Potty Dan Patrick and Locker Room Lois Kolkhorst, to possibly place for the first time ever a trans representative in the Texas Lege. 

So yeah, that reason more than anything else besides wanting to see more Democrats in the Texas legislature in the 2019 session is why I'm definitely pissed about what you have done.

LaDon Henry's Nevada Legislative Bid Falls Short

I wrote a post back in April in which I talked about Ladon Henry's attempt to become the first ever trans state legislator in Nevada and the first ever trans masculine one in any state legislature..

He was seeking the District 42 state assembly seat, which is in the Las Vegas area and a undeniably blue one with a 2-1 Democratic registration advantage. 

Henry and the other candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination in this district were seeking to replace retiring Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adams (D) who declined to seek a fourth two year term.  The winner of the primary would become the next representative of this district because no Republican filed to run for it.

The Nevada primary election was held on June 12, and unfortunately Henry didn't win.   Alexander Assefa captured 55.32% of the vote (1399)  to become the next District 42 representative with Kathleen Lauckner getting 34.12%  (863) of the cast ballots.

Henry did get a respectable 10.52 % (267) of the ballots cast in this race, but I'm sure he'll tell you he would have rather won this race.

Will he run again two years from now?   That's a question only Henry can answer.   

NH Senate Gets It Right This Time, Passes Trans Rights Bill

So how long will my transgender brothers and sisters in the Granite State have to wait for their legislators to pass laws that allow them to 'live free or die'? 

And will you find the courage to do so?
TransGriot, May 4, 2009

Nine years ago I was justifiably going nuclear and putting the then Democratically controlled New Hampshire Senate on blast on my birthday after the all female led body voted 24-0 to kill a trans rights bill that narrowly passed the female led Democratically controlled New Hampshire House by one vote.

That vote, gallingly after they had no problem passing a marriage equality bill, kept New Hampshire  as the only state in the New England region that didn't have discrimination protections for its transgender citizens

The political script has flipped in New Hampshire since then.  Instead of the Democrats controlling all three branches of government, it's now the Republicans.   The NH Senate now has a 14-10 GOP edge versus the 14-10 edge the other way at the time.  The NH House is 226-174 GOP instead of the 225-175 Democratic edge it had in 2009.

HB 1319 is a bill that would update New Hampshire's non discrimination law and prohibit discrimination against my Granite State trans family in employment, housing and public accommodations. 

The House passed HB 1319 in a bipartisan fashion 195-129 back on March 7 after three emotional public hearings with a combined twelve hours of testimony from many trans New Hampshire residents that went into the wee hours of the morning. 

Today the New Hampshire Senate righted a nearly decade old wrong.by passing HB 1319 with bipartisan support 14-10.

The bill now heads to Gov. Chris Sununu's (R) desk, where he is expected to sign it into law. 

Once he does, New Hampshire will become the 20th state along with the District of Columbia to legislatively protect its transgender citizens.

And this day has been one trans Granite Staters have been waiting on for a long time.

Virginia Del. Danica Roem Sworn In Today

Today was the day that Danica Roem made history by being officially sworn in along with the rest of her colleagues in the Virginia House of Delegates. 

Del Roem (D-Manassas) became the first openly trans person to be elected and seated to a state legislature since Althea Garrison served one term in the Massachusetts House in 1992 

Ironically that was the same year Bob Marshall, who Roem handily beat last November, was elected to the district that Roem now represents.

Marshall was one of the more outspoken opponents of TBLGQ rights and earned the nickname 'Bigot Bob' for his longtime efforts to use his powers to legislate oppression against the Virginia TBLGQ community.

Who controls the Virginia House is still very much in doubt asn wo close races are headed to court to hopefully be resolved.   The Republicans for now have a 51-49 edge in the chamber pending the results of the court cases.

But today I'm focused on Del. Roem's historic achievement.   She's already filed ten bills, many of them focused on he campaign promise to fix the traffic problems on Route 28, and will soon find out her committee assignments as this session continues.

Ashlee Preston Is Running For Office!

The list of trans folks running for public office in 2018 just got a little bit longer.

Civil rights activist and journalist Ashlee Preston has announced she is going to run for the California State Assembly for the District 54 seat that was held by Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas

The 30 year old Assemblyman abruptly announced on Wednesday he was resigning from the seat and terminating his reelection campaign for it effective immediately because of health reasons.   

