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Dallas mayor won’t budge on marriage pledge
Dallas Voice, February 3, 2012
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said this week that he has no plans to sign a pledge in support of same-sex marriage anytime soon. But Rawlings added that he believes his decision not to sign the pledge puts him in a position to advocate on behalf of LGBT civil rights among religious conservatives in Dallas.

Attacked for appearing at gay Pride, former Dallas mayor compares himself to Jesus
Dallas Voice, January 31, 2012
Attacked for appearing in Dallas’ gay Pride parade as mayor, Republican Senate hopeful Tom Leppert claimed this weekend that the city’s LGBT community was well aware he didn’t agree with them, but said he was engaging them anyway because that’s what Jesus did.

Dallas Mayor and GLBT leaders agree to disagree
NBCDFW.com, January 30, 2012
ensions have calmed between Mayor Mike Rawlings and some members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in Dallas. They met Saturday morning after the LGBT Community protested the Mayor’s decision not to sign a national equal marriage pledge.

Houston mayor talks LGBT issues at University event
TheDailyCougar.com, January 30, 2012
Houston Mayor Annise Parker told students about her struggle to become known for her actions and not her sexual orientation Thursday at Cemo Hall. Parker, Houston’s first openly gay mayor and the second woman to hold the office, said she found it hard to make herself electable.

Dallas mayor says he'll meet group over gay marriage pledge refusal
WFAA.com, January 26, 2012
The growing controversy between Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and gay and lesbian groups in the city will spill on to City Hall Plaza Friday night. The gay groups say they're organizing a 7:00 p.m. protest of Rawlings' refusal to sign a pledge to fight for gay marriage. And Rawlings says although he'll meet with them, he's not backing down.

Dallas Morning News praises mayor's refusal to sign same-sex marriage pledge
Dallas Voice, January 25, 2012
The Dallas Morning News published an editorial today praising Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings for not signing a pledge in support of same-sex marriage last week.

Texas A&M adds gender identity/expression to non-discrimination policy
Houstini.com, January 25, 2012
Texas A&M University President Dr. R. Bowen Loftin issued a memo Jan. 20, re-affirming the university’s commitment to non-discrimination in employment. For the first time in the school’s 141 year history, Texas A&M has committed to employment nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression.

Texas hate crime law has little effect
Austin American-Statesman, January 23, 2012
When Cody Carmichael confessed to San Antonio police in March 2010 that he'd shot 24-year-old Troy Clattenburg in the back of the head, it seemed an open-and-shut hate crime. Clattenburg had tried to kiss him, Carmichael told authorities, so he killed him. Although not originally categorized as a bias crime, police soon changed their minds under pressure from the victim's family and human rights groups. "Any way you slice it, it was hate," Clattenburg's mother, Ruth, said in an interview then. Yet Clattenburg's murder was never charged as a hate crime.

Pro-LGBT activists chalk Lampasas schools
TheNewCivilRightsMovement.com, January 23, 2012
The weekend before Martin Luther King Day, residents of Lampasas, Texas — a rural community about 26 miles from Ft. Hood, with a population of approximately 8,000 — witnessed the civil rights movement first hand when unknown person(s) delivered pro-LGBT and anti-bullying messages to Lampasas Middle School and Lampasas High School.

Dallas gays urge mayor to rethink rejecting gay marriage pledge
WFAA.com, January 23, 2012
he gay and lesbian community is calling for Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to reconsider and sign a pledge in support of same-sex marriage. In Washington, D.C. Friday, more than 80 other mayors in 25 states had signed the pledge sponsored by the group 'Freedom to Marry,' including the mayors of Houston and Austin.

Justices’ Texas Redistricting Ruling Likely to Help G.O.P.
New York Times, January 20, 2012
The Supreme Court on Friday instructed a lower court in Texas to take a fresh look at election maps it had drawn in place of a competing set of maps from the Texas Legislature. The justices said the lower court had not paid enough deference to the Legislature’s choices and seemed to have improperly substituted its own values for those of elected officials.

Dallas anti-gay nurse fired after social media uproar
Edgeptown.com, January 20, 2012
After an ongoing investigation, the Dallas Veterans Association Medical Center recently fired a nurse practitioner for allegedly making anti-gay remarks to a lesbian veteran. Lincy Pandithurai, a nurse practitioner, allegedly told former Marine Lance Corporal Esther Garatie that she was depressed and suicidal because she is a lesbian.

Perry quits race, endorses Gingrich
Washington Blade, January 20, 2012
Republican hopeful Rick Perry received no sympathy from LGBT advocates on Thursday after he announced that he giving up a presidential campaign renowned for its demonization of gay people.

