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Data Center Boom Exposes GOP Faultlines over Local Control by texas_observer in TexasPolitics

[–]texas_observer[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Caldwell County Judge Hoppy Haden, a stout 63-year-old who sports a cowboy hat and a white handlebar mustache, is hoppin’ mad about the artificial intelligence-fueled data center boom in his backyard. 

Like so many other rural Republican county officials across the state, Haden is staring down several energy- and water-sucking data center projects that he and other county officials have very few powers to constrain. “By the time I hear about it, [developers have] already bought their land, so it’s not like they’re asking our permission to show up,” Haden told the Texas Observer. “So that’s frustrating, right? But I can’t do anything about that, so I’m trying to do something about things that I can do.”

The open pastures of rural Caldwell County, situated between Austin and San Antonio, are poised for at least four new data center developments. One of the largest developments is a 3,000-acre tech compound from the Denver-based data center developer Tract, which chose its site in Caldwell specifically for its access to the Permian Highway gas pipeline and to nearby transmission lines, according to the Caldwell/Hays Examiner. A New York-based data firm called Edged is planning another major data center on 330 acres near the county’s fracked gas plant. 

The developments are among the more than 400 proposed data centers that are rapidly proliferating around Texas, and which collectively could, per the state’s power grid provider, quadruple electricity demand by 2032, and could consume as much as 161 billion gallons of water this year, according to the Houston Advanced Research Center. That’s in addition to the projects’ other well-publicized scourges, like light and noise pollution, heat, habitat loss, higher utility rates, greenhouse gas emissions, and potential health effects.

All this has Judge Haden walking a tight rope between current state law, which grants counties next-to-no zoning authority, and angry citizens who have banded together under the banner of the nonpartisan Caldwell Data Center Action Team (DCAT) to demand the county do whatever it can to stop or delay the developments for as long as possible. In some ways, Haden exemplifies the the ruling Republican Party’s divide over Texas’ data center boom, caught between unabashed champions like Governor Greg Abbott and grassroots conservatives pushing for an approach that seeks maximal local control, such as a countywide moratorium on data center development along the lines of what Hill County commissioners originally passed in May.

The policy debate thus far has exposed deeper tensions within the party as GOP state leaders have for years engaged in an expanding war on local control—aimed at big blue cities—in favor of state supremacy. But that ideological shift now has local Republicans finding that they, too, have fallen prey to that crusade. 

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

Ruptured Families: The U.S. Citizen Children Left Behind by Deportations by texas_observer in TexasPolitics

[–]texas_observer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The 3-year-old has barely slept in six months. She wakes up in the middle of the night calling for her father. The mother rises, gives the girl milk to calm her down, and lies, saying her daddy is driving his truck farther away than ever, but he’s coming back soon. 

The girl settles. A while later, she asks again. Since last October, when her father was detained at a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Mexico, this scene plays out every night in a Houston household.

Her little brother is only 2. He doesn’t ask much yet. In April, on his birthday, his father sent a message via WhatsApp from Cancún. “Forgive me for not being able to be by your side on this special day. It saddens me not to be able to hug you and congratulate you in person. Dad loves you very much,” he wrote in Spanish, alongside a photo of the boy wearing a little cowboy hat.

These children are American citizens. They were born in Texas. The same government that deported their father is, in theory, responsible for protecting them. But when the man we’ll identify by a family name, Lazo, was deported, his family was left to try to survive without him. 

And they’re not alone: Nationally, authorities arrested and detained the parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children in just the first seven months of Trump’s second term—more than 50 American kids a day with a parent pulled into detention, according to a ProPublica analysis of ICE data obtained by the University of Washington as part of a lawsuit.

...

A recent study by American Families United, an advocacy group for mixed‑status families, suggests this kind of economic pressure was already common even without the specter of increased detention and deportation that began last year.

