Three Senate Debates Scheduled, Paxton Hasn't Confirmed

Three televised debates in the Texas U.S. Senate race now have dates, venues, and broadcast partners. Democrat James Talarico has accepted all three. Republican Ken Paxton has not confirmed any of them. * Sept. 22, 8 p.m. CT — Rio Grande Valley (NBC/Telemundo/Hearst) * Oct. 6, 8 p.m.

✨ Dreaming of a world full of ‘wonderful things’

How can we hang onto art that brings us queer joy?

Weed Whiplash

As of July 31, Texas bans hemp products built on Delta 8, Delta 10, THC-P and THC-A flower — now Schedule 1 controlled substances. Possession is a state jail felony: 180 days to two years, plus fines up to $10,000. Shops that keep selling can lose their hemp

Ken Paxton Would Like a Word (But Not That One)

The AG walked out of his own press conference. Plus: new witness statements challenge ICE's account of a Houston shooting, and Canada quarantines Texas livestock.

Interview With a Lone Star Vampire: Caleb De Casper Is Reborn In Darkness

No Longer a ‘Good Boy,’ Caleb De Casper is back with a darker, more grown up sound and a stronger sense of self.

☎️ The Voter-Fraud Tip Line Comes for Its Founder

Paxton's own voting address is under scrutiny, the Bible's headed to Texas classrooms, ICE kills a man in Houston, Democrats float $1,500 checks — and flesh-eating flies enter the feral-hog debate.

🫠 The Transformative Power of Being Weird

🏳️‍🌈 My dear queer stars, congrats on making it through Pride Month, and welcome back to Big & Bright 🌈 ⭐ 👏! I hope you’ve rehydrated and recovered. Pride may be over, but the discourse never stops, because some folks seemed determined to reheat a very old discussion…  ✋  Hold up, before we go

Meet the ‘Weird Moms’ of Fort Worth Who Embrace Diversity, Acceptance & Joy in North Texas

From meet and greets with local candidates to the “Weird Mom Prom,” this Fort Worth nonprofit is building community and changing perceptions about the kinds of people who live in the DFW metroplex.

Camp Mystic files for bankruptcy, a heated Senate race, one missing giraffe🦒

Howdy y’all, it’s Brian Gaar with The Barbed Wire. Welcome back to Texas, which continues to be the only state capable of producing all of these headlines at the same time. Nearly a year after the deadly Hill Country floods, Camp Mystic is filing for bankruptcy, and the

Healthcare for Trans Veterans Was Already Bad, And Under Trump It’s Getting Worse

Under policies adopted last year, the VA now refuses to support newly transitioned veterans. Even accessing routine healthcare can be a challenge.

Flesh-Eating Worms, Hemp Chaos, and a Blue Texas?

Democrats think they might finally flip Texas, state officials are fighting over flesh-eating worms, hemp retailers are once again trying to determine whether their businesses exist in a legal dimension, and Texas Tech is embroiled in a controversy.

👀 Pride, like no one is watching

Happy Pride, queer stars. On celebrating loudly, the Queerbomb march, and why the move is to blast the haters with bubbles and keep being you.

Ken Paxton, ‘Champion for the Unborn,’ Would Have Let Our Babies Die. We Know Firsthand.

In March 2023, we became two of the first women to sue Texas over its abortion bans. While pregnant with twins, we’d each learned that one of our twins had severe complications that were threatening the lives of the other — and our own. Yet, we were denied potentially live-

🗣️The Texans Who Refused To Shut Up

This week’s stories are about the Texans who built communities, whether that meant opening Black-owned bookstores during a racial reckoning or organizing queer mutual aid in Dallas, decades before Stonewall. 

📚 Learning from queer history...

Your Aunt/Uncle Kit has more deep thoughts for you, alongside the latest in Texas LGBTQ news.

Black-Owned Bookstores in Texas Bring Communities Together. They’re Also Harassed and Vandalized.

