UPDATE: West Will Vote Against Trans-Marriage Ban

Original title: Unconfirmed Reports Indicate West Supports Anti-Trans Marriage Bill
From my article on the Dallas Voice Instat Tea Blog:

"Cristan Williams, the executive director of the Houston Transgender Center, posted a report on Twitter that Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, is planning to vote in favor of Senate Bill 723. As Instant Tea previously reported, SB 723 would remove a court-ordered change of sex from the list of documents that can be used to prove identity when obtaining a marriage license. The bill has the potential to void all opposite-sex marriage in Texas where one partner is transgender.

Williams’ information was based on a report from a Houston-area transgender advocate who called West’s office to encourage him to oppose SB 723 and was told by a staffer that the senator had received a number of calls in support of the bill and would be voting for it. West’s office has not responded to requests that he confirm or deny the report.

SB 723 was originally on the list of bills to be considered on Monday, but the Senate adjourned both Monday and today without voting on it. The bill is now expected to be considered on Wednesday.

West, whose district includes much of the Oak Lawn neighborhood, can be reached at 512-463-0123 or by e-mail at Royce.West@senate.state.tx.us. "

UPDATE: Kelvin Bass, Media Relations for Sen. West, returned my call regarding SB 723. According to Bass: “The Senator was not aware of this bill until reading the Dallas Voice article and had not yet formed an opinion but he will not be supporting the bill.”

Dave Welch Trounced in On-Air Debate

Dave Welch, the notorious executive Director of the Houston Area Pastor Council (the organization that said Annise Parker shouldn't be mayor of Houston because she is a lesbian (and the organization Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Bill White fundraises for) debated Cristan Williams the Executive Director of the Transgender Foundation of America about the Nikki Araguz case.

Despite the clear bias of the FOX news anchor Cristan did a wonderful job, which you can see in the video below. Perhaps the most telling question asked was the poll on the channel's website "Should Transgender or Transexual people be allowed to legally marry?" Not "People of the same-sex?" or "people of the opposite sex" but anyone, should they be allowed to marry anyone at all. Encouragingly FOX new's viewers seem to be more compassionate that it's anchors, the current results of the poll: 94.1% Yes, 5.7% No, 0.2% Not Sure.