Good morning!

If you haven't checked it out, I host a daily podcast—also called the Texas Minute—that includes much of what you find in the email. We also offer a great lineup of daily and weekly programs from some amazing folks. Find the current lineup below.

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, June 12, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Paxton Secures Injunction Halting Biden Administration’s Title IX Rewrite

• A federal court has vacated the controversial Title IX guidance nationwide due to a lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Sydnie Henry has the details.
      
• The Biden administration’s 1,500-page rewrite of Title IX added "gender identity" as a protected class and would have forced K-12 schools to allow boys into girls’ facilities and activities. Schools that refused were threatened with loss of federal education funds.
     
• Yesterday, a federal court issued a permanent injunction against the administration's enforcement of the rule.
      
• In his opinion, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor wrote the administration's Title IX rewrite was an "unlawful action" that "shockingly transforms American education."
      
• "Joe Biden’s unlawful effort to weaponize Title IX for his extremist agenda has been stopped in its tracks. Threatening to withhold education funding by forcing states to accept ‘transgender’ policies that put women in danger was plainly illegal. Texas has prevailed on behalf of the entire Nation." – Attorney General Ken Paxton

House GOP Caucus Censures Four Members for Supporting Conservative Challengers

• Four lawmakers have been officially censured by the House Republican Caucus. As Brandon Waltens reports, the action was taken because the four men campaigned for conservative challengers against incumbents during the recent primary elections.
      
• Caucus rules prohibit members from endorsing against incumbents in what has been referred to as the “Incumbent Protection Program.”
     
• This year, however, conservative incumbent State Reps. Brian Harrison, Nate Schatzline, Steve Toth, and Tony Tinderholt joined statewide Republicans like Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller in endorsing against liberal Republicans in an election cycle that saw the defeat of 15 incumbent Republicans.
       
• Last week, the four lawmakers went public with plans by the caucus to consider expelling them for the endorsements. That effort was short-circuited by the caucus' executive committee, which instead issued a formal censure of their conduct “in the strongest terms.”
       
• The censure was signed by the executive committee, which consists of State Reps. Tom Oliverson, Lacey Hull, Shelby Slawson, Jacey Jetton, and Jared Patterson. (NOTE: Jetton was one of those Republicans defeated in the primary by a conservative challenger.)
      
• "At a time when Republicans should be unifying against Democrats, the Caucus is divisively punishing conservatives. Despite this action, we will continue fighting for Republicans in November… and for LIBERTY!" – statement from Harrison, Schatzline, Toth, and Tinderholt

RELATED NEWS

• Notably absent from this "commitment"? A ban on Democrat chairs. It's currently unknown who is pushing the document and who has signed on.

Texas Tech Pledges Greater Oversight Following Drag Queen Seminar

• Last week, a Cornell lecturer dressed as a drag queen hosted a seminar on “Queering Agriculture” for Texas Tech students. He told attendees to “sneak” queer examples and books into early education and encouraged the use of opposite-sex restrooms.
      
• Robert Montoya reports that university officials have pledged action to ensure a program like this does not happen again.
       
• The event was organized by a student group using a federal grant.
      
• The presenter, Andrew Scheldorf, said teachers should spread LGBT ideology to minors. He recommended various books for classroom libraries and suggested using same-sex couples as examples in word problems. “There’s all kinds of ways to sneak that education in without making it so, like, over the top and in your face.”
      
• All this at an "agriculture" program regarding fertilizer... Well, at least the fertilizer part was accurate.

Texas Sues Biden Administration Over Rule Forcing Doctors to Perform Gender Mutilation Procedures

• Texas is joining Montana in a lawsuit against the Biden administration in order to stop a new rule forcing doctors to perform gender mutilation procedures from going into effect. Will Biagini reports the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aims to force states to pay for gender mutilation surgeries through the Medicaid program.
        
• Under the HHS rule, healthcare providers refusing to perform sex mutilation surgeries would be cut off from the federal insurance program.
       
• “We are suing to stop the Biden Administration from withholding federal healthcare funds to force medical professionals to perform these experimental and dangerous procedures,” explained Attorney General Ken Paxton in a press release.

Arlington LGBT Event Featured Explicit Sexual Content in Front of Minors

• An event advertised as a “family-friendly” celebration of sexual identities actually featured sex-themed merchandise and scantily clad drag queens. Emily Medeiros has the story.
      
• The event, held at the Levitt Pavilion on Saturday, featured sex toys, people walking around in bondage gear, women flashing their breasts, and merchandise for sale with profanity on it, among other adult content.
      
• Multiple organizations, including Frank Kent Cadillac of Arlington, Charles Schwab, and Lockheed Martin sponsored the sexually explicit event. 
       
• “The city of Arlington and those who organized, supported, and allowed this event should be ashamed. Texans must stand against this.” – Brady Gray, president of Texas Family Project

Former Teacher Admits to Downloading Child Abuse Videos Since 1995

• A former teacher has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to downloading pornographic content showing the abuse of children. The man's Texas teaching certificate is still listed as "valid for life" with the State Board of Education.
       
• Corey Westbrook was arrested in Morton, Texas, following an investigation that was started by the New Mexico Department of Justice. Westbrook admitted he had used his computer to download the files from the dark web and “other outlets.”
         
• Investigators rounded up 83 total devices from Westbrook's home—11 of which contained child abuse videos.

Quote-Unquote

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! ...this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom."

– Ronald Reagan​

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