News & Commentary
Lawmakers Horse-Trade Away Texans’ Health and Safety
In the backrooms of the Texas Capitol last week, members of the House of Representatives further chipped away Texans’ access to reproductive health care by voting to defund Planned Parenthood. Denying healthcare to thousands of Texans who depend on these services is bad enough, but the outrage shouldn’t end there. Worse still, the deal was struck in a seeming attempt to divide those who care about justice. Lawmakers tried to trade one wrong for another: defund Planned Parenthood or make it impossible for transgender Texans to participate in everyday life by barring them from the public restroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
By Lauryn Farris and Rebecca Marques
Her reporting in Mexico could get her killed but she does it anyway. She has to. Here’s why.
More from ACLU of Texas’ Humans of the Border. An interview with a Mexican journalist who asked that her name not be used.
By Debbie Nathan
And You Thought The Bathroom Bill Was Bad
SB6 gets all the media attention, but it’s only the tip of the spear in Texas lawmakers’ sustained campaign to roll back LGBT equality.SB6 is a terrible bill. A spiteful, unnecessary, unenforceable piece of legislation the sole intent of which is to force transgender Texans to disappear from public spaces and public life. A similar bill cost North Carolina NCAA Tournament venues and $3.76 billion in lost business, and Texas should not expect to fare any better. The problem SB6 is meant to solve simply does not exist, but the solution it proposes would harm transgender Texans, Texas’s economy and Texas’s reputation as a warm and welcoming state.
By Mark Humphries
Immigrants versus Alt-Facts in South Texas
They used the bathroom at a ball game and got arrested. The community asked why. Turns out they’d been spied on by a government camera. But the Border Patrol told a different story.
By Debbie Nathan
Top 5 Reasons for Texas Lawmakers to Raise the Age of Criminal Responsibility
In Texas, adulthood usually means 18. Seventeen year olds cannot vote, serve in the military, or buy lottery tickets. There is an exception, though: kids are automatically charged, jailed, and imprisoned as adults the day they turn 17, even for the most minor, nonviolent offenses.
By Nick Hudson
Humans of the Border: Gabriel Sanchez
A beginner drag queen discovers that in South Texas, queer history and family history can be one and the same
By Debbie Nathan
A Private Prison Already Failed Willacy County. And Now They Want it Back?
Ten years ago, Willacy County officials made a catastrophic mistake. And they’re about to make it again.
By Astrid Dominguez
Humans of the Border: Gaby Zavala
Facebook is who I am. Really. Why do I have all the selfies? Well, I don’t have a partner, someone to always tell me, “You’re beautiful.” Selfies build up my self-esteem. I have yet to figure out my interaction with men. When they first meet me they love that I’m independent and can hold it down. They work really hard to get me. But once they have me they feel … what’s the word?...emasculated.
By Debbie Nathan
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