Ridley-Thomas is the son of LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, and the Morehouse grad  first captured the safely Democratic seat at just 26 years old in a 2013 special election.  He was in the middle of his second full two year term before announcing his resignation.

Ashlee Preston has decided to jump into the race to be the next Assemblyperson from the Los Angeles area district that covers West LA, Mid-City LA and Culver City.

"As someone directly impacted by the issues that often diminish the quality of life, I have an acute understanding of which policies must be put into play in order to move progress forward for the constituents of the 54th District and beyond," said Preston.

"I believe in prioritizing people over politics.  We are more than percentage points; we are real people with real stories.  I fully intend to continue honoring those experiences, and advocating for those who don't have a seat at the table," she added. 

A special election for the remainder of Ridley-Thomas' term will be held soon but as of this writing a date for it hasn't been set.

If Preston is successful in capturing the 54th District seat, she would become the first out Black trans woman elected to a state legislative seat since Althea Garrison did so in 1990.

Best of luck to Ashlee, and hope that she is chosen by the voters of District 54 to represent them in Sacramento and make that history..

TransGriot Update: Preston has decided to suspend her campaign 

The Long Road To An Out Trans State Rep

Ever since perennial Boston area candidate Althea Garrison ironically accomplished during the 1992 'Year of The Woman' getting elected to her single term as a Massachusetts state legislator and was outed two days later, it has seem as though getting back to having a trans person in a state legislature was the political equivalent of Charlie Brown kicking a football that Lucy was holding for him.

Every time we'd get close to kicking that ball, Lucy would snatch it away at the last second.

So it's why you heard the collective exhale of the entire trans community once the electrifying news of Danica Roem's historic victory began to surface..

But like all achievements, it was built on the shoulders of others who had gone before her, tried mightily to accomplish the task but failed. 

In 2004 the first serious attempt to break that political glass ceiling happened when Amanda Simpson handily won the Arizona Democratic primary with 57% of the vote to make it to the general election, but was defeated in the general election for the Arizona House District 26 seat.

Amanda Simpson would make history a few years later by getting a presidential appointment and serving with distinction in the Obama Administration in the Commerce Department and as the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Getting shadily chopped from the ENDA bill in 2007 and attempts to pass trans rights laws at the local and state legislative level heightened our community urgency to have more trans legislators.

But it wouldn't be until 2010 that two trans people in a red state and a blue state accepted the challenge of running for their state legislatures. 

In Oklahoma Brittany Novotny stepped up to run in for the Oklahoma state legislature.  The attorney was taking on a Herculean level political task in running for the Oklahoma City area House District 84 against the notorious homobigot and transphobic incumbent Rep. Sally Kern (R).

Novotny was unopposed in the Democratic primary for HD 84, but despite her best efforts, fell in the general election to Kern.

Meanwhile in Maryland, Dr. Dana Beyer in that 2010 cycle attempted to run for the House District 18 seat against incumbent Jeff Waldstreicher, but was defeated in the crowded Democratic primary.

In 2012 came the first attempt from a Republican trans person to win a legislative seat.

Lauren Scott has made three attempts to win the District 30 seat in the Nevada State Assembly .Scott attempted her first run, got 21% of the vote in a three way race, but was defeated in the primary by Ken Lightfoot.

Then came the surprising news that Stacie Laughton had been elected to the New Hampshire Legislature in a Nashua area district.

But unfortunately mounting personal and legal troubles kept her from actually sitting in the legislative seat she'd won, and she resigned before having an opportunity to be sworn in for it.

In 2014 came another attempt of an Oklahoma based trans woman to run for and win a Oklahoma House seat.   It was another Oklahoma City area seat, but time in the more blue House District 88. It was also retired OKC police officer Paula Sophia who was going to make that run to history.

The seat was being vacated by Rep Al McAffrey, who was attempting to run for Congress and there were including Sophia four candidates in that race.   Since the Oklahoma Republicans didn't even bother to run a candidate for that seat, the person who emerged from the June 24 runoff would win and basically become the next District 88 rep.

Jason Dunnington and Sophia emerged from that in first and second place race to qualify for an August runoff election since Dunnington only received 40% of the vote to Sophia's 23.5% of it.


