Homophobia At Play in Speaker's Race

Speaker Joe Strauss

In four days the 84th Texas Legislature will convene in Austin. The first order of business is for all members to be sworn into office in a lovely ceremony with proud parents and spouses, everyone in their Sunday best, cake and punch to follow.

The second order of business will be the selection of the Speaker of the House and an increasingly nasty and impotent attempt by Rep. David Simpson (R - Longview) to unseat current Speaker Joe Straus (R - San Antonio).

Political Commentators expect Straus to easily retain the Speakership, but Tea-Party-associated groups supporting Simpson maintain the race is still winnable. Recently one Burleson group has charged Straus of pushing a "pro-gay" agenda in an attempt to rouse conservative lawmakers to oppose him.

Day 121: Anti-Trans Marriage Bill Kept at Bay, Tensions High in the House

Today is the 121st day of the 82nd regular session of the Texas Legislature, the House returns from recess at 10 am, the Senate will reconvene at 11 am.

The Senate adjourned yesterday without taking up SB 723, the anti-trans marriage bill that has floated on and off and back on to the "intent calendar" for the last month. The bill would remove a court order changing a person's legally recognized sex from the list of documents that can be used to obtain a marriage license. The author's stated intent is to make a 1999 case from the Texas fourth court of appeals Littleton v. Prange the binding case law for all of Texas, prohibiting anyone who has changed their legally recognized sex from getting married. (Read LQ's Legislative Intent and SB 723).

Bills on the intent calendar require a 2/3 vote, or 20 yeas, of the Senate to be brought up for a vote. All Texans are urged to call your Senators and ask them to "oppose SB 723." Equality Texas has set up an easy to use form e-mail that will automatically be sent to your Senator here. There are currently 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats in the Texas Senate, which means that at least one of the Senate Democrats will have to support SB 723 for it to pass. There is a list of phone numbers for Senate Democrats here, after you've contacted your Senator please call them as well.


HB 2229, by Garnett Coleman (D-Houston) sailed through the Senate Health and Human Services Committee yesterday afternoon, passing without any objection. The bill would make permanent the Texas HIV Advisory Committee, which provides advice from service providers and clients on Texas' HIV medication assistance and prevention programs. The committee recommended that HB 2229 be placed on the Senate's "Local and Uncontested Calendar," a list on noncontroversial bills.


HB 1386, Colman's teen suicide prevention bill, is scheduled for a vote in the House today. Tensions have been running high in the House since Saturday when the absence of several, mostly freshman, Republican members gave the House Democrats the ability to shut down further proceedings by leaving. A series of parliamentary moves preceded to volley along partisan lines - first threatening to lock the chamber doors - then to send State Troopers to collect absent members. Although the dust settled and the House resumed business the bruises of that exchange have continued to show in all subsequent debate. Monday's consideration of the so-called "sanctuary cities" bill, a highly controversial measure that would require local law enforcement officers to round up undocumented immigrants without providing training on how to do so or funds to finance their new responsibilities, has done little to ease the frazzled relationships in the increasingly sleep deprived chamber. Yesterday's debate included a scathing reproachment of Speaker Joe Strauss (R-San Antonio) from Trey Martinez-Fischer (D-San Antonio). Martinez-Fischer blasted the Speaker for his poor handling of debate and hinted that, like his predecessor Tom Craddick (R-Midland), Strauss could be removed from his Speakership if he continued to disregard the traditions and procedures of the House.

With tensions high the chamber's pace has slowed to a crawl, it is likely that, although scheduled for today, HB 1386 will not be brought up until tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the last day for the House to consider House bills for the first of their two required votes.

Bipartisan Votes Key to LGBT Legislative Successes - Part III

In which marriage is denied in order to defend it and bipartisanship works against the queer community.

