HRC Blog

The fruits of volunteer labor: More fair-minded elected officials in Texas

January 14, 2009

Special thanks to Karl Bach, our regional field organizer, for this guest post on positive, pro-equality changes inTexas's leadership:

In its first vote of the of the new legislative session that began yesterday, the Texas State House of Representatives elected Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) as its new Speaker. It is HRC’s hope that this change in leadership will create an environment where the focus of the Texas House will no longer be the politics of division. We’re glad to see a more fair-minded leader in the State House of Representatives who will work across party lines in Texas. We’d like to thank our members and supporters for their incredible work during the 2008 elections. 11 out of 14 candidates supported by HRC’s Texas Families PAC won their races. In addition to helping to re-elect Dallas County Sherriff Lupe Valdez, HRC members worked to elect a greater number of fair-minded legislators in both the state house and state senate. Paul Scott, Executive Director of Equality Texas, noted:

Equality Texas appreciates the work of the Human Rights Campaign in supporting positive changes in Texas. We appreciate the opportunity to move forward on equality issues on both the federal and state level and look forward to strong participation in Equality Texas’ Lobby Day on March 2, 2009 from HRC members across Texas.

We’re grateful that our state partner in Texas appreciates all of our work and your work, and we hope that those of you in Texas can participate in Equality Texas’ Lobby Day and do the important work of telling your story and explaining to your elected legislators why equality matters to you. Here’s to a year of hope and change in Texas…and beyond. [Photo: HRC Camp Equality volunteers went door-to-door for Sherriff Lupe Valdez and newly elected State House Representative Robert Miklos.]