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Category: The Texas Observer

National Butterfly Center Returns After Fascist ThreatsA monarch butterfly spreads its wings as it perches on a flower.
Monarch migration is threatened by a loss of biodiversity. (Unsplash / Joshua J. Cotten)
November 11, 2022
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National Butterfly Center Returns After Fascist Threats

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

More than 100 butterfly enthusiasts descended on the border city of Mission over Halloween weekend to celebrate the annual Texas Butterfly Festival. The event marked a comeback for its host, the National Butterfly Center, which has been threatened and harassed by right-wing extremists who believe (falsely) that the wildlife sanctuary is a human trafficking hotspot. The center closed from January to April over safety concerns.

“We reopened the National Butterfly Center on Earth Day, and this year it was honestly a big celebration,” recalled Marianna Treviño-Wright, director of the center.

Although festival enrollment was down slightly due to the pandemic and political controversy, Treviño-Wright was excited to share her love of butterflies with dozens of new initiates. Accompanied by 20 or so guides, they spent four days tracking the annual migration of monarchs and other species throughout South Texas.

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Christians Must Fight Christian NationalismRev. Carter Heyward, an older white woman with white hair, speaks into a bullhorn, wearing a safety vest, with a rally for abortion access behind her.
Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward wants white Christians to stand up to Christian nationalism. (Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward)
November 3, 2022
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Christians Must Fight Christian Nationalism

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

Over at the Texas Observer, I interviewed groundbreaking lesbian feminist theologian Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward. Her new book unpacks the deep historic and modern ties between Christianity and white supremacy, and explains why Christians—and everyone who benefits unconsciously from white supremacy—needs to act more. 

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Getting Vicious With Dallas Punk RockersA black and white photo of a stage diver leaping into a crowd, who have their hands outstretched to catch the diver. In the background, a band plays hardcore music.
Stagedivers at a Turnstile concert (Vicious Velma)
October 3, 2022
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Getting Vicious With Dallas Punk Rockers

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

In Vicious Velma’s world, concerts are primal and raw, rich with immediacy and spattered with bodily fluids.

Photographer Vera “Velma” Hernandez got her start shooting concert  photography in 2014 at a Tulsa punk festival called “Fuck You We Roll  OK.”

She recalled, “I took some photojournalism in high school, never  really did anything after that.” She’d been working at a mall  photography kiosk, but didn’t even have a camera of her own. Hernandez  (Instagram: @vicious_velma)  had to borrow one from her friend Jenni, who’d invited her to the show.  It was at that weekend festival where she realized she’d found her  calling: “I just kept it going after that.”

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Trans Lives Are Not Up For DebateA close-up of a white person's closed eyelid and nose, with the eyelid painted with the transgender flag.
Mainstream media articles like Emily Bazelon's New York Times article hurt transgender people. (Unsplash / Kyle)
July 22, 2022
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Trans Lives Are Not Up For Debate

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

On June 15, the New York Times Magazine published “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” an investigation into gender-affirming care for young people by staff writer Emily Bazelon. Since its publication, transgender-rights advocates, medical experts, and other journalists have condemned the article for inaccurately portraying such care as controversial, misrepresenting scientific research, and quoting anti-trans activists without proper context.

Now, the state of Texas is using it as evidence in an ongoing attempt to investigate trans-supportive healthcare as “child abuse.”

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Austin Marches Over End of RoeActivists sit in the streets of downtown Austin, holding up their middle fingers towards the Texas Capitol, under a bright summer sun.
Austin took the streets to protest the end of Roe v. Wade. (Kit O'Connell)
June 25, 2022
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Austin Marches Over End of Roe

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and The Texas Observer

More than 1,000 people marched through downtown Austin on Friday, June 25 to express their anger and sadness over the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe V. Wade and the impending, widespread erosion of abortion access as a result.

Organized coalitions like Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights and others called for protesters to gather at the federal courthouse and in the surrounding Republic Square Park on the night after the Supreme Court decision came down. Word spread rapidly via social networks and posters affixed to lampposts throughout the city.

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Texas Observer: Alex Jones Seeks Bigotry-Fueled ‘Groomer’ ComebackSpeaking at some microphones on a podium, Alex jones holds his hands to either side of his head as he makes an agitated, yelling expression. Added text: via Jared Holt on Flickr under a CC-BY-SA license
Alex Jones in 2018. (Flickr / Jared Holt)
June 8, 2022
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Texas Observer: Alex Jones Seeks Bigotry-Fueled ‘Groomer’ Comeback

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

Alex Jones remains a toxic influence on American politics and society despite an apparently shrinking audience and dwindling sales at his Infowars online shop, plus mounting losses in a bevy of lawsuits. After decades of spreading anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry, Jones now wants to stage a comeback by positioning himself at the front of a new wave of hatred—with the help of powerful friends like Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Alex Jones Broke The Groomer Gate Scandal … in 2008?!” read an incredulously phrased headline on a story published by Infowars in April. The post links an audio recording by Jones— in which he claims elementary school teachers are giving explicit sexual instructions to 6 or 7 year olds—to today’s “groomer” panic. “Grooming” refers to a behavior whereby pedophiles ingratiate themselves with a potential underaged victim. But right-wing pundits, including Jones, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and the viral Twitter account @LibsofTikTok, now seemingly want to expand the definition to include openly LGBTQ+ teachers or anyone who speaks with young people about the existence of transgender people and gender diversity.

Read moreTexas Observer: Alex Jones Seeks Bigotry-Fueled ‘Groomer’ Comeback