LGBTQ+

Lubbock residents gathered before the city council for a silent rainbow sit-in for the second year in a row on Tuesday. Our reporter Samantha Larned has more on local efforts pushing the city of Lubbock to declare June as Pride Month. And KERA's Paul DeBenedetto reports Texas successfully blocked the Biden administration from expanding sex discrimination protections to LGBTQ students.

In addition to the sit-ins, advocacy for the city of Lubbock to recognize Pride Month the previous two years has included a letter-writing campaign. All of which, organizers and community members said, have gone without adequate response from elected officials.

After similar requests last year were largely ignored by the city council, leading to a rainbow sit-in protest, a community resource center for LGBTQ+ people in West Texas has started a letter-writing campaign asking the city to recognize June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

Our reporter, Bishop Van Buren, has more after LGBTQ+ advocates again ask the city of Lubbock to recognize June as Pride Month. And Texas Public Radio’s Camille Phillips reports a lawsuit filed in federal court is challenging the legality of Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order on campus free speech.

A Texas judge again blocked the state from demanding information about trans youth from a national LGBTQ+ organization. And KUT’s Olivia Aldridge has more after the Texas Medical Board voted on a proposed rule that would guide how doctors navigate the emergency exception to the state’s abortion ban.

The Supreme Court has passed on getting involved in a challenge to the First Amendment drag show controversy in Texas. KERA's Christopher Connelly says a new study shows Texas needs more than 679,000 low-cost rental homes for the state's poorest renters.

After the death of a nonbinary student in Oklahoma, our reporter Samantha Larned has more from LubbockPRIDE, who has called upon the city and local school districts to ensure measures are being taken to protect LGBTQ+ youth. And a committee of Texas lawmakers will look at the causes and response to the devastating wildfires north of Amarillo.

Our reporter Samantha Larned has more on how one local school district is hoping to get people informed about and connected with careers in education. Lucinda Breeding-Gonzales with the Denton Record-Chronicle reports a library on the University of North Texas campus was forced to cancel its Pride Week events, the latest casualty of the state's ban on campus diversity efforts.

KERA’s Elena Rivera reports on almost 3.5 million Texans signing up for an Affordable Care Act plan during open enrollment. And the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday about Senate Bill 14, a law which prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender youths.

Students at the University of Texas at Arlington are looking for answers after the school quietly disbanded its LGBTQ+ program. And Texas Public Radio’s Jerry Clayton has more on Texas officials rejecting demands from the Biden administration to grant access to federal agents to an area of the border in Eagle Pass.