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Category: The Texas Observer

Are You OK? Visiting With Young Trans TexansC smiles and looks directly at the camera. They have wavy blonde hair with dark roots showing and are wearing a red tank top with a cartoon bee on it, along with blue jeans. C's parents stand behind, each with a hand on C's shoulder.
The "Are You OK?" project features portraits of transgender young people. Jesse Freidin/Are You OK?
November 18, 2022
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Are You OK? Visiting With Young Trans Texans

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

In 2021, Jesse Freidin began traveling across the country to photograph transgender youth for a photo project called “Are You OK?” He’s been to more than half the states in the country, meeting with dozens of trans kids.

In August, Freidin made his second visit to Texas. In the intervening year, legal and policy-based attacks on LGBTQ+ people in the United States have reached feverish heights. Governor Greg Abbott even launched child abuse investigations into parents who seek gender-affirming healthcare for their kids. Though nonprofits like Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union have responded with multiple lawsuits against the policy, which has been partially blocked in court, it still left many families fearing for their safety. Kai Shappley, a trans girl known for her outspoken activism, fled the state with her family a month before Freidin planned to photograph her.

“I want to tell those stories before they disappear, before these families leave the country or state, before these families have to go underground,” Freidin said.

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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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Christofascism Is Everyone’s ProblemRev. 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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Christofascism Is Everyone’s Problem

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

In a time of national crisis, when human rights and democratic ideals are under threat, it’s everyone’s responsibility to take a stand—but those of us who benefit from the harmful systems fueling the emergency have an even greater moral obligation to act. For the Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, a groundbreaking feminist theologian, that means Christians need to play a much bigger role in the fight against fascism. 

Today’s Republican Party seems intent on transforming the United States into a grimly theocratic nation, inspired by a deeply capitalistic form of Christianity. Though Trumpism offers a novel twist on old bigotries, its roots run deep in our country’s history. “Nothing we are witnessing in the 21st century is new,” Heyward writes in the introduction to her book, The Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism: A Call to Action, released in September. “In the past several years, however, our problems have come to a boil.”

Heyward is an Episcopal priest, a lesbian, and a lifelong activist for social justice, granting her a unique perspective on the current emergency. In her book, she skillfully contextualizes our political moment, connecting it to our country’s history of colonization, the genocide of Native Americans, and the enslavement of Black people. In each case, religion, specifically Christianity, was used to justify inhumanity. 

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Dallas’ Gory Punk Scene in Black and WhiteA 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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Dallas’ Gory Punk Scene in Black and White

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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Let’s Praise the Bravery of the Sandy Hook FamiliesA granite monument reads "Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial."
The Sandy Hook Memorial (Flickr/Liam Enea, CC SA license)
August 9, 2022
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Let’s Praise the Bravery of the Sandy Hook Families

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

“A lot of folks are centering Alex when they should be centering the  bravery and catharsis of Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis,” said Dan  Friesen, cohost of the Knowledge Fight podcast, which has devoted more than 700 episodes to critically examining Jones.

This is a tall order, because making himself the center of attention  is one of Jones’ most carefully honed skills. He’s an expert at saying  and doing things so outrageous that the progressive left can’t help but  share them—always in horror and disgust, but reaping him new viewers and more clicks nonetheless. (Even the Texas Observer is not immune from dwelling on Jones’ antics.)

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There Is No Legitimate ‘Debate’ Over Gender-Affirming HealthcareA group of young LGBTQIA+ folks in a parade march with signs reading 'Queer and Trans Youth are Magic" and another reading "Trans Rights" surrounded by the trans rights colors.
Aurora, IL Pride parade 2022 Flickr / risingthermals CC NC
July 22, 2022
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There Is No Legitimate ‘Debate’ Over Gender-Affirming Healthcare

Posted in Journalism, LGBTQIA, and The Texas Observer

This article was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in 2023 in the category “Outstanding Online Journalism Article.”

On June 15, the New York Times Magazine published “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” an investigation into gender-affirming care for young people bystaff 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.”

In February, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion that redefined gender-affirming healthcare as “child abuse,” after which Governor Greg Abbott directed the Depart­ment of Family and Protective Services to investigate trans youth and their families. Ever since, Texas has been engaged in a protracted legal battle with civil rights groups over the order. In a recent salvo, the ACLU and Lambda Legal filed suit to protect members of PFLAG, a nonprofit for families and allies of LGBTQ+ people. For the moment, the courts have blocked Child Protective Services from investigating families with trans kids as long as they are members of PFLAG. It was in these proceedings that the state used the Times article in a brief on July 6.

Read moreThere Is No Legitimate ‘Debate’ Over Gender-Affirming Healthcare