[Be sure to read Part I and Part II]

78th Legislature
SB7 (Texas Defense of Marriage Act)
by Chisum
Passed on Second Reading
Yea (35 Democrats, 85 Republicans)
nay (11 Democrats)
Present, not voting (2 Democrats, 1 Republicans)
Absent (8 Democrats, 1 Republicans)
Absent, Excused (5 Democrats, 1 Republicans)

The 78th Legislature was perhaps the most contentious in the history of the state. Republicans had captured a majority in the Texas House for the first time since reconstruction. They used this new majority to elect Tom Craddick as Speaker of the House. Craddick's reign as speaker was marked by vicious political maneuvering, questionable campaign finance and swift reprisals against anyone seen as opposing his rule.

George Bush had recently been elected riding a wave of opposition to marriage equality. As activists in states like New Hampshire and Massachusetts began to fight in the courts for the right to marry, conservatives across the country began to introduce anti-equality legislation at the state level.

In the Texas House Warren Chisum (he of "sexual preference") introduced the "Texas Defense of Marriage Act", which enshrined in statute Texas's policy of not providing equal access to marriage to people in same-sex relationships.

Democrats were running scared after their defeat in the polls the previous November. 57% of the Democrats in the 78th Texas House voted in favor of denying marriage equality. While some of those probably honestly thought that was the right thing to do most were simply bending to the prevailing political wind. Willing to compromise other people's civil rights for their own political career most of them have since lost their bids for re-election. Only 40% of the Democrats who voted for inequality are still serving in the Texas House, 73% of those who stood by our community still hold their seats.

In the case of Texas DOMA bipartisan support for legislation worked against the LGBT community. Once again the bill would have passed solely along partisan lines, but the overwhelming Democrat support for this hateful legislation would create the impression of a mandate leading, just two years later, to the inclusion of DOMA not only in statute, but in the State Constitution.

Up Next: Marriage is one thing - but what about parenthood?

UPDATE: Chisum Remains in Speakers Race

UPDATE: Chisum has stated on his facebook page that he has not dropped out of the race:

"There is no two ways about it: the Republican House members must caucus and unite behind a single conservative candidate for Speaker. If there is no caucus I will remain a candidate for Speaker when the Legislature meets on January 11, 2011."

The "caucus" he's referring to is a proposal being supported by some conservative Republican House members that the Republican members of the House agree to meet by themselves, vote for a Speaker candidate, and agree to all vote for whoever wins that vote. This is very similar to how the Speaker of the United States Congress is selected, but is an unprecedented way to select a Speaker of the Texas House.

Frankly it would set a dangerous precedent. The current system of selecting a speaker based on the votes of the whole house insures that the person selected is, generally speaking, to the center of the ideological spectrum of the body. If one party, any party, requires it's members to vote for the party's selected candidate, rather than for the candidate members believe would best protect the priorities of their constituents, it will guarantee the election of a partisan ideologue as Speaker, rather than the statesman (or woman) the House needs to run effectively.

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Original title: Chisum to Drop Out of Speakers Race, Support Paxon

The Ellis Herald reports that notorious bigot Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) will drop out of the race for Speaker of the Texas House and support Ken Paxton (R-McKinney) in his attempt to unseat Speaker Joe Straus.

Chisum, you may remember, is the father of the Texas version of the "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) and perhaps the most rabid homophobe in the State of Texas (more HERE).

According to the Rules of the Texas House the speaker is elected by the 150 members of the House, from amongst its members, by a simple majority vote. The speaker is responsible for the day to day operations of the House and appoints all committee members and chairs. 'Speaker of the House' is the third most powerful position in Texas Politics, right behind Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

Traditionally the speaker is a member of whatever party has the most members in the House, although that is not required, a speaker from the non-ruling party has never been elected. Starting with the close of the previous legislative session any member of the house may begin to collect "pledges" from other members, promising their votes for speaker.

Chisum declared his intention to run for speaker shortly before the November election. I spoke with one House member (it was a private conversation, so I'm going to leave their name off) who said that Chisum's record on queer issues is part of what prevented them from supporting him: "My Gay constituents would kill me!"

The current Speaker, Joe Straus, was elected by an almost evenly divided house (74 Democrats and 76 Republicans) and with significant Democratic support. He is a moderate who was widely praised for his bipartisan even-handed handling of the affairs of the House. Which is why the far right hates him.

