Notices by Texas Observer (texasobserver@texasobserver.social), page 7

”Everything might be bigger in #Texas, but it seems that also applies to hate and bigotry.”

In this new editorial, civil rights attorney Louis Bedford reflects on the 52 bills—and counting—in the legislature designed to eradicate #trans or #LGBTQIA+ people from public life: https://www.texasobserver.org/transgender-lgbtq-civil-rights-bigot/

#TXlege #transgender #transphobia #CivilRights #HumanRights #politics #USpol #healthcare #drag #law

Gender-affirming care—for ADULTS—is now predictably under attack in #Texas. This is part of a Republican plan of genocide underway against #trans people. We need cis allies to be loud and angry on our behalf. Pay attention, this doesn't end here or with us:

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/25/transgender-health-care-legislature/ via @texastribune

#LGBTQIA+ #transgender #transphobia #HumanRights #Healthcare #news #Politics #TXlege #USpol #gender

”Employees are expected to comply with this dress code in a manner consistent with their biological #gender.”—#Texas Department of #Agriculture memorandum

Ag Dept employees received an unwelcome surprise in a new dress code issued last week that seems aimed at oppressing #transgender and #nonbinary workers, reports Digital Editor Kit @oconnell based on a document leaked to us:
https://www.texasobserver.org/sid-miller-department-agriculture-dress-code-transgender/

#transphobia #LGBTQIA+ #news #politics #USpol #trans #HumanRights #GregAbbott #Republicans

@gbhnews @msbellows Rebuilding our board and growing a group of trusted advisors, building membership/subscribers and making our digital membership options more appealing, looking for more grants and major benefactors, and promote our upcoming event at the Paramount Theatre ... https://tickets.austintheatre.org/9270/9271

For starters!

@gbhnews We're feeling the love over here! ?❤️

It's time for a #Newstodon Friday Party with some of our favorite #fediverse news organizations and journalists!

Post your big stories of the week, or the best articles you read, in the replies.

If you love seeing #journalism here, remember to follow, subscribe and support the publications & writers that matter to you! #news

@ProPublica @damemagazine @themarkup @STAT @TucsonSentinel @Chron @blogoklahoma @thexylom @gbhnews @TheConversationUS @heiseonline @e_urq @Toastie & tag in your favs!

@ivan18rod People reading what we write and finding value in it is as important to us as money... that's why we get up in the morning after all! Thanks for supporting us.

Good morning. Our doors would be shutting today and all of us would be out of work, if 1000s of people hadn't come together to say that #TexasNeedsAnObserver.

We are so grateful to all of you on this #Newstodon Friday!

Understandably, folks want an update on our Board of Directors and other updates on our future. We do hope to have more good news soon. In the meantime, we'd direct you to this statement from the current board for a sense of the tone of their apology. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23732385-tdf-statement-3_29_23-1

They do understand that #TexasNeedsAnObserver!

This is JUST the first step in saving the Texas Observer. We have enough money to keep our doors open, pay writers and the bills, but we'll need more help to make our publication sustainable. We'll have more information soon (in the meantime, the GoFundMe is still open and growing ... https://www.gofundme.com/f/laid-off-texas-observer-journalists-and-staff) on different ways to help.

In the meantime, come to our party on Friday! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/texas-observer-final-friday-tickets-601759337377

#TexasNeedsAnObserver—We'll have a big #Newstodon Friday party too!

#Austin #Texas

@ben bookmarking this to reply to later, thank you Ben

@mpjgregoire No exact figures at this moment but lots of people mentioned it in their donations. We stand by all the nice things @jamescanup said about the fediverse here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/29/texas-observer-closing-gofundme

@mcnado yes absolutely something we'll be bringing up as we discuss next steps.

@swagpussc We understand and haven't moved on and don't plan to do so. @gusbova just won a Texas Institute of Letters award for this piece, published in August, about the civil rights history of Uvalde past and present. Gus has continued to report on developments ever since and we'll continue to cover. Long term coverage like this is so important to us, too. Thank you for your message! https://www.texasobserver.org/uvalde-guns-protest-walkout/

@ShekinahCanCook thank you, we are honored by the gift we've received and we have many great advisors working with us now to help us make this last. Thank you so much!

WE DID IT! The Texas Observer will remain open!

Our board just voted to rescind both the layoffs and the closure. We'll have more news soon, but we believe this is the start of a very positive transformation at our publication—and you were a huge part of it. THANK YOU! You proved to the world that #TexasNeedsAnObserver!

https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-observer-no-layoffs-remains-open-board-vote/

#Fediverse #Mastodon #WeWin

We are over $250k on our fundraiser. Our board told us they had only $170k in reserve and had no choice to shut us down. We've proven the people of Texas and the world care about our future. Now we wait to hear from them.

Keep sharing our story, and follow @kitoconnell or @oconnell for updates in case they shut us down here.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/laid-off-texas-observer-journalists-and-staff

#TexasNeedsAnObserver

@evan @atomicpoet agree this is our official policy (re: allowing migration for any reason incl. departure)

#Tumblr has decided the cover of our March/April magazine issue is too “mature” to be shown without a warning label. We've appealed the decision. https://www.tumblr.com/texasobserver/710785807292743680/the-marchapril-2023-issue-of-texas-observer

Today, a group of concerned contributors to the New York Times and allies issued an open letter about that outlet's consistent, dangerous #transphobia. Both our Editor in Chief @gabrielarana and Digital Editor Kit @oconnell signed on: https://nytletter.com

Previously, Kit O'Connell wrote about the Times' dangerous attacks on #trans rights in this 2023 GLAAD Media Award nominated story: https://www.texasobserver.org/emily-bazelon-transgender-healthcare-debate-new-york-times/

#LGBTQIA #NYTimes #trans
#LGBTQ+ #media #journalism #News #politics