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What a week for equality in Texas
Posted on March 31, 2018 at 12:00 pm

What a week for equality in Texas!

On Monday, Equality Texas recommitted to our vision of a state where all Texans can feel secure in knowing they have full legal and lived equality. Our new logo makes it clear exactly what we’re working for and for whom.  And we’ve got a message for the enemies of equality: If you attack one Texan, you attack all Texans.  Watch our video here.

No Texan should have to leave the home they’ve known their entire life just to feel safe. No one should have to start life over and go somewhere else because they cannot get the support they need to be safe. It’s not OK that we allow hate to continue to grow in our state. After she helped defeat the bathroom bill, Kimberly Shappley packed up her family and left Pearland so her daughter could be free to be her authentic self. See how this mama bear is keeping her family safe.

No one deserves to have their job threatened because of who they are or whom they love. But in Texas, it happens all the time. Look what has happened to a teacher in Mansfield ISD who was suspended for saying she has a wife! Equality Texas believes that everyone deserves the right to earn a living and provide for their families without fear of discrimination.

This week, Equality Texas joined with the ACLU of Texas, Lambda Legal, and the Transgender Education Network of Texas to launch a resource hub for transgender youth. TXTransKids.org is an online portal offering information on practical issues related to school dress codes, bullying, harassment, access to facilities, and GSAs.

“It is so exhausting to live in a state where political leaders pride themselves on their discriminatory actions. But the kindness, love, respect, and support we receive from our community — the people of Texas — is far more energizing. It would devastate my family to leave our home and community, and we simply will not stop fighting the inequalities in this state and the ignorance that feeds them.” These are the words of Rachel Gonzales, our Education and Resource Coordinator, in a commentary published Thursday by the Dallas Morning News.  Read “People wonder why I would raise a transgender child in Texas, but I couldn’t do it anywhere else.”

Saturday is International Transgender Day of Visibility. Please check our website and social media platforms as we celebrate transgender people and raise awareness of the discrimination they face.

Thank you for supporting Equality Texas and our work. Please share our digital content and ask your friends to join us in the fight. If you are able, please help us continue this work with a gift of $15.

Have a great weekend!
Chuck Smith
CEO, Equality Texas