Texas

Tomorrow, the Texas state House of Representatives will consider HB 4105, a bill which would bar local and state officials from granting, enforcing or recognizing marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples, and further prohibit public funds from being used to do so. The bill puts Texas in a precarious place by inviting Indiana-style backlash, and if passed, would enshrine discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Texas state law.

With exactly two weeks remaining until the U.S. Justice Department’s May 15 deadline for the governors of all 50 states to confirm that their state is in compliance with the national standards set by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), Lambda Legal urges Texas Governor Greg Abbott to adopt the PREA standards unconditionally and acknowledge that rape and sexual assault can no longer be accepted as part of the sentence served for any crime.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (“TDCJ”) announced that today it will place Lambda Legal client Passion Star in Safekeeping as had been requested in an emergency motion filed earlier this month to protect her from further sexual assault and threats to her life. Passion Star is a transgender woman currently incarcerated in a TDCJ male facility.

Late last night Lambda Legal filed an emergency motion in federal court asking that the court compel the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to place Passion Star, a transgender woman currently incarcerated in TDCJ’s male facilities, in safekeeping to protect her from further sexual assault and threats to her life.