The Equality Texas power house

A guest column by Rabbi Dr. Denise L. Eger in the Jan. 24 edition of Dallas Voice addressed her opinions about the work Equality Texas did in the last Texas Legislative Session. She has lived in Texas for two years and has not been involved with the organization. She clearly lacks knowledge and understanding about the scope of Equality Texas’s work, what it does behind the scenes, and how it works in all possible ways with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

For any who don’t know, Equality Texas is our state’s organization that works through education, advocacy and lobbying to protect and advance the rights of LGBTQ+ Texans. My vantage point is one of having been involved deeply in our community’s struggles for equality and inclusivity in Texas since 1991 and one who has worked extensively with Equality Texas and served on its boards for years.

Rabbi Eger began with this assertion: “During the last session, Equality Texas did our community a great disservice, in my opinion. They went for street theater rather than progress.”

She also states, “We need to be swarming the legislature with everyday LGBTQ folks, making appointments with our legislators and presenting the varied face of our community. We must meet with them even if they oppose us — because that is how politics is done.”
Well, Rabbi, those things are precisely part of what EQTX did in the 2023 legislative session and prior ones.

It is troubling that such inaccurate blanket statements were made by someone who apparently lacks knowledge and understanding of the work done “in the trenches” by Equality Texas during each legislative session since its founding.

In the last legislative session, Equality Texas continued its tradition of mobilizing thousands of Texans to engage with their legislators in multiple ways, including meetings with legislators and their staff to advocate against harmful proposed legislation affecting LGBTQ+ Texans and getting thousands to contact legislative offices to register their positions.
Equality Texas’ advocacy efforts generated over 50,000 emails and over 36,000 texts to policymakers.

It’s no secret that Texans are a proud people. But pride for me takes on an extra dimension, being gay in one of the most aggressively anti-LGBTQ+ states. To say that Equality Texas’ work is consequential would be an understatement; it’s essential.

Equality Texas dates back to 1978, when a small group of activists started lobbying the Texas Legislature. Early on, the group only came together during the legislative season. As the group grew and rebranded, it eventually blossomed into the powerhouse we know today.
Equality Texas has always been nonpartisan and was successful with leveraging relationships across the aisle to pass the state’s first and only hate crimes bill. That same leverage and strategic work have enabled EQTX to play a huge role in defeating scores of anti-LGBTQ+ bills. And defeating bills is most often done by keeping them from ever making it to the House and Senate floors for a vote.

While EQTX’s big rallies and advocacy days at the Capitol make the headlines, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Those events are not “street theater,” and it is, frankly, insulting to many of us that Rabbi Eger said they are.

Every time there is a rally, a march, or even just an informal gathering at the Capitol, Equality Texas staff are there on the ground, training volunteers to talk to lawmakers, preparing them for challenging conversations and offering support at each step of the way.

EQTX staff and volunteers meet with legislators numerous times during each legislative session. The work for legislative committee hearings starts long before the sessions begin when the EQTX team recruits doctors, lawyers, social workers, parents, clergy and teachers to testify. If Equality Texas staff isn’t testifying at hearings regarding bills that affect our community, you can bet more than a few of the people who are testifying were trained by the EQTX team.

In recent years, the Texas political climate has seen many Republicans increasingly being hostile toward the rights and equality of LGBTQ citizens and even hostile toward our basic humanity. The skills, patience, and persistence demonstrated by the work of Equality Texas are phenomenal and should be appreciated by all members of our community and our allies.

Many conversations behind closed doors with lawmakers are needed and are done by EQTX, and those are often intense and highly challenging and must be done privately and not shared publicly. I am grateful that Equality Texas staff and volunteers brave those spaces regularly with great skill, courage and care. Who knows what fruit those conversations will yield down the line?

The work of Equality Texas runs deep, but the rallies and the marches are not meaningless.

To a transplant from West Hollywood, a cluster of queer people at a public rally might seem unextraordinary, even mundane. But in a state where violence against trans people is on the rise, when hate groups are crowding into the DFW region, and when neo-Nazi groups openly bear symbols of hate to protest drag shows, a crowd of LGBTQ+ Texans locked arm and arm with their allies and neighbors is powerful.

For the larger part of Equality Texas’s history, being gay was illegal. It wasn’t until 2003, when the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas, that gay and lesbian couples could go to bed without fearing the police knocking down their doors.

Naturally, that means much of the work to lobby Texas officials happened behind closed doors, and much of the work still happens in quiet rooms where lawmakers can ask awkward, unfiltered questions. But make no mistake, closed doors don’t mean retreating into the closet.

Equality Texas is a powerhouse because it operates on all fronts, mobilizing people to show up, talking one-on-one with lawmakers and amplifying the human rights crisis in Texas to statewide and national media.

Criticizing from the sidelines serves no useful purpose. If you want to see the work of Equality Texas firsthand, then please volunteer, show up and get involved with its work.

Steve Atkinson is a longtime activist working for LGBTQ rights. For over 30 years, he has worked with and chaired the boards of numerous local, state, and national organizations, including both Equality Texas and the Equality Texas Foundation. Steve is also a recognized North Texas Realtor and husband of artist Ted Kincaid.