In the runoff, Sophia missed becoming the first transperson elected to the Oklahoma Legislature by an agonizing 22 votes.  She's flipped the June election script and was leading for most of the night until the last precinct came in with just enough votes for Dunnington to make him the district's next representative.

Dr. Dana Beyer decided to make another attempt in 2014 at running for office, and this time decided to try for the Maryland Senate.   She challenged sitting incumbent Maryland state Senator Rich Madaleno (D) for his Senate District 18 seat. 

Even though she received 41% of the vote in that district, she still lost that primary race to him.

Sen. Madaleno has resigned the seat to run for Maryland governor, and Beyer is attempting another run at it in the 2018 election cycle. 

Lauren Scott made her second run for the Nevada State Assembly as a Republican, and this time she successfully got out of the Republican primary.  She won the District 30 primary with 58% of the vote over Adam Khan.   But despite running in a year in which the Republicans seized control of the Nevada House, she still lost in the general election to incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle 53.9% - 46.1%

In 2016, Kim Coco Iwamoto, who had already made history by becoming the first out transperson to be elected to statewide office as a result of her 2006 election to the Hawaii State Board of Education, decided to run for the Hawaii Senate District 13 seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland. 

Iwamoto got 31% of the vote in that Senate District 13 Democratic Primary, but lost to the eventual winner Karl Rhoads.   She currently sits on the Hawaii Human Rights Commission, and has recently announced she will be running to become Hawaii's next lieutenant governor in the 2018 cycle.

In that 2016 cycle Lauren Scott  got a rematch against incumbent Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle when both ran unopposed in their respective party primaries. 

The result of the rematch was worse for Scott, who was blown out by Sprinkle 58%-42%

This is the trans electoral history for our electoral legislative run that preceded last night's triumphant blowout win by Danica Roem.

Here's hoping that Del-Elect Roem will be joined by countless other trans people in their state's legislative chambers because frankly, in a time when Trump and the Republicans are trying to push anti trans legislation and policies, we need them there.

Danica Roem Makes History!

Ever since Althea Garrison won a seat in the Massachusetts House in 1992, was outed two days after her win and served one term, out trans women in several states over multiple election cycles have tried to get elected to their respective state legislatures.

Tonight Danica Roem cracked that legislative glass ceiling for the trans community, and did so in an impressive and huge way, beating him by 10 points 55% - 45%

It's a win that is resounding across the commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and in the American transgender community.  Roem not only took down 26 year incumbent delegate Bob Marshall (R) in their VA 13 race, the win is even sweeter because 'Bigot Bob' Marshall is one of the TBLGQ community's longtime legislative haters.

Roem also outraised Marshall 3-1, receiving $500,000 in donations.  She also had a TransUnited Fund fuelled ground game that knocked on 75,000 doors and provided critical support during this historic and now successful run to a legislative seat.   

Marshall lived up to that nickname by not only refusing to debate Roem, but repeatedly misgendered her throughout the campaign.   Looks like Danica had the last laugh and Bigot Bob just discovered the hard way that rampant transphobia is not a pathway to electoral victory

Congratulations to Del-Elect Roem, who will possibly be taking her seat as part of a Democratic majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. 

She also with the breakthrough win has become the first out trans person to be elected and in January seated to a major state legislature.

Danica's Unapologetically Trans Political Commercial

As some of you are aware of, Danica Roem is taking on incumbent Delegate Bob Marshall (R) in a historic race for the District 13 seat that he's held since 1991 and used to be a relentless legislative oppressor to the Virginia TBLGQ community.

Roem won a four way primary race back in June to become the Democratic Party nominee in this race and earn the shot at taking down one of the TBLGQ community's longtime political enemies.

If she wins, she would not only became the first out trans person elected to a state legislative seat, she would become the first trans person elected to a US state legislature since since Althea Garrison did so in 1990. 

Bigot Bob is living up to his name by misgendering Danica, refusing to debate her and being a transphobic idiot on the campaign trail.

Danica fired back with this ad embracing her trans identity that Bigot Bob has been attacking.



Hope you Virginia TransGriot readers who live in District 13 are registered to vote and planning to help Danica make history in a few weeks. 

Bigot Bob Marshall 'Scurred' To Debate Danica Roem In VA Legislative Race

The Virginia state elections are happening on November 7, and if you live in the Commonwealth of Virginia and haven't handled your electoral business, bust a move and handle it before it's too late.