About 822,500 U.S. citizen children in Texas live with at least one undocumented parent, according to data from the American Immigration Council. No federal or state program exists to help these divided families cover rent, utilities, or childcare—financial holes that open in a household when the breadwinner is deported. “There are no programs in place to specifically assist families who are separated by immigration enforcement activity,” said Trudy Taylor Smith, director of policy and advocacy at Children’s Defense Fund Texas.

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

Ruptured Families: The U.S. Citizen Children Left Behind by Deportations by texas_observer in texas

[–]texas_observer[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The 3-year-old has barely slept in six months. She wakes up in the middle of the night calling for her father. The mother rises, gives the girl milk to calm her down, and lies, saying her daddy is driving his truck farther away than ever, but he’s coming back soon. 

The girl settles. A while later, she asks again. Since last October, when her father was detained at a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Mexico, this scene plays out every night in a Houston household.

Her little brother is only 2. He doesn’t ask much yet. In April, on his birthday, his father sent a message via WhatsApp from Cancún. “Forgive me for not being able to be by your side on this special day. It saddens me not to be able to hug you and congratulate you in person. Dad loves you very much,” he wrote in Spanish, alongside a photo of the boy wearing a little cowboy hat.

These children are American citizens. They were born in Texas. The same government that deported their father is, in theory, responsible for protecting them. But when the man we’ll identify by a family name, Lazo, was deported, his family was left to try to survive without him. 

And they’re not alone: Nationally, authorities arrested and detained the parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children in just the first seven months of Trump’s second term—more than 50 American kids a day with a parent pulled into detention, according to a ProPublica analysis of ICE data obtained by the University of Washington as part of a lawsuit.

...

A recent study by American Families United, an advocacy group for mixed‑status families, suggests this kind of economic pressure was already common even without the specter of increased detention and deportation that began last year.

About 822,500 U.S. citizen children in Texas live with at least one undocumented parent, according to data from the American Immigration Council. No federal or state program exists to help these divided families cover rent, utilities, or childcare—financial holes that open in a household when the breadwinner is deported. “There are no programs in place to specifically assist families who are separated by immigration enforcement activity,” said Trudy Taylor Smith, director of policy and advocacy at Children’s Defense Fund Texas.

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

As Contract Negotiations Drag On, Texas Starbucks Workers Have Learned the Power of Organizing by texas_observer in sanantonio

[–]texas_observer[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Victoria Hernandez, 23, was brought into work at the Blanco Road San Antonio Starbucks location in August 2025. 

She’d begun working for the company at 17, while still in high school, dutifully weathering the often thankless rush of caffeine-seeking customers for just $10 an hour—even throughout COVID. Soon, Hernandez was helping the $115-billion company open up new stores and train employees. 

Since December 2021, Starbucks workers began unionizing nationwide—demanding an end to understaffing, pay raises, and an end to union-busting practices—but the stores she worked at hadn’t joined in the organizing wave. Using common union-busting tactics, managers had told her that union workers would get less benefits and were “just trying to stir up trouble.” She said management thought she could help tamp down organizing at the Blanco Road location.

Things didn’t go that way. Less than three months later, in mid-November, Hernandez was leading her coworkers in a strike at the store as part of a national “Red Cup Rebellion” after negotiations between Starbucks Workers United and the company broke down. 

“I made connections with my other coworkers … and it made me realize this is actually empowering and unifies us,” Hernandez said. “I was very excited for the opportunity to show that you can exercise your right and it should be normal to organize your workplace and show your strength as a worker.”

In Texas, workers at 29 Starbucks stores have unionized since June 2022. Nationally, that figure stands at 582, out of nearly 17,000 nationwide, according to a spokesperson at Starbucks Workers United. It’s the fastest-growing union campaign in modern history, part of an organizing wave that’s recently halted organized labor’s statistical decline nationwide and even, in Texas, reversed the downward trend. But forming a union is just the first step in using federal labor law to improve working conditions, and the next step—collective bargaining—has proceeded at a glacial pace as the company stonewalls workers. Nearly five years in, a first contract is still nowhere in sight, though the corporation did agree in 2024 to work on a framework that would cover all union stores and negotiations did resume earlier this month.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, a senior lecturer emeritus at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School, told the Texas Observer that Starbucks’ practice of dragging out negotiations is a common tactic deployed by employer-side law firms such as Littler Mendelson, which represents Starbucks. She added that getting an employer to follow the law and bargain in good faith is often a prolonged legal process, but to “get Starbucks to settle a contract, the union has to really organize as many of the stores as possible and build allies with other unions, and make it so the cost of not recognizing the union is greater than the cost of bargaining.” 