The current House is not nearly so evenly divided (it will probably be 51 Democrats and 99 Republicans - but there is still one race that may face an additional recount and one special election to fill the seat of a member who died shortly after the election). To maintain his speakership Straus will need to collect 76 pledges from members, but those members can be of any party.

One might assume that all 51 Democrats will pledge to Straus, but with a tight two person race it may be tempting for some to pledge to Paxton in exchange for prime committee appointments and preferential treatment for their legislative agenda. That's how the speaker previous to Straus, Tom Craddick, came to power. Several of the vilified "Craddick Ds" who supported him are still serving and may be willing to make a similar deal with the devil this session.

Paxton is affiliated with the Teabaggers, although not the arch-conservative Chisum is, he did vote for the Texas version of DOMA during his first term in the House (so did Speaker Straus). There really haven't been any other "test" bills to make it to the floor since then and since he has, for the most part, served on financial committees so he does not have a committee voting record that can be analyzed to understand where he stands on other queer issues.

That said, Paxton's rhetoric about being a "true" conservative and his strong Teabagger ties would seem to indicate that few, if any, of the legislative priorities of queer Texans would see the light of day in a Paxton House.

General consensus is that Straus has a good chance of hanging on to the speakership, but with 34 freshmen members of the House without a record to base predictions on, it's still anybody's game.

Notorious Bigot Warren Chisum to Run for Speaker of the House

Rep. Warren Chisum, the man who brought us the Texas version of the "Defense of Marriage Act", announced his candidacy for Speaker of the Texas House today according to the Austin American Statesmen.

You may remember Chisum for his attempt to block the divorce of two men in Dallas, as the person who killed Rep. Strama's anti-bullying bill, or as the reason the Texas hate crimes statute says "Sexual Preference" instead of "Sexual Orientation". I, however, will forever remember him as the man who removed legislation to create a statewide commission on Holocaust and Genocide from consideration rather than allow an amendment to be offered that would have recognized that the Nazis targeted queer people.

The Speaker of the House is elected by members of the House from among House members of the ruling party. In 2009 the current Speaker, Joe Straus, replaced the former speaker Tom Craddick by putting together a coalition of Democratic and Republican House members.

Strauss has been praised for his hands-off bipartisan approach to the Speakership. Which stands in sharp contrast to the strong-armed approach favored by Craddick. (Craddick's many controversial decisions led to the phrase "Bad Precedents" becoming a kind of inside joke around the capitol.) Chisum was a major supporter of Craddick, who gave him prime committee appointments and generous support for his legislative agenda.

Chisum is far outside of the mainstream of the house, and frankly has very little chance of becoming Speaker. Announcing his candidacy is the impotent act of a bitter, defeated man.

However, the thought of a Chisum speakership should be frightening enough to provide any fair-minded Texan with their share of chills this Halloween season.

Texas House Districts Divide Queer Main Street

There’s been a lot of media attention on the census lately, most of it focused on how the census helps determine funding levels for things like roads and schools. The census is also used as an excuse for the Texas legislature to redraw the borders of House and Senate districts every ten years, in the year after the census (Technically Texas can redraw its districts borders whenever it feels like it according to the Supreme Court in LULAC v. Perry).

The State Constitution requires that in drawing lines the legislature attempt to create districts that have about the same number of people in them. It also requires that districts include entire counties, unless the population of those counties is large enough that they have to contain multiple districts.

In addition the Voting Rights Act (signed into law by Texan Lyndon B. Johnson!) has provisions that require the district lines to be reviewed to insure that they are not drawn in ways that divide geographic areas with populations that are primarily made up of ethnic minorities. (Although the Supreme Court weakened this provision last year in Bartlett v. Strickland).

It has also been the practice of the legislature in drawing district borders to not split up cities, unless the city’s population is so large that it can’t be placed into only one district.

Unfortunately, no such rule or practice exists to keep the legislature from splitting up the “Gayborhood”.