Been interesting to see 32 year old Danica Roem make her historic bid to become the first out trans person in the US to get elected to a state legislature and become the first to do so since Althea Garrison was elected to the Massachusetts state legislature in 1990.

Roem is taking on District 13 long time incumbent Del. Bob Marshall (R), who is a longtime enemy of the TBLGQ community and has justifiably earned the nickname he hates in 'Bigot Bob'.

The 73 year old Marshall is a prime example of what I'm talking about when I say that the most dangerous bigot is the one who has the power to write legislation.  

He sponsored Virginia's anti-gay marriage ban that was approved by a majority of Virginia voters in 2006 and was in effect until it was struck down in federal court and has been a longtime champion of anti- TBLGQ causes.  

In 2015 he tried to get a bill passed that would have legalized discrimination against Virginia's TBLGQ community in hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, government agencies and businesses.

In this recent legislative session he sponsored Virginia's attempt to pass an anti-trans bill modeled on North Carolina's HB 2 that thankfully died.

Marshall, who have been in the Virginia House of Delegates since 1992 representing this northern Virginia district that covers Prince William and Manassas counties, has been a proud foe of our community.

So it's hypocritical that  Marshall is now crying crocodile white tears because he's being called 'Bigot Bob' while in the same breath, his transphobic behind is misgendering his Democratic opponent and refusing to debate her.

I guess when you've been so busy using your legislative power to oppress people, it doesn't leave you time to learn what the actual issues are that affect your district, huh?

Good luck trying to use her trans feminine status to 'scurr' people into voting for you.   She's already winning the fundraising battle by a 5-1 margin at the local, state and national levels because there are a lot of people, especially in the TBLGQ community that want you gone.

It would be exceedingly delicious to me as a trans woman to see on November 7 Bigot Bob get taken down by a trans woman.   Danica has definitely demonstrated in the primary campaign that she handily won over four opponents and in this general election campaign that she does have a keen grasp of those issues, and that's probably why he's avoiding her.

Bigot Bob can run, but he can't hide forever, and he will have to face Danica Roem sooner or later. He can either do it now, or when he's making his concession speech on November 7

Another group of people he'll have to face on November 7 is the voters of District 13, which went solidly for Clinton in last year's presidential election

2017 Texas Lege Liberal To Conservative Analysis

Since we're less than 30 days from the start of our Texas Lege Special Oppression Session, time to start doing our homework and preparation for when we finally get to the Pink Dome and see the folks who are really on our side and who are a waste of our valuable time to talk to.

The Texas Tribune recently compiled a left to right political analysis of the Texas House and Texas Senate to find who are our most liberal and conservative legislators in both parties.

It's an analysis that will come in quite handy if you're planning to lobby under the Pink Dome this summer during the upcoming Special Oppression Session that starts July18.

It'll help you peeps who haven't been paying close attention to who these peeps are or where their politics fall.   It also give some of you planning to run for the state House or Senate the ammo you need or confirmation enough of their political orientation to run against some of those Texas legislative and senate peeps in 2018.

So let's start with the Texas Senate.

In our 31 member senate that has a 20-11 GOP majority, the most liberal member was state Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston), and the most conservafool, oops conservative was Sen. Van Taylor (R-Plano)

The most conservative Democratic senator was drum roll please, Sen Eddie Lucio, Jr (DINO-Brownsville)  and the least conservative Republican one was Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo)

Moving on to the Texas House

In our 150 member Texas House that has a 94-56 GOP Majority, Rep. Lina Ortega (D-El Paso is the most liberal House member, and the most conservative House member is a tie between Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park), Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) and not surprising (Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving)

All three are members of the twelve member Texas Oppression Freedom Caucus that caused so much trouble in the latter days of the 2017 regular session.

The most conservative Democratic House legislators was a tie between Rep Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) and Ryan Guillen (D-Rio Grande City) and the least conservative state rep was Rep. Sarah Davis (R-Houston)

Davis still pissed off a lot of people in her liberal leaning district with that affirmative SB 4  vote

And it also illustrates why the Republican caucus had some entertaining and contentious intra-party squabbles during that last session, because in effect, they are basically split into two groups, the Centrist Conservatives and the Tea Klux Klan-Movement Conservatives.  

So hope this post was helpful in getting you to understand where the legislative and senate players stand ideologically in advance of July 18.
 