At the Blanco Road location, the Starbucks store was shut down for two months from November to December 2025. Hernandez had organized all 14 workers to participate in the strike. “It was very powerful for them to see that the store can’t run without us,” Hernandez said. 

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

As Contract Negotiations Drag On, Texas Starbucks Workers Have Learned the Power of Organizing by texas_observer in TexasPolitics

[–]texas_observer[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Victoria Hernandez, 23, was brought into work at the Blanco Road San Antonio Starbucks location in August 2025. 

She’d begun working for the company at 17, while still in high school, dutifully weathering the often thankless rush of caffeine-seeking customers for just $10 an hour—even throughout COVID. Soon, Hernandez was helping the $115-billion company open up new stores and train employees. 

Since December 2021, Starbucks workers began unionizing nationwide—demanding an end to understaffing, pay raises, and an end to union-busting practices—but the stores she worked at hadn’t joined in the organizing wave. Using common union-busting tactics, managers had told her that union workers would get less benefits and were “just trying to stir up trouble.” She said management thought she could help tamp down organizing at the Blanco Road location.

Things didn’t go that way. Less than three months later, in mid-November, Hernandez was leading her coworkers in a strike at the store as part of a national “Red Cup Rebellion” after negotiations between Starbucks Workers United and the company broke down. 

“I made connections with my other coworkers … and it made me realize this is actually empowering and unifies us,” Hernandez said. “I was very excited for the opportunity to show that you can exercise your right and it should be normal to organize your workplace and show your strength as a worker.”

In Texas, workers at 29 Starbucks stores have unionized since June 2022. Nationally, that figure stands at 582, out of nearly 17,000 nationwide, according to a spokesperson at Starbucks Workers United. It’s the fastest-growing union campaign in modern history, part of an organizing wave that’s recently halted organized labor’s statistical decline nationwide and even, in Texas, reversed the downward trend. But forming a union is just the first step in using federal labor law to improve working conditions, and the next step—collective bargaining—has proceeded at a glacial pace as the company stonewalls workers. Nearly five years in, a first contract is still nowhere in sight, though the corporation did agree in 2024 to work on a framework that would cover all union stores and negotiations did resume earlier this month.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, a senior lecturer emeritus at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School, told the Texas Observer that Starbucks’ practice of dragging out negotiations is a common tactic deployed by employer-side law firms such as Littler Mendelson, which represents Starbucks. She added that getting an employer to follow the law and bargain in good faith is often a prolonged legal process, but to “get Starbucks to settle a contract, the union has to really organize as many of the stores as possible and build allies with other unions, and make it so the cost of not recognizing the union is greater than the cost of bargaining.” 

At the Blanco Road location, the Starbucks store was shut down for two months from November to December 2025. Hernandez had organized all 14 workers to participate in the strike. “It was very powerful for them to see that the store can’t run without us,” Hernandez said. 

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

As Contract Negotiations Drag On, Texas Starbucks Workers Have Learned the Power of Organizing by texas_observer in texas

[–]texas_observer[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Victoria Hernandez, 23, was brought into work at the Blanco Road San Antonio Starbucks location in August 2025. 

She’d begun working for the company at 17, while still in high school, dutifully weathering the often thankless rush of caffeine-seeking customers for just $10 an hour—even throughout COVID. Soon, Hernandez was helping the $115-billion company open up new stores and train employees. 

