The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday tossed a three-judge panel's earlier ruling that found the ban violated students' free speech rights. The court's 17 judges will rehear the case.
After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued last year, Dr. May Lau said she is moving to Oregon and doesn't need a Texas license anymore.
Some students and professors say recent changes and scandals chill speech at universities. Others argue that conservative opinions can now be shared more freely.
Once considered a safe haven to explore identity, Texas campuses are invalidating and alienating trans people, students say.
The removal of Montrose’s rainbow crosswalk marks the first domino to fall under a new federal order targeting colorful street art, leaving other Houston landmarks, like murals in Third Ward and Independence Heights, facing uncertain futures.
Houstonians are making their voices heard as they rally against Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to remove the iconic rainbow crosswalk in Montrose.
The decision follows a letter from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urging all states to comply with the “SAFE Roads” initiative — a federal guideline requiring crosswalks and road markings to remain free of political messaging or visual distractions.
At least two community colleges, Alvin and Blinn, are also considering what they can and can’t teach to high schoolers enrolled in their fast-growing dual credit courses.
Faculty have spent weeks seeking clarity on new restrictions, which have often been issued by word of mouth. A written Q&A was rescinded.
Details of the agreement with Mark A. Welsh III, who resigned as leader of the flagship university on Sept. 19, will not be revealed until it is finalized.
Professors are afraid to publicly speak out, system leaders left key questions unanswered and advocates worry for LGBTQ+ students’ mental health.
Instead of a campus-wide announcement, faculty members say the restrictions have trickled down through department chairs and college meetings.
Officials have struggled to detail the exact reasons for the A&M professor’s termination, citing a technical issue with her course description. Faculty say the move was politically motivated.
An attorney for Melissa McCoul, seen in a video clashing with a student over gender-identity content in her class, said the professor is weighing her legal options.
After the video fueled outrage, a professor was fired and two college leaders removed from their administrative roles for approving content inconsistent with the course’s description.
The Justice Department is drawing swift condemnation from gun rights groups and LGBTQ advocates alike after floating that it was considering restricting transgender people from owning guns — a move that would all but certainly face immediate constitutional challenges if ever implemented.
Between cracking down on abortion pills and restricting transgender restroom use, lawmakers also tackled flood safety and the STAAR test. Left untouched: Texas’ hemp industry.
The suit alleges the new state law unconstitutionally silences the viewpoints of students and teachers. The law’s supporters say DEI programs use public funds to promote political agendas.
Senate Bill 8, which goes into effect on Dec. 4, restricts bathroom use in government buildings and schools to the sex assigned at birth.
Senate Bill 8, which now heads to the House floor, would restrict which bathrooms in government buildings transgender people would be allowed to use.
In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the school’s prohibition on drag performances, finding students are likely to prove it violates the First Amendment.
Senate Bill 7 would require people to use restrooms that match their birth gender and fine institutions up to $25,000 for repeated violations.
Are you in a dangerous relationship and need help? Do you know someone who needs help? In part of our effort to help people in the community, our team put together a list of groups in our area that can help victims of domestic violence.
The Supreme Court has sided with religious parents who want to pull their children out of the classroom when a public school lesson uses LGBTQ storybooks.
A lawyer says the Supreme Court's ruling that Maryland parents who have religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ storybooks is a historic victory for parental rights.
The court split 6-3 along ideological lines on a case from Tennessee. About two dozen states have similar bans in place.
Tensions flared and the debate turned personal as Republicans said their bill empowered parents and denied predictions that the ban will endanger children.
A leaked draft of the Trump administration’s proposed federal budget reveals plans to eliminate all funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ youth specialized services.
Students are concerned the legislation could silence supportive teachers, dismantle safe spaces, lead to overenforcement and prevent honest conversations about identity.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is signaling support for the religious rights of Maryland parents who want to remove their children from elementary school classes using storybooks with LGBTQ characters.
Some parents in a suburban Maryland county want to pull their children from elementary school classes that use books featuring LGBTQ characters.
The Senate voted Wednesday to give initial approval to a bill that would require buildings, including public schools and universities, among others to segregate private facilities, like bathrooms, by sex.
Paxton’s office launched an investigation into the district’s policy after an administrator was caught on tape discussing a possible loophole in the state’s ban.
Judge Lee H. Rosenthal said the student group that organizes Draggieland, the Queer Empowerment Council, was likely to succeed in showing the ban violates the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from parents in suburban Washington who want to pull their children from elementary school classes that use books featuring LGBTQ characters.
Republicans accused Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of supporting gender transitions for children throughout the 2024 election cycle, which he said took a political toll.
Hector Granados, one of two pediatric endocrinologists in El Paso, said he stopped providing gender-affirming care after it was outlawed in Texas in 2023.
The attorney general is accusing the organization of misleading fans by allowing transgender college athletes in women’s sports.
The FBI Houston Field Office has launched a federal civil rights investigation to seek more victims of a Houston park ranger accused targeting members of the LGBTQ community by demanding money or sexual favors in exchange for not being arrested at Cullen Park.
As limitations on trans teens increase, doctors have left the state, weakening an already threadbare system for trans adults.
Emboldened by the recent election, some Texas lawmakers are already filing bills that would dictate bathroom use, limit gender identity markers on documents and restrict funding for surgeries.
After conservative criticism over the LGBTQ+ minor, university officials started looking at all its programs. Faculty say they were excluded from the process.
A federal judge has blocked a Biden-era rule that said providing foster children with “safe and proper care” required placing them in gender-affirming homes.
