Latest news with #JonathanCovey
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Before stalling in Texas Senate, ‘homosexual conduct' bill made legislative history
In 2023, a fifth of the country's state-level bills impacting the LGBTQ+ community were filed in Texas, according to a Human Rights Campaign analysis. In 2025, Equality Texas reported a new record number of such bills filed at the State Capitol, surpassing 200 – up from 141 the session before. KXAN's team of journalists – many LGBTQ+ staff members with unique, developed and inside perspectives providing nuance to our fair, rigorous and balanced reporting standards – produced multimedia stories like this one for the 'OutLaw' project, taking an in-depth look at what this trend could mean for Texas' future. AUSTIN (KXAN) — A proposal aimed at repealing Texas' unconstitutional ban on 'homosexual conduct' has stalled at the end of the legislative session in the Senate, waiting weeks for a committee referral following full House passage and missing key deadlines. Still, the historic progress of House Bill 1738 has its author already promising to file it again next session in 2027. READ: 'Homosexual conduct' bill advances further than past attempts, as end-of-session deadlines approach HB 1738 was filed after KXAN's OutLaw investigation explored the origins and legal challenges surrounding a state statute enacted in 1973 to criminalize 'deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.' The U.S. Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional in 2003, but state lawmakers never removed the language from Texas' penal code. A KXAN analysis revealed at least 60 bills filed since the 1980s attempting unsuccessfully to repeal the law. That includes HB 1738, which advanced further than any of its predecessors in the legislative process. While the law is technically unenforceable, critics say leaving it in limbo opens the possibility of its misuse by police who do not understand its legal status and lawmakers crafting other policies that could impact the LGBTQ+ community. KXAN has documented such instances in its previous coverage. EXPLORE – OutLaw: A Half-Century Criminalizing LGBTQ+ Texans The only group to deliver public testimony against HB 1738 this session was the conservative activist group, Texas Values. Its policy director, Jonathan Covey, told a House committee, in doing so, Texas Values wants to send a 'message that (homosexual conduct) is not acceptable.' Following House approval, the bill's author, Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, said in a post on X the measure has no place in Texas statute. He filed a similar measure as a freshman lawmaker last session and was hopeful, this time, the Senate would continue his momentum to finish what was 'long overdue' and remove the 'discriminatory law' from the books. KXAN is awaiting comment from the offices of Sens. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, and Molly Cook, D-Houston – each named in Jones' post as sponsors in the upper chamber. Both filed similar proposals this session to repeal the law, but they failed to move forward. On Friday, as the legislature headed into its final few days of the session, Jones told KXAN he is 'incredibly proud of the significant strides we made in our efforts to finally repeal' the law and that he plans to file the bill again in 2027. 'This achievement is a testament to the dedication of my colleagues and the tireless work of numerous former members who have championed this issue for decades,' he added. 'I am committed to continuing this legacy and seeing this through to completion in the next session.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Homosexual conduct' bill advances further than past attempts, as end-of-session deadlines approach
In 2023, a fifth of the country's state-level bills impacting the LGBTQ+ community were filed in Texas, according to a Human Rights Campaign analysis. In 2025, Equality Texas reported a new record number of such bills filed at the State Capitol, surpassing 200 – up from 141 the session before. KXAN's team of journalists – many LGBTQ+ staff members with unique, developed and inside perspectives providing nuance to our fair, rigorous and balanced reporting standards – produced multimedia stories like this one for the 'OutLaw' project, taking an in-depth look at what this trend could mean for Texas' future. AUSTIN (KXAN) — A bill filed after KXAN's OutLaw investigation faced a steep challenge this legislative session but has progressed further than any of its predecessors. House Bill 1738 would repeal Texas' unconstitutional ban on 'homosexual conduct.' The House narrowly passed the bill in recent days, and it now awaits a Senate committee assignment as crucial deadlines approach at the end of the session. EXPLORE – OutLaw: A Half-Century Criminalizing LGBTQ+ Texans 'This law has been unenforceable for over 20 years but still sits on our books as a symbol of state-sanctioned discrimination,' the bill's author, Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, said in a post on X following the House vote. 'I authored HB 1738 because this isn't just about one law — it's about restoring core constitutional principles: the right to privacy, freedom from government overreach, equal protection under the law.' WATCH: Historic House vote, approving 'homosexual conduct' ban repeal The U.S. Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional in 2003, but Texas lawmakers never removed the language from statute. KXAN's legislative analysis shows at least 60 previous attempts to do just that since the 1980s. The most consistent group against such proposals has been the conservative activist organization Texas Values, which has registered or testified 17 times against nine of the bills – far more than any other group. Texas Values Director of Policy Jonathan Covey, the only individual who testified against HB 1738 in an April House committee hearing, told lawmakers his organization wanted to send a 'message that (homosexual conduct) is not acceptable conduct.' 'The position of our organization is that we don't want to pull something out (of statute) that's going to make it seem like homosexuality is more acceptable,' Covey said. Still listed in the Texas Penal Code as a Class C misdemeanor, the measure defines 'homosexual conduct' as engaging in 'deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.' It contains only a brief notation indicating it is unenforceable due to the Court's Lawrence v. Texas decision, which rendered sodomy laws in more than a dozen states including Texas unenforceable. HB 1738 has had some bipartisan support. Among the handful of Republicans who voted with Democrats during House passage, two are listed among Jones' four co-authors: former House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