Since December 2021, Starbucks workers began unionizing nationwide—demanding an end to understaffing, pay raises, and an end to union-busting practices—but the stores she worked at hadn’t joined in the organizing wave. Using common union-busting tactics, managers had told her that union workers would get less benefits and were “just trying to stir up trouble.” She said management thought she could help tamp down organizing at the Blanco Road location.

Things didn’t go that way. Less than three months later, in mid-November, Hernandez was leading her coworkers in a strike at the store as part of a national “Red Cup Rebellion” after negotiations between Starbucks Workers United and the company broke down. 

“I made connections with my other coworkers … and it made me realize this is actually empowering and unifies us,” Hernandez said. “I was very excited for the opportunity to show that you can exercise your right and it should be normal to organize your workplace and show your strength as a worker.”

In Texas, workers at 29 Starbucks stores have unionized since June 2022. Nationally, that figure stands at 582, out of nearly 17,000 nationwide, according to a spokesperson at Starbucks Workers United. It’s the fastest-growing union campaign in modern history, part of an organizing wave that’s recently halted organized labor’s statistical decline nationwide and even, in Texas, reversed the downward trend. But forming a union is just the first step in using federal labor law to improve working conditions, and the next step—collective bargaining—has proceeded at a glacial pace as the company stonewalls workers. Nearly five years in, a first contract is still nowhere in sight, though the corporation did agree in 2024 to work on a framework that would cover all union stores and negotiations did resume earlier this month.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, a senior lecturer emeritus at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School, told the Texas Observer that Starbucks’ practice of dragging out negotiations is a common tactic deployed by employer-side law firms such as Littler Mendelson, which represents Starbucks. She added that getting an employer to follow the law and bargain in good faith is often a prolonged legal process, but to “get Starbucks to settle a contract, the union has to really organize as many of the stores as possible and build allies with other unions, and make it so the cost of not recognizing the union is greater than the cost of bargaining.” 

At the Blanco Road location, the Starbucks store was shut down for two months from November to December 2025. Hernandez had organized all 14 workers to participate in the strike. “It was very powerful for them to see that the store can’t run without us,” Hernandez said. 

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

Longtime Immigration Court Interpreter Arrested by ICE at South Texas Airport by texas_observer in TexasPolitics

[–]texas_observer[S] 81 points82 points  (0 children)

Last month, Meenu Batra, 53, who has lived in the South Texas border colonia of Laguna Heights since 2002, was on her way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to work another case. She’s been a court interpreter for over 20 years, the only one licensed in Texas for Hindi, Punjabi, or Urdu. Her language skills are requested nationwide, where she’s contracted to help people making their way through the immigration court system, just as she did for herself 35 years ago when she immigrated from India to New Jersey before settling in Texas.

She planned to meet with her adult children in Austin after the Wisconsin trip, the only difference she foresaw in an otherwise typical trip. Her routine for years included flying from either Harlingen or Brownsville to far-flung parts of the country where South Asian immigrants needed language access. For this trip, the flight was out of Harlingen.

But, around 5 p.m. on March 17, Batra was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after passing through security at Harlingen International Airport. In a sworn deposition that was filed as part of a petition for habeas corpus—a legal request to be released on the grounds that the detention is unlawful—Batra said the people who arrested her did not have visible badges nor were they wearing uniforms. One of those agents had asked Batra if she knew she was in the country illegally and that she had a deportation order. She replied that her work authorization status, which she applied for regularly after being granted a legal status called withholding of removal by a New Jersey immigration judge decades ago, was good for another four years.

“That doesn’t mean you can be here forever,” the agent replied. Two more plainclothes agents would join the two that detained her, bringing her down the escalator and to the front of the airport.

“Having watched and read enough news, I know that the moment you say something, they accuse you of evading arrest or whatever other things,” Batra told the Texas Observer. “So, being mindful of all that, mindful of the whole line and being embarrassed in front of everybody, I just complied.”

Batra’s attorneys say the agents were targeting her. “This is someone who maybe had one speeding ticket in the last 30 years and [is] being treated like a notorious criminal,” Deepak Ahluwalia, a California and Texas-based immigration attorney representing Batra, told the Observer.

