In the span of 2.8 seconds, Josie Goodrich exploded into the arena on her horse and wrapped her lasso around a fleeing calf. The maneuver landed the 24-year-old from Oregon first place in a preliminary round of breakaway roping at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Goodrich’s roping has won her $5,000 thus far, and […]
Category: Culture
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Posted inBig & Bright
At Least 15 LGBTQ+ Businesses Have Quietly Disappeared in Texas
EXCLUSIVE San Antonio’s Turner Hall was constructed more than a century ago as a gathering space to improve its community. Now home to a gay bar called the Bonham Exchange, the storied building survived the Civil War, both World Wars, the 1921 flood, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Today, like many queer spaces, it’s facing an […]
Posted inCulture
Musician Carter St. Hogan Honed His Trans Identity in Texas Honky-Tonks Before Fighting ICE in Minneapolis
Artist Carter St. Hogan starts all of his performances with an unexpected bit: asking the audience to choose between two mustaches. “I’m a trans person who still cannot grow a mustache. It’s not in me. I don’t have the genetics,” Hogan explained during an unofficial SXSW showcase last week at the White Horse, a historic […]
Posted inCulture
From ‘Kung Flu’ to the Matcha Craze, Asian American Business Owners Say It’s Been a Whiplash Six Years Since Covid
Walk into Hannah Foy’s specialty coffee shop LauLau in Central Austin, and there’s a good chance her father is washing dishes in the kitchen. Her mother — whom the cafe is named after — is usually at the register taking orders for their signature Mala Latte with Sichuan peppercorn or Black Sesame Hot Chocolate. The […]
Posted inBig & Bright
‘Very Real Barriers.’ Trans Voters in Texas Are Worried About Casting Their Ballots.
In theory, being transgender shouldn’t matter when it comes to voting. But when it comes to transgender rights in Texas, things often don’t go the way they should. “The way that it’s supposed to work is that no one is supposed to be denied the opportunity to vote based on their appearance,” Ash Hall told […]
Posted inImmigration
‘Something’s Different’: LGBTQ+ Texans Are Organizing in Defense of Immigrants
It’s hard to ignore Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when they come crashing into your neighborhood. It’s become the topic of conversation in Austin’s North Loop, Reilly, a 42-year-old transgender resident, told The Barbed Wire one February evening from a graffiti-covered picnic table in the grass behind Epoch, the neighborhood’s beloved 24-hour coffee shop. “I […]
Posted inCulture
Austin’s Infamously Terrible for Dating. Is It Really That Bad? We Investigated.
Amaya Savoy-Easton, a single 26-year-old social media coordinator, is clear on what she wants. Her near-term goals include visiting 30 countries before she turns 30, investing in a rental property in San Marcos, and getting an LLC for her freelance business. So when she asked a would-be suitor what he wanted out of life, and […]
Posted inCulture
Having a Boyfriend Really Doesn’t Have to Be Embarrassing. I Promise.
By the time you’re reading this, I could be married. Last month, my boyfriend proposed to me before the Bears vs. Packers game. On February 14 — this coming Saturday — the bar where we had our third date will have ministers on hand to wed couples with valid marriage licenses. And my mother has […]
Posted inCulture
Judging by TikTok, I’m Doing Wedding Planning Wrong. And I Love It.
In Mrs. Johnson’s fourth grade math class, my fellow students dreamed of big wedding dresses with extended trains, just like the one Selena Gomez wore last fall. At recess in Sherman, Texas, I heard them talk about big, fancy wedding parties. In my barrettes and ponytails, I rehearsed for a different future. I’d peer out […]
Posted inInvestigations
‘Communities Ripped Apart’: On Texas College Campuses, LGBTQ+ Services Have Been Completely Decimated
EXCLUSIVE Dante Stetson recalled getting his first chest binder at the Pride Closet at the University of North Texas in Denton in 2023. He was 18, and it was his freshman year on campus. “My family isn’t supportive of people with transgender identities, and I’ve never been able to buy one and store it at […]