Texas Legislators Introduce Bill To Void Local LGBT Rights Ordinances

Here we go! Just as I predicted when I blogged about the Arkansas and West Virginia bills that are the new face of anti-LGBT animus in state legislatures, I said that many other red states would soon follow their homophobic lead. Today comes word that the biggest red state of them all, Texas, is planning on joining the rush to deny equal rights to LGBT citizens:

A Fort Bend County Republican has introduced a bill that would bar cities from adopting or enforcing non-discrimination ordinances that include protected classes not contained in state law. Texas law doesn’t include sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. 

As a result, state Rep. Rick Miller’s House Bill 1556 would undo LGBT protections passed by numerous cities, including Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston and Plano. Altogether more than 7.5 million Texas are covered by such ordinances.

Will state legislators really override the local anti-discrimination ordinances that protect 7.5 million residents? We shall see....

27 States Now Have Marriage Equality!

The march to a  nation of marriage equality made another huge step today when  Nevada and West Virginia became the 26th and 27th states where same-sex couples can get legally married.

Now There Are 4: 52 Senators Support ENDA

The number of Democratic U.S. senators who do not publicly support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (the most prominent piece of federal legislation currently pending before the U.S. Senate) has now been reduced to four! Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) announced today that he supports ENDA, bringing the number of supporters in that body to 52.

Just recently I blogged about the fact that majority support for ENDA had been achieved in the Senate. Since then, a Republican senator has announced that she now supports marriage equality and Delaware passed a law embodying the protections found in ENDA. Rockefeller had previously announced that he was retiring and not running for re-election in 2014. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) is aso not running for re-election; perhaps he will become the next of the four Democratic holdouts to realize that LGBT non-discrimination is a core Democratic principle.