Good morning!

TCU is hosting another drag show… Planned Parenthood and Beta O’Rourke are registering dead people to vote… And it is our job as citizens to show up.

Here is the Texas Minute for Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

But first… Please join me in wishing a VERY HAPPY birthday to my beautiful bride, Nicolle! 

O’Rourke & Planned Parenthood Try to Register Dead Voters

• Yesterday, the Republican Party of Texas announced further confirmation of Planned Parenthood attempting to register deceased voters, with Democrat gubernatorial challenger Robert “Beto” O’Rourke now attempting the same scheme. For more details, check out Sydnie Henry’s article.
     
• The GOP found that Planned Parenthood is not only mailing voter registration applications to deceased individuals (the average date of death is over nine years ago), but they have also failed to include the political advertisement disclaimer required by the Texas Ethics Code.
   
• “These blatant attacks on our elections will not stand. We have trained an army of poll watchers and election workers that will blanket Texas for early voting and election day to ensure our elections are secure,” said Matt Rinaldi, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.

Texas Christian University to Host ‘Hispanic Heritage’ Drag Show

• While public schools and universities across the state come under fire for promoting radical gender ideologies, Texas Christian University will host a drag show in Fort Worth “celebrating” Hispanic Heritage Month later this week. Katy Drollinger has the story.
      
• TCU’s Student Identity and Engagement Department, which focuses on “diversity, inclusiveness, and cultural awareness,” is sponsoring the event. 

  This event is not TCU’s first drag show. In April 2022, the university hosted “The Annual Night of Drag,” showcasing students taking the “Queer Art of Drag” class performing alongside professional drag queens.
         

• Grassroots activist Carlos Turcios brought attention to TCU’s “Hispanic Heritage Month” drag show and questioned whether TCU would prevent minors from attending. Although this week’s show is a university event, the April drag show encouraged students to bring family and friends and did not include an age limit in advertisements.

New Project Exposes Left’s Perversion of Children

• A new initiative from the Texas Family Project is fighting back against the growing effort to sexualize children. Brandon Waltens reports the new initiative, Defend Our Kids Texas, will be spearheaded by Blaze TV host Sara Gonzales.
      
• Gonzales announced the launch of the initiative on Tucker Carlson Tonight after releasing shocking footage of a drag performance held in Plano, Texas. 
      
• “This is clear child abuse,” Gonzales told Carlson. “This is the sexual abuse of children.”
      
• “This is grotesque, disturbing behavior. Under Texas law, local district and county attorneys are charged with taking up the mantle to protect Texas kids by prosecuting these types of totally inappropriate acts,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton. He wants lawmakers to amend the state’s penal code so that his office can prosecute these cases “when district and county attorneys refuse.”

As a Citizen, Don’t Be a Gerety

• The cautionary example of a candidate for city council in Midland reminds us of the importance of showing up.
      
• Jim Gerety is running for city council, as one might imagine, on the basis of his long-standing community participation. Despite being appointed to serve on a city board, which he brags about in his campaign materials, Gerety didn’t show up for the meetings.
      
• Gerety took to Facebook to deliver a 1,176-word rambling post explaining why it wasn’t his fault, shifting blame in every possible direction. The chief blame for his absence, he explained, is that the city staff had the wrong email address for him. In the great pantheon of lazy politician excuses, “they had the wrong email address” has to be the laziest.
      
• Now, rather than coasting into a city council seat, Gerety is forced to explain himself (and doing so poorly). When you’re explaining in politics, you’re losing.
     
• We should take all this to heart. Some people, perhaps like Mr. Gerety, are too self-important to take personal responsibility for their civic duties – whether  serving on a government board or voting in an election. They wait to be asked. They expect to be coddled. They demand others do the hard work for them. But as a self-governing people, the responsibility for participation rests on us.
      
• If we are to be effective citizens, the one thing we must do is show up.

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Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts displayed here should reflect those recently redrawn by the Legislature. Though the new lines do not take representational effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. Please note that your incumbent legislator and/or district numbers may have changed.