(The maps are taken from the Legislative Council Website (the Legislative Council are the Legislature's lawyers) )

This is Dallas’s historic GLBT neighborhood: Oaklawn, which is centered around the entertainment strip on Cedar Springs:

Cedar Springs is also the dividing line between House Districts 108 and 100 until the Toll Road, where a peninsula of District 103 intersects, dividing not only the population into three house districts, put placing important community organizations such as the John Thomas Community Center, The Cathedral of Hope and the Nelson-Tebido Health Center into three different districts. The average Friday night Oaklawn reveler will cross between these lines dozens of times a night without ever realizing it.

This is Houston’s historic GLBT neighborhood: Montrose, which is centered around the intersection of Montrose Blvd and Westheimer Rd.

Again the border between House districts 134 and 147 perfectly bifurcates the neighborhood, placing neighbors and important community organizations in different districts.

If this was only happening once, I might think it was a coincidence, but when the two largest concentrations of GLBT people in the state are both carefully split down the middle it’s hard not to think that there has been an effort to dilute our political voice.

Houston is lucky; the two house members (Garnett Coleman and Ellen Cohen) who represent Montrose are allies of the community. Dallas is less lucky; of the three Oaklawn reps, one is an ally (Rafael Anchia) who will come through when it’s important but does not historically fight for GLBT rights; one has only been on the job for 6 weeks (Eric Johnson) and did not campaign on any queer issues; and one is a rabid homophobe (Dan Branch) who is fortunately being opposed by a gay man, Pete Shulte (more on this race soon).

Texas has only ever elected one out queer person to the legislature, Rep. Glenn Maxey. Currently there is no queer voice in elected office at the capitol. While allies are wonderful things to have, we cannot expect them to understand what it means to be GLBT in Texas, and they will never fight for us as hard as we would fight for ourselves.

Anyone who has seen the movie MILK knows that Harvey Milk ran for office almost continuously for a decade before being elected. It wasn’t until the city changed the way it elected city council members and drew the district lines so as to include the entire Castro neighborhood of San Francisco in one district that he was able to be elected.

So long as the legislature continues to draw House lines in a way that divides the community it will be difficult for us to elect OUR representatives to state government. What’s more it weakens our voice with our allies.

Unfortunately there is currently not a good solution to this problem. In 1974 there was an effort to get Sexual Orientation added to the Civil Rights Act, but that effort has been abandoned. We’re not covered by the Voting Rights Act and have no legal grounds to sue to stop the legislature from gerrymandering districts to split up our community.

The new boundaries will be drafted next spring by the House and Senate Redistricting Committees, who will be appointed by the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor. Our best hope of ending this disenfranchisement is to have a sympathetic person in charge of appointing those committees.

The current Speaker of the House is Joe Straus, a moderate Republican, but it seems like the former speaker, Tom Craddick, is trying to regain the position. Straus won’t care if queer people don’t have political power, Craddick will actively work to prevent it. The Speaker is elected by the House members and is generally a member of whatever political party has the most members in the House.

Currently the House is split with 77 Republicans and 73 Democrats, so if we have any hope of getting a sympathetic speaker the Democrats will need to hold all of their current seats and defeat 3 Republicans. The truth is that even if the Dems get a majority in the House we aren’t likely to get a speaker who cares about the disenfranchisement of queer people, because frankly it’s not a priority for the Democratic Party as a whole (see how the Dallas County Dems treated the Oaklawn neighborhood in today’s primary runoffs).

The Senate’s Committees are appointed by the Lieutenant Governor. The current Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst, is a first class homophobe. His Democratic opponent in this election is Linda Chavez-Thompson, a labor leader and longtime hispanic activist. I can’t claim to be incredibly familiar with Ms. Chavez-Thompson, but from what I’ve seen she seems to actually care about fairness and equality. It will be very difficult for her to beat Dewhurst, but she is our best hope of moving these district lines so that our community can vote together.

Otherwise, we’ll have to continue to try to change state government from across house lines.