Under Javier Joven’s leadership, his critics say, the Odessa City Council has lost focus on municipal issues like roads and water infrastructure.
The Houston Democrat lost her seat amid backlash from primary voters over her support for a GOP bill barring transition-related care for minors.
The Texas Department of Public Safety rule change surfaced in an internal email that also asks driver license staff to compile the names of people seeking a gender marker change.
The students saw the move as part of a political environment that has become increasingly hostile against LGBTQ+ people in Texas.
The request came from a local pastor who is part of a group that trains people to “defend their freedom and liberty.” Other faith leaders have pushed back.
Alex Chadwell, who worked for the congressman in Washington and Texas, said he was pushed out of Nehls’ office because of his sexual orientation.
The Texas Attorney General is following his familiar playbook by taking the case to a federal judge with a record of rulings against the Biden administration’s agenda.
The decision in the case brought by the Texas Attorney General preempts any future Title IX regulations that extend federal protections to LGBTQ students.
The arts center that organizes the monthly art walk, which draws 20,000 to downtown Lubbock, said the drag show happened at an off-site location and had no association with it.
A doctor says the government wants to punish him for calling attention to wrongdoing. Advocates say the families of trans kids are the ones at risk.
Parents and medical providers of transgender adolescents sued Texas, challenging the constitutionality of a restriction on puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Before Chief Meteorologist Frank Billingsley does his final forecast on KPRC 2, he's chatting with Houston Life's Derrick Shore about his impressive career. From where he got his outgoing personality to the way viewers reacted to his 2012 marriage to his longtime partner Kevin, Frank looks back on some of the defining milestones that shaped his life.
Several hundred LGBTQ Ukrainian servicemen and their supporters have marched in central Kyiv to demand more rights and highlight their service to their country in its war with Russia.
Lawmakers have approved legislation that would rename a New York City subway station in honor of the Stonewall riots.
Katy ISD’s board voted this past fall to require staff to notify parents if their child wants to use a different pronoun or identifies as a different gender.
United Methodist delegates have repealed their church’s longstanding ban on the celebrations of same-sex marriages or unions by its clergy.
For the past 52 years, the United Methodist Church had officially declared “the practice of homosexuality.
The new Title IX rules expanded the definition of sex-based harassment. Paxton said the change distorted the original intent of the law.
As Kayden Asher tumbled through several foster placements, Texas leaders intensified their efforts to regulate the lives of LGBTQ+ people.
Abbott made the remarks as he recounted the story of a male teacher in North Texas who wore a pink dress for his school’s spirit day earlier this year.
Support once afforded LGBTQ+ foster kids has vanished and a culture of silence has blanketed the agency tasked with raising children growing up in the system.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suspected the hospital was helping Texas kids access puberty blockers or hormone treatments that are outlawed for juveniles.
The decision means university President Walter Wendler could cancel an on-campus drag show next week. He canceled a previous show last year.
Legal experts say a 5th Circuit decision to uphold part of a Texas law regulating adult entertainment websites conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent regarding minors’ access to obscene material online.
The Houston Democrat voted for three anti-LGBTQ bills last year, which could make her more vulnerable as she fights for reelection.
Recent state and local legal maneuvers signal that Texas’ conservative movement could be wading into a complicated Constitutional morass the country hasn’t dealt with since before the Civil War.
Are you in a dangerous relationship and need help? Do you know someone who needs help? In part of our effort to help people in the community, our team put together a list of groups in our area that can help victims of domestic violence.
A fight over allowing transgender children to access puberty blockers and hormone therapies could hinge on justices’ interpretation of parental rights.
This is at least the second time Ken Paxton’s office has sought such records from an out-of-state provider since Texas banned transition-related care for kids.
A new law dismantling the state’s diversity, equity and inclusion offices at publicly-funded universities and colleges will go into effect in 2024.
Suspecting the Washington-based hospital of providing gender-affirming care to Texas children, which is now banned in Texas, AG Ken Paxton issued investigative subpoenas demanding medical information.
The Sherman school board also temporarily ended the superintendent oversight of its fine arts programs pending the results of the investigation.
After Max Hightower scored a role in the seminal American musical, administrators changed their policy on performers’ gender. After backlash, the school board directed the school to produce the original version “Oklahoma!” — not a youth version that cut Hightower’s solo.
Rights groups and lawyers in Nigeria say the West African nation's law enforcement authorities are using the country’s same-sex prohibition law to target the LGBTQ+ community while ignoring abuses against them.
Texas Supreme Court justices heard arguments Wednesday in the case of a Waco judge who refused to marry same-sex couples. It is unclear when the high court will issue a ruling.
The new clinic met resistance from a vocal group of parents who raised concerns the district was overstepping its authority in caring for students.
Home to the University of North Texas, organizers say Denton acts as a liberal enclave in the sprawling conservative suburbs in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
Senate Bill 12 would have prohibited performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics in front of children. Critics sued the state, saying it violated the First Amendment.
Lawyers criticize a provision they say erodes the separation of powers between Texas’ executive branch and its courts. It’s been used repeatedly this year as Texans try to block new state laws from going into effect
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the student fundraiser featuring drag performers was not protected, raising the stakes for a battle over First Amendment rights and drag shows.
The guidance asks universities in the system to avoid using the acronym DEI on their websites and walk a fine line between organizing events that “support diversity in a general way” but don’t “promote preferential treatment of any particular group.”
