Tag: House

OPINION: Upcoming Legislative Session Poses Threat for LGBTQ Texans

The Texas Legislative session for 2023 began on Jan. 10 and runs through May 29, 2023. Republicans control both chambers. Some bills on the agenda threaten LGBTQ Texans and women’s reproductive rights. 

by Foster Milburn

Every two years, Texas representatives meet for a consecutive 140-day period. The sessions include the discussion and passing of bills that affect all Texans. We, as Texans, vote for these representatives to represent us from all 150 Texas House districts across the state, but most people need to understand how these bills pass. Understanding this element is crucial as voting is more than just who is elected governor. 

After a bill is passed in both the House and Senate, it is sent to the governor for signing. The last legislative session took place in 2021 and brought much attention to itself. 

During this time, two bills passed directly affecting women and critical race theory, such as House Bill 1280 after the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the “critical race theory bill” that severely restricted the teaching of current and past events. 

History won’t be erased, but we must learn and move forward from mistakes made and committed in the past. You can track these and more bills on the Equality Texas website, the official state LGBTQ advocacy organization.  

This upcoming session will directly attack LGBTQ Texans with laws similar to the ones passed in 2021 that restrict transgender individuals and their access to essential healthcare such as hormone therapy. 

In November 2022, Texas Representative Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) hired 22-year-old Jake Neidort as his office’s legislative director. Jake was a UNT student who advocated against transgender equality alongside his twin sister, who was seen in a TikTok video designing fliers, stating, “Criminalize Child Transitions.” 

In 2021, videos emerged on social media showcasing the harassment of local drag queens in Dallas, Texas. One was of a man who was driven by a queen who had just left a family-friendly drag brunch held at Mr. Mister, located in Oaklawn. Protests and harassment followed suit. Protesters suggested that drag exposure to children is “abusive, pedophilic, and confuses children.” Dallas police showed up and helped those with children out of the area. A day to celebrate LGBTQ pride disrupted diversity with violence. 

Now, in 2023, a bill on the agenda opens the discussion regarding children being in the presence of drag queens and LGBTQ culture in general. House Bill 643 states that any establishment, serving alcohol or not, would have to acquire a license that would require a registration fee and annual renewal. If a venue is found to violate this would be fined $4,000 and sentenced to a year in jail. In short, no more drag brunches for the inclusion of youth to be exposed to LGBTQ culture, even if family-friendly. This bill also brings up the fear of Pride festivals/parades becoming 21 years or older. 

Pride parades are a time for all ages of the queer community and allies to celebrate diversity. It is a space where people come to feel safe to celebrate the queer community. This exposure is vital, especially for Texas youth, as being a minor can feel very isolating for younger queer people. I know this because that was me, as a native Texan. 

Rain, a gay bar on 4th St., holds drag shows throughout the week. At Rain, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are 18 and up, according to Scott Percifull, a partner and general manager of Rain. “So there’s no opportunity for anyone under that age to get in,” he said, “it would be very challenging to enforce.”

The bill states that any business classified as a sexually oriented business would have to be a certain distance from any school or church in the area. When asked his thoughts, Percifull said, “It is restrictive. It is two steps shy of getting into private businesses and saying you can’t do that because we disagree with the culture.” Restrictions similar to HB 643, alongside other enforcements, foreshadow the hypocrisy as Texas is a state that dislikes rules concerning small businesses. 

Parents assert that children should be able to make their own choices, yet when parents who do support the LGBTQ community want to expose their children to all things Pride, it’s wrong? Unfortunately, a brick wall divides the state of Texas into two sides. The side that wants to celebrate diversity and move to a more inclusive world, and the ones who want to bully the LGBTQ community out of the state.

Opinion: Democrats Had The Best Midterm in Decades…Thanks to Generation Z

Nov. 8 midterm elections were predicted to be a “red wave” of Republicans taking the House and Senate. Instead, we saw more of a trickle due to a record turnout in several key states from youths under 30.

Opinion by Ky Duffey

The U.S. midterm elections occur every two years and are often seen as a referendum of the current President’s performance. And for the past 80 years, Americans have sent a clear message that the President’s performance has sucked at the point of midterms. 

Since 1934, every President except two have lost members of their own party in the House and/or Senate. Only two Presidents have defeated the odds by retaining or gaining seats in both chambers: Presidents George W. Bush and now Joe Biden. 

During the 2002 midterm elections, President Bush received a bi-partisan rally behind him in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. His response to the attacks conjoined with one of the few times in history when we became a united nation bringing both political parties together to not only help him gain seats in the House and Senate, but also overwhelmingly get re-elected two years later.

Here we are now, 20 years later, at the country’s most critical midterm election in recent years. But this time, there is no national event rallying the country behind the President. As a matter of fact, in the week prior to Election Day, Biden’s approval rating was 42%. Even Trump had a 45% approval rating during his midterm at which he lost 40 House seats.

Instead of a terrorist attack, all eyes were on inflation and rising prices this year. That was, until June 24 of this year, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a constitutional right during the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization proceedings. The overturn of abortion rights allowed several states to initiate near or total bans on abortion, resulting in outcries from a majority of Americans – over 60%, in fact, who didn’t support the bans.

While abortion was able to propel Democrats ahead in the polls, most Americans had inflation and new talks of crime by Republicans on their mind. It showed in the polls and by election experts that Democrats had a 13% chance of retaining the Senate and an 8% chance of retaining the House. Things started to look grim for Democrats as election night drew near with some Republicans already setting up speeches and stage decorations to announce the new Republican majority in Congress.

Then election night sent a shockwave throughout the country.

A sudden record breaking turnout of a certain demographic of early voters rapidly swung the pendulum in the Democrats favor: young voters.

Yes, people under 25 or Generation Z (GenZ) were the loudest voices in the midterms, placing over a million more votes than other groups and surpassing their turnout record in any previous midterm as well as the 2020 presidential elections. According to dozens of political pundits, GenZ, who normally votes in favor of Democrats, placed more interest in the 2022 midterm election than any prior election. 

Due to those turnouts in key states, Democrats were able to defy the odds and not only retain a majority in the Senate, but retain and pick up more seats in the House, narrowing the gap of their minority in the House by just seven votes as of today – a far cry from the 45 or more seat net loss that was predicted just a day before. 

In the end, Democrats did manage to lose their majority in the House, but overall, they won the midterms. And they have young voters to thank for this unique achievement.

But why this midterm? Some experts believe abortion rights was a bigger issue among young voters than inflation and high gas prices. Teenage women are more likely to have late abortions than adults, and abortion limits have much more of an impact on a young person than an adult. 

Other experts point to the looming shadow of Donald Trump and his influence on the current Republican Party. Trump left quite a stain on voters, especially young voters, as they turned out in record numbers to oust the former president in 2020. 

With that being said, has the power dynamics shifted in terms of voter demographics? Will more polls pursue GenZ answers? Will this surge of growing young voters be a continuing trend, or simply a one time rebuttal of certain policies and candidates?

As Republicans scramble with how to approach voters and rebrand themselves before 2024, I recommend Democrat leadership listen to the youth and their needs – they may be the lifeline of the Democrat Party for the foreseeable future.