What do you do when the attack ads look like you?
❎ Welcome back to Big & Bright 🌈 ⭐, my queer stars! Early voting has begun as Spooky Season reaches its apex. The combination feels surreal this year as we face a monstrous wave of anti-trans propaganda.
🔔 Reminder: this is one of two Texas newsletters offered by The Barbed Wire, and we’ll be covering the midterms in both. Next week, look for a special issue of Big & Bright 🌈 ⭐ 👏 plus more in Wild Texas! Subscribe to both and share them with your friends!
Supported by The ACLU of Texas
A special thanks to The ACLU of Texas for underwriting our queer Texas coverage. All essays, reporting, and analysis is, as always, editorially independent.
🎃 Horror movies are comforting to me because I know who the bad guys are: blood-thirsty flesh-eating killers. In real life, I opened up my mail to find a flyer that read “James Talarico is for they/them.” The image of the Senate candidate, marching in an AI-generated Pride parade with gender-ambiguous people, is meant to strike fear in voters. But all I see is myself, reflected back.
🔥 That Republicans villainize me every time I open my mail box or turn on my TV, and some Democrats echo their talking points, is a stark reminder that LGBTQ+ rights are under threat in America. Regardless of who wins in November, we’ll be forced to fight off the GOP agenda while holding the opposition party’s feet to the fire.
⚕️ This week’s Big Story is about how we care for each other during an ongoing health crisis while our government puts roadblocks in our way. A new plan from Texas, created in partnership with community orgs, sets out to cut new HIV cases in half by 2031. But can we defeat AIDS while simultaneously fighting fascist federal attacks on bodily autonomy and medical science?
🏳️🌈 Republicans cast us as villains, while pundits claim LGBTQ+ rights are elitist or unconnected to the working class. But what we need is ultimately the same as everyone: housing, food, jobs, and healthcare we can afford.
👀 Read on for the full story on the plan to fight HIV in Texas, plus all the latest in queer politics and culture ...
⚠️ P.S. Remember, you can vote early in Texas until October 30! The ACLU of Texas issued this special voting guide for trans Texans.
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Steers & Queers 🐂
What we’re writing and reading in Texas.
🏳️⚧️ The biggest story this week is the wave of electoral advertising fraudulently targeting the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT). Starting October 12, Texans received text messages which falsely appeared to come from TENT. These were followed just days later by physical mailers from a Wyoming-based shell corporation called the “Texas Transgender Student Union,” which used more plagiarized images and info from TENT.
🙅♀️ The effect on TENT’s reputation and ability to serve trans Texans has been devastating, as Mimi Marziani, legal counsel for the nonprofit, explained in a special press briefing on Thursday. “Voters are legitimately confused about this,” she said. “It has caused division and strife.”
⚖️ TENT hired security for their workers, pulled down their website, and canceled a statewide tour, while Austin’s OutYouth has also temporarily shut down due to threats. Marziani said TENT is exploring legal options to find out who’s responsible and prevent further damage, while district attorneys are starting to investigate and state lawmakers are responding to the incident.
🌈 In other news, staff at OutSmart interviewed six LGBTQ+ candidates running for state or local office in and around Bayou City: state Reps. Ann Johnson and Jolanda Jones, plus Michelle Palmer, Chris Ehlinger, Jourdyn Wilson and Jesus Nieto.
🧙♀️ Why is there a huge turnout predicted for the midterms? Ted Cruz explained: “If you’re a left-wing transgender witch, you hate Donald Trump, and you’re going to show up. You’re energized.” To my fellow left-wing transgender witches, you heard the man: go vote!
🗣️ GOP fixation backfiring: Republican redditors say their kids are asking more questions about trans people due to the nonstop propaganda.
🌱 Citing state law, Grand Prairie ISD canceled Little Shop of Horrors after a young woman was cast as the lead, Seymour, typically performed by a male actor. According to NBC 5 Dallas, the senior, Ana Mota, had previously played male roles in school shows without incident.
🌊 In addition to suffering from anti-trans attacks, OutYouth was forced out of its brick-and-mortar location by a water leak. Faefyx Collington of LGBTQ Nation reports they’re determined to build back bigger and better.
📦 Gwen Howerton of Chron revealed that “a treasure trove of Texas' LGBTQ+ history” is stuck in Houston-area storage units while the massive Gulf Coast Archive and Museum seeks out a permanent home.
Stars & Stripes 🇺🇸
What’s happening in the rest of the gayborhood.
🏳️⚧️ As of October 23, candidates spent over $18 million on anti-trans digital ads, according to the tracker created by civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo. In addition, local Nazi Elon Musk is responsible for millions in pro-Republican advertising.
🍊 Meanwhile, the Orange-in-Chief used an anti-trans slur while campaigning for Republicans in South Carolina.
🟠 Lewis Raven Wallace at TransLash released a deep-dive into how student activists are resisting the Trump administration’s attacks on transgender student-affirming school districts.
🎥 In an upcoming documentary, The Closetocracy, three male sex workers allege that late Senator Lindsey Graham paid them for sex while opposing LGBTQ+ rights in Congress. One was just 17-years-old at the time of their encounter.
🍸Not just Texas: Meta sites continue to censor gay bars nationwide according to Mathew Rodriguez at Them.
🎤 Pop idol Olivia Rodrigo and sapphic siren Chappell Roan teamed up on new single, “Expectations.” and everyone’s abuzz over Chappell’s lesbian-flavored verse.
Bright & Buzzy📱
Memes and more.
🐘 Every Republican attack ad: James Talarico edition.
🌛 “I'm a Gemini moon and a Capri Sun.”
Shameless Merch Plug 🧢
🖤 If we could kick out the billionaires, the Roganites, and the hyper-conservative “University of Austin,” I’d happily Make Austin Goth Again. It’s not political, but wearing this shirt makes a statement.
Reach out if you have tips, story ideas, or to tell me about favorite lost old-Austin places.
🌈 Stay big, bright, and bold,
Kit (They/Them), kit@thebarbedwire.com
The Big Story 🤳
Can Texas Fight HIV In The Trump Era?
“I think that for many years we got comfortable, if I'm honest, because we just knew all the funding was going to come.”
A new plan from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) calls for a 50 percent reduction in new HIV cases in Texas by 2031, and for faster diagnosis and treatment of people living with the disease. But the state and AIDS-services nonprofits face an uphill battle in an era of DOGE-inspired and authored cuts to federal funding, attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, and an ever-increasing number of uninsured Texans.
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