Fort Worth sisters Donna and Donya Craddock refer to 2020 as “the unicorn year.” There was the COVID-19 shutdown, but there was also something more — a death that prompted a period of racial reckoning. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered on camera by a white police officer

Years Before the Stonewall Riots, Dallas’ Queer Community Had Its Own Movement

In 1988, the city of Dallas filled in a hole. City council spent half a million dollars to fix a dangerous gap left on a vacant lot by a construction company. Seemingly good news, right? Well, to local LGBTQ+ activists, it was a sign of how little local politicians cared

Texas County Pursues Death Penalty ‘Almost Exclusively’ Against People of Color, Report Shows. We Have an Opportunity to Change That.

My brother was wrongfully convicted. My wife is a police officer. My sister is the former city attorney for Austin, Texas. I have worked to free innocent people who were wrongfully convicted in Tarrant County and in the state more broadly. I was not shocked — but still incredibly disappointed — when

Trump Finally Endorses Paxton, Cornyn Reduced to ‘Good Man’ Status

Donald Trump has officially endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, bucking his party's mainstream donors and siding with the MAGA favorite in the May 26 Republican runoff. In a statement roughly the length of a Russian novel, Trump praised Paxton as an “America First

‘Future Legends.’ Despite So-Called ‘Drag Ban,’ Texas’ Queer Showcases Are Launching Pads for Performers.

In Austin, a city with an abundance of drag shows, one monthly showcase offers a unique platform — and launch pad — for emerging talent. “You get to see future legends get their start, and other people just flourish and find their niche.” That’s how “Big Tits, Bigger Dreams,” or BTBD,

She Thought Her Daughter Was Faking Sick. Then She Found Out Her Elementary School Was Built on a Drilling Waste Site.

EXCLUSIVE If anyone had told Joey Giminiani what was under his house, he never would've bought it. On April 23, Giminiani took off work at the electric utility and joined a Zoom meeting from the home he had sunk his life savings into. He watched as the residential

‘When You Know Homeless People, You Can’t Ignore Them’: Inside ‘The Challenger,’ a Newspaper Written by and for Unhoused Austinites

Clifton Pappas, who is unhoused, has been a distributor for The Challenger newspaper for a year. He walks Austin streets wearing a black cowboy hat with a short rim and a backpack. He also carries what all distributors do: printed copies of the paper, as well as an ID badge

An Oilfield Leak Springs Under a Permian Basin Baptist Church

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Salty water is gurgling up from underground in the middle of the small Permian Basin town of Grandfalls, Texas. The liquid began pooling

Did Whataburger ‘Fall Off’? We Sent a Team of Texas Comedians to Investigate.

EXCLUSIVE It was 6 p.m. in downtown Austin. Traffic was humming, and responsible adults were bustling, which is to say it was absolutely the wrong time to eat Whataburger. Whataburger is 2 a.m. food. Eating it while the sun is still up feels like seeing a teacher at

It’s Not Just Tony Gonzales. Four More Texans Are in a New Report on Widespread Sexual Misconduct in Congress.

Five Congressmen from Texas are included in a new report released this week on sexual harassment in Congress, which has been rocked with recent sexual misconduct allegations against former U.S. Reps. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio and Eric Swalwell of California. The report by the National Women’s Defense

There Was Yet Another ‘Ugly Fight’ in Houston Over Immigration Enforcement. But the City Already Knows What’s Right.

Editor’s note: The views and opinions presented by guest contributors to The Barbed Wire do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the company, the newsroom, its staff, advisers, or advertisers. Emmanuel Gonzalez, a 15-year-old who has a serious intellectual disability, walked away from his mom’

How Selena Called Me Home to Texas

I have a secret to admit. I’m not a Texas native. Luckily, I’m not a Californian who moved to the Lone Star State. I’m a Nebraskan who fell in love with the Dallas Fort-Worth area. But my introduction to Texas was not the metroplex. Nor was

‘Accusations of ‘Indoctrination’ Were Nothing but an Excuse’: Texas Tech Roiled by Axing of Programs, Free Speech Lawsuit

In recent days, Texas Tech University has come under fire by free speech advocates over its decision to cancel programs — and a first amendment lawsuit filed by a student after she was disciplined in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. The university system will shutter its programs focusing on