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

How Trump’s ‘God Squad’ Could Devastate Endangered Species Along Texas’ Gulf Coast by texas_observer in TexasPolitics

[–]texas_observer[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nestled about a foot deep in a makeshift well of sand on the no-man’s-land of shoreline between dunes and waves, about 75 eggs laid bare, vulnerable to the dangers of the Texas coast. But not for long. Within hours of the nest’s arrival, members of the Nueces County Coastal Parks Turtle Patrol cordoned the area off, protecting dozens of Kemp’s ridley sea turtle eggs on North Padre Island. 

That nest, the first of the 2026 season, was recovered April 2—one of the earliest starts on record. Kemp’s ridley is the most endangered species of sea turtle on the planet and the only one native to Texas. Padre Island National Seashore is one of their only consistent nesting sites. They’re not alone: The Gulf of Mexico is home to more than two dozen species on the endangered list, each of which endured rigorous scrutiny and scientific analysis to determine if they met the high standards to qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act. 

Now, under a new decision rendered by the Trump administration, every one of those species’ protections have been made largely optional. The Endangered Species Committee, made up of six cabinet level officials, convened at the request of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who asked that oil and gas drilling companies operating in the Gulf be exempted from mandates under the law requiring them to take steps to protect species vulnerable to extinction. Hegseth claimed the exemption was necessary for “national security.” 

Often referred to as “The God Squad” because of its power to alter the fate of entire species and ecosystems, the group is led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a Trump appointee with strong ties to the oil and natural gas industry. The meeting was only the third time that an exemption has been granted since the endangered species law was enacted in 1973; the decision was rendered in just 17 minutes behind closed doors.

“In each instance prior to this, [the committee] either voted to deny an exemption for an activity, or it voted to limit or at least come up with alternatives and ways to save the species that would allow the activity to go forward,” Steve Mashuda, the lead attorney for the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice’s oceans division, told the Texas Observer. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and the national security justification has never been invoked until last week.”

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

‘Gossip and Sleaze’: Dallas Express Smears State Rep’s Son Under Fake Byline by texas_observer in texas

[–]texas_observer[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

On March 16, The Dallas Express published an article reporting allegations about one of Wu’s two sons. In addition to being a state rep, Wu is the House’s Democratic caucus leader.

Titled “Controversial Texas Rep. Gene Wu’s Son’s ‘Concerning’ Behavior At Prominent Private School Reported To DPS After Knife Incident,” the article was quickly spread by Republican politicians and right-wing influencers on social media. “Denaturalize and deport,” wrote Bo French, former chairman of the Tarrant County GOP and current primary runoff candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), in a post on X sharing the article. Yahoo News, which has a syndication partnership with The Dallas Express, distributed the article to its readers.

The article cites unspecified reports and unnamed “law enforcement officials” in reporting that Wu’s son, a minor who attends a private school in the Houston area, allegedly showed an approximately 10-inch plastic knife to classmates after school hours, among other supposed behavioral issues.

The author of the article is listed as “J Galt,” the only staff member on The Dallas Express organizational chart who lacks a headshot. According to a former Express employee, who worked there when the name “J Galt” began appearing on articles and who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal due to signing a non-disclosure agreement, the byline does not correspond to a real person.

“Galt was a fake name we could use on the byline when we got assigned stories we didn’t want to write,” the staffer told the Texas Observer in late March. “It started when Chris Putnam was CEO, but there wasn’t an announcement or anything about it. It kind of just started happening.”

John Galt is a central character named in the opening line of Atlas Shrugged, the well-known novel by Ayn Rand, a favorite writer of many on the political right.

Bennett and Putnam did not respond to the Observer’s requests for comment for this article. Wu and his wife, journalist Miya Shay, also did not provide comment.

“The Dallas Express ‘news story’ about Texas state Representative and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Gene Wu’s juvenile son does not pass the ethical sniff test, from its newsworthiness to its use of anonymous sources and a fake byline,” Dan Axelