In this episode, we ground Republican anti-LGBTQ+ attacks in history, including the historical trope of protecting cisgender White girls from perceived threats that have no basis in reality. Then we’re joined by Rebecca Marques, Texas State Director for the Human Rights Campaign to talk about the organization’s efforts to fight back against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the state and across the country.

Rebecca explains why we need to pass the Equality Act and put civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ people into law, the importance of intersectionality within the fight for equal rights, and what’s keeping her hopeful as these battles play out in statehouses.

REFERENCES:

Rebecca Marques - Texas State Director, One America, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) - @_RebeccaMarques

Organizations

Equality Texas - @EqualityTexas

Texas Freedom Network - @TFN

Texas Organizing Project - @OrganizeTexas

Articles

The Atlantic // Ronald Brownstein – Why the 2020s Could be as Dangerous as the 1850s https://theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/biden-2020-trump-election/616912/

GLAAD // Mary Emily O’Hara – Guide for Journalists: The Supreme Court’s Fulton v. Philadelphia Ruling This June https://glaad.org/blog/guide-journalists-supreme-courts-fulton-v-philadelphia-ruling-june-0

GLAAD // Ryan Roemerman – LGBTQ voters helped tip the 2020 election and we can do it again in Georgia https://glaad.org/blog/lgbtq-voters-helped-tip-2020-election-and-we-can-do-it-again-georgia

MAP (Movement Advancement Project) – New Report Highlights Unique LGBTQ Landscape and Advocacy in the U.S. South https://lgbtmap.org/release-2020-southern-broad-report

The New York Times // Kara Swisher – Inside the Republican Anti-Transgender MachinePew Forum – Attitudes on Same- Marriage https://nytimes.com/2021/05/13/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-chase-strangio.html?showTranscript=1

19th News  // Kate Sosin – The Supreme Court rules unanimously in LGBTQ+ rights vs. religious liberty case https://19thnews.org/2021/06/the-supreme-court-rules-unanimously-in-lgbtq-rights-vs-religious-liberty-case/

Background

Bostock vs. Clayton County - Supreme Court ruling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bostock_v._Clayton_County

HERO - Houston Equal Rights Ordinance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Houston,_Texas_Proposition_1

Proposed Federal Protections for LGBTQ+ people: The Equality Act https://hrc.org/resources/the-equality-act

Emmett Till - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till

1712 Slave Codes - https://books.google.com/books?id=ErPg7VegkcMC&pg=PA167&lpg=PA167&dq=preamble+1712+slave+code&source=bl&ots

Juneteenth - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

Wendy Davis - Filibuster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Davis_(politician)#2013_filibuster