Good morning,

Thanks for starting your week with the Texas Minute!

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 
June 26, 2023

Despite Threat, Abbott Signs Election Reform Measures 

• Gov. Greg Abbott has approved two Republican-backed measures to reform elections in response to Harris County’s chaotic 2022 election. As Micah Rice reports, while the two measures do not directly single out any county, Harris County is the only area in Texas that fits the population requirements for their effect.
       
• The first measure eliminates the elections administrator position in counties with a population of 3.5 million. The second gives the Texas secretary of state the option to order administrative oversight for elections in counties with a population of more than 4 million if a person participating in the relevant election has filed a complaint.
       
• Harris County’s Democrat County Attorney Christian Menefee announced he will sue the state over these two new laws.
       
• Democrat County Commissioner Rodney Ellis has said the measures amount to “taking Harris County back to the Jim Crow Era.”
       
• He has not explained exactly how... 

TCU Has Offered Drag Class Since 2021

• Since 2021, Texas Christian University has offered a course called “The Queer Art of Drag.” It is designed to teach students how to become "drag queens." Ryan Hughes has the details.

        
• The class is instructed by Dr. Nino Testa, who also holds pronoun training on campus. During the course, students have lip sync battles in class and do a final drag performance in a showcase called “Night of Drag.”
       
• As a private institution, Texas Christian University is governed by a board of trustees – which includes State Rep. Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth), a lieutenant of House Speaker Dade Phelan.

Highland Park School District Buys Home for Superintendent

• After announcing their new superintendent, the Highland Park Independent School District is using public education money to purchase a $1.8 million home for him to live in rent-free. Katy Marshall reports the district will also reimburse the new superintendent. 
      
• Mike Rockwood will also be making more than $310,000 as the superintendent, but the district will also compensate him for the federal income and employment taxes he will pay for residing in the house.
     
• HPISD School Board President Maryjane Bonfield described the $1.8 million house as “modest.”

COMMENTARY: "Remove Illegal Aliens from the Housing Market"

• In a commentary, Konner Earnest writes that illegal aliens have strained the housing market which increases the burdens for citizens.
      
• "The presence of illegal aliens in the housing market artificially inflates property values, thus negating any potential property tax relief that the Legislature may put forth, whether it be through compression or a homestead exemption." – Konner Earnest

Texas City Targets Kids

• With an approximate population of 1,500, the City of Kempner is promoting the LGBT agenda with a drag queen-themed festival targeting children. Soli Rice has the story. 
       
• LGBT advocate Stephan Gaeth celebrated the program. “We are definitely making it probably the gayest city in Texas for at least one day.”
      
• Despite the presence of children, individuals dressed in their rainbow-themed merchandise, drag queen costumes, and kinky bedroom attire—including dog masks and collars—to celebrate homosexual sex and gender confusion under the guise of “LGBT Pride.”

Keller ISD Previews Policies to Counter ‘Transgender’ Ideology

• The Keller Independent School District is proposing new policies designed to counter “transgender” ideology being pushed into schools by the federal government and their far-left activist allies. Erin Anderson reports the proposal has already drawn complaints from local LGBT advocates, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
       
• The district plans to "maintain restrooms, locker rooms, and similar facilities separated by biological sex" and says employees will use gender pronouns consistent with an "individual’s biological sex as it appears on an individual’s birth certificate."

Educators Facing Criminal Charges

• Police are looking for a substitute teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student. Lucio Antonio Murillo was a substitute teacher in the Amarillo Independent School District from December 2021 until he reportedly resigned this April.
      
• Authorities say Murrillo “engaged in sexual contact” with a male student at Caprock High School on or before February 15.
     
• Meanwhile, Alisha Feuerbacher was arrested late last week and charged with having an improper relationship between educator and student. That is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Feuerbacher worked as a special education aide at Lovejoy High School from August 2021 until May 2022, and the relationship allegedly occurred after her employment ended.

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