Dallas mayor won't sign pledge but support marriage equality
Dallas Voice, January 20, 2012
Although he declined to sign a pledge in support of same-sex marriage this week, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings declared Thursday, Jan. 19 that he personally supports the right of gay and lesbian couples to wed.

Perry to end bid for presidency
New York Times, January 19, 2012
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas will ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday and endorsed Newt Gingrich, two campaign officials confirmed, a decision that could influence the South Carolina primary on Saturday.

Tea Party says "conservative" not "Republican" to woo Latinos
Reuters, January 12, 2012
"Whenever the word 'Republican' is used, it was almost like an automatic wall that falls," George Rodriguez, president of the San Antonio Tea Party, said at a conference organized by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. "Yet when we used the word 'conservative,' people were more responsive."

El Paso police investigate hate crime involving gay man
El Paso Times, January 11, 2011
El Paso police are investigating what they are calling a hate crime after a gay man was beaten and robbed outside a bar. Emilio Moreno, 23, was assaulted by two men late Sunday night in an alley outside the Rumors Sports Club & Lounge at 3317 Dyer, a police spokesman said.

Perry pleads for second look in South Carolina
Reuters, January 10, 2012
After rejection in Iowa and surrender in New Hampshire, Republican Rick Perry has pinned his fading presidential hopes on a long-shot resurrection in deeply conservative South Carolina.

Supreme Court to examine Texas redistricting
USA Today, January 6, 2012
As the election season intensifies, the Supreme Court will hear a dispute Monday involving the fairness of new voting districts drawn by the Texas Legislature. A San Antonio-based federal court blocked the Legislature's voting-district maps, saying they could not be used until officials had ensured, based on the 1965 Voting Rights Act, that they didn't harm the interests of Hispanics and blacks.

Ft. Worth man applying for top spot at HRC
Dallas Voice, January 6, 2012
As 2010 came to an end a year ago, longtime CPA and newly minted gay rights activist Tom Anable came to a momentous decision: He decided to sell his accounting business and spend the next year focusing on activism full time. He is applying for the top position at the Human Rights Campaign.

'L Style G Style' going national
KXAN Austin, January 6, 2012
After nearly five years of being in operation, the creators of "L Style G Style ," a free magazine featuring stories on gay and lesbian leaders in Austin, plan to expand to other cities around the country.

Perry comes limping home
San Antonio Express-News, January 4, 2012
Gov. Rick Perry came in a crushing fifth in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday and said he’d return to Texas to see if there’s a path forward for this presidential campaign. “With the voters’ decision tonight in Iowa, I decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight’s caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race,” Perry told a crowd at the Sheraton West Des Moines.

El Pasoan starts first magazine for Hispanic GLBT community
KTSM.com, January 3, 2012
An online magazine dedicated to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual Hispanic community is growing in popularity. The publisher of the magazine is an El Paso native who says this magazine is the only of its kind in the nation and one that was needed.

Houston man whose case advanced gay rights dies
Houston Chronicle, December 27, 2011
The Houston man at the center of the groundbreaking decision by the Supreme Court which ruled that states may not criminalize private homosexual conduct, died last month of a heart condition. John Geddes Lawrence was 68.

LGBT Person of the Year: Equality Texas’ Dennis Coleman
Dallas Voice, December 22, 2011
In his first year as executive director of the state’s LGBT lobby organization, Coleman led the way in getting anti-bullying bills passed. Now he’s setting his sights on marriage equality.

Activist’s expose on Perry hits the market
Dallas Voice, December 22, 2011
Former legislator Glen Maxey says he was motivated to write about governor’s alleged gay affairs by Perry’s hypocrisy; that he has moved to a ‘safe house’ following threats.

Openly gay man elected Harris County Democractic Party Chair
OutSmartMagazine.com, December 21, 2011
The Harris County Democratic Party in Houston elected Lane Lewis as the interim County Chair at their meeting last night. Lewis ran unsuccessfully as an openly gay candidate for Houston City Council in 2009. Lewis replaces outgoing HCDP Chair Gerry Binberg, who stepped down before his term was completed.

Perry, Parker Gain national spotlight in 2011
Edge Dallas, December 16, 2011
Two Texans garnered national attention in 2011, but for entirely different reasons. Houston once again made history in November when it became the first major American city to re-elect an openly LGBT mayor without a run off. Mayor Annise Parker is the first LGBT mayor of a major American city. With great contrast, the other Texan is Gov. Rick Perry.

Exxon Mobil hits new LGBT low
Dallas Voice, December 16, 2011
Exxon Mobil Corp. has again made history for its anti-gay employment practices. The Irving-based company, which is No. 2 on the Fortune 500 and has more than 80,000 employees worldwide, last week became the first business to ever receive a negative score on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index.