Texas GOP Messes With Texas Trans Kids

Pissed off because their big unjust anti-trans discriminatory bills in SB 6 and HB 2899 were bottled up and died in committee,  the Texas GOP majority on Sunday, facing a looming threat of a special session, decided to switch tactics and attack Texas trans kids.

The Texas GOP House decided to attach an anti-trans amendment to SB 2078, which was supposed to be focused on Texas school districts 'multihazard emergency operations plans' and by a 91-50 party line vote amended it to require transgender students to use a single stall restroom, locker room, and changing facility at their school if they didn't want to use one based on their birth gender.

The amended bill then passed a 92-49 second reading vote as trans kids and their parents observed the unjust proceedings from the House gallery.

The Texas Democrats put up a fight, with Rep Senfronia Thomson (D-Houston) pointing out along with other Dems during a tense House floor debate that this was nothing more than a replay of Jim Crow era segregation as the Republicans tried to pathetically claim it wasn't meant to target transgender students.

“White. Colored. I was living through that era ... bathrooms divided us then, and it divides us now,” said Rep. Thompson, the dean of the TX House, to her colleagues. “America has long recognized that separate but equal is not equal at all.”

Equality Texas CEO Chuck Smith said this in a statement concerning SB 2078 and another unjust bill in HB 3859:

“Tonight, the state of Texas voted to advance two bills that discriminate against LGBTQ Texans. SB 2078 allows for continued discrimination against transgender students with regard to restroom facilities and HB 3859 allows faith based child welfare providers to use taxpayer money to refuse to serve LBGTQ people. No amount of discrimination is acceptable. There is no middle ground. All discrimination is bad, full stop. Targeting some of the most vulnerable children in our state is abhorrent, shameful, and disgraceful. The Texas lawmakers of the 85th legislative session are on the wrong side of history. No matter how upset or scared our LGBTQ friends and families are feeling this evening, Equality Texas wants you to know that we stand with you; and we will fight to protect you.”

The unjust SB 2078 It still faces a third reading vote later today before it heads back to the Texas Senate for its approval before it goes to Governor Abbott's desk

Crucial 2017 Texas Legislative Deadline Day Passes

We can't relax yet since the 85th Texas Legislative session is still running until May 29, but for those of us watching odious bills like SB 6 and HB 2899 I have some good news for you.

In addition to today being the 120th day of the 140 day biannual Texas legislative session, yesterday was the deadline for bills that originate in one chamber to be passed and be taken up for consideration in the other legislative chamber.

Translation into English:  If your House bill for example, hasn't been voted out of committee or been voted on by the Texas House to send it to the Texas Senate, it is dead for this session.

That means the odious SB 6 and HB 2899, which are both stuck in the House State Affairs Committee that yours truly and over 389 friends from across the state testified against a few weeks ago into the wee hours of the morning, are dead for this session.

That also means that if they didn't get a hearing, or out of committee, some of the good bills that would positively impact us also died for this session like SB 1341, which would have made the name change process in Texas an administrative procedure and taken it out of our partisan judicial court system.

I am keeping an eye on another one of those positive bills, HB 192 authored by Rep Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio), which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as classes in the area of preventing housing discrimination aimed at TBLGQ Texans.  I testified in favor of passage of it and it surprisingly made it out of the Business & Industry Committee on a 4-3 vote when Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) voted YES.  

We still have to be on the alert for attempts by legislative haters to attach these unjust anti-trans bills as amendments to other bills already on the House calendar to be attached to them in order to pass them that way.

Attempts have already been made by the GOP House legislative transphobes to do precisely that, but so far have failed.   I hope that pattern continues as the clock inexorably ticks down and the days rapidly dwindle to the last day of the 85th Texas Legislative session on May 29.  

As far as getting bills on the House Calendar and through that committee to the House floor, the deadline to make that happen was May 8  

So exhale a little, but not completely until 12:01 AM CDT on May 30.  

In The ATX Again To Lobby

The 85th Texas Legislative session doesn't end until May 29,  and that means until that sine die day our human rights and humanity will still be under attack by the Texas GOP majority in Austin literally until midnight CDT on that day.

So once again I'm up in Austin for a few days to support a good bill in HB 192 that prohibits housing discrimination in the Lone Star State on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and fight the odious HB 2899, the bill born out of GOP frustrations that SB 6 is stuck in committee.

HB 192 gets a hearing today in the House Business and Industry Committee,  so let the member know you support that bill.

HB 2899, the latest anti-trans hate bill will get its hearing on Wednesday so I expect to spend a long day at the Capitol for that one.   We also need y'all calling the members of the House State Affairs Committee to express your opposition (politely)  to the bill.

But while I'm in the ATX, I'll catch up with friends and chosen family until I head back to Houston on Thursday.

The 85th Texas Legislature Starts Today

The opening session of the 85th Texas Legislature under the Pink Dome kicks off today as you read this with a lot of ceremonial business happening such as the swearing in of new members.  We don't get to elect statewide offices until 2018, and us liberal progressive Texans will be anxiously waiting to do just that.

But first we have to get through this session that as people around the world know, Lt Governor Dan Patrick is trying to shovel through the unjust SB 6, the Texas Transgender Oppression Act.

In the Texas House, the election of the speaker will take place who is expected to be for his seventh term with Democratic minority help (thank God) moderate Rep. Joe Strauss (R-San Antonio).

Here are the numbers we'll be pondering for this session that will run 140 days until the end of May or the first week of June.  

The Republicans have a 20-11 majority in the Texas Senate that Patrick controls.

In the Texas House, it's 99-51 Republicans, just short of a supermajority..

Some of the issues they need to be focused on besides hating Texas trans people, guns and women's uteruses are our public school funding, the state's ailing foster care system, better mental heath access, making Texas colleges more affordable and special ed.

We'll see what happens over the next 140 days, and I know I'll have a few trips to Austin planned to do some lobbying to kill some bad bills like SB 6 and help support some good legislation..

And as you probably guessed, I'll be keeping track of the progress or lack of it on SB 6 and other bills of importance to the Texas TBLGQ community and liberal progressive Texans.

Massachusetts House Overwhelmingly Passes Trans Public Accommodations Bill

A month after the Democratically controlled Massachusetts Senate passed the trans public accommodations bill,  the Massachusetts House passed the measure on a 116-36 vote.

It passed the Massachusetts Senate on a 33-4 vote   While the Massachusetts House also has a Democratic supermajority like the senate does, the Republican  minority fought the Trans Rights Bill tooth and nail for over seven hours before its final passage.. The GOP opposition proposed 36 anti- LGBT or poison pill amendments to kill the legislation, which all failed.  .

The House bill bans discrimination aimed at trans people in area of public accommodations including restaurants, sports arenas, stores, hotels, schools and sports arena

Before it gets sent to Gov. Charlie Baker's (R) desk for his signature, the bill will have to be reconciled because the house version is different from the Senate passed bill.   Massachusetts senate leaders have indicated that they are ready to speedily accomplish that task, and Gov. Baker has indicated that he will sign it once they do.

And I Gov. baker keeps his word to do so, the Massachusetts trans rights bill passed in 2011 will finally have the public accommodations language it should have contained five years ago.

You Can Call Her Representative-Elect Scott!

One of the other races that had my attention besides the contentious race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was the 41st District race between longtime incumbent Rep. Tom Riner and former Louisville metro Councilmember Attica Woodson Scott.

Riner had occupied that seat since 1982, but was increasingly out of touch with this overwhelmingly Democratic district.   It didn't help his admission he hadn't caucused with the Democrats since the 90's and he introduced Kim Davis to the Liberty Counsel.

Scott was attempting to become the first African-American woman since 2000 from the Louisville area to be elected to the Kentucky General Assembly.

The race wasn't even close.  Scott amassed an overwhelming victory, taking 59% of the vote in the district to 23% for Riner.  Phil Baker, the third candidate in the race received 19%.  

Since there will be no Republican candidate for the District 41 seat in the fall, you can call her Representative-elect Scott.

She will be headed to Frankfort when the 2017 session starts, and becomes the first African-American woman elected to the house from Louisville since Rep. Eleanor Jordan left to take on then US Rep. Anne Northup. .

Congratulations Representative-elect Scott!  How apropos you won this race four months after the first ever Kentucky African-American legislator in Sen. Georgia Davis Powers has joined the ancestors.

Now let's hope that the Democrats can hold their majority in the House on November 8.

I have no doubts that you will do a wonderful job for your constituents in the 41st District and they will get the representation they have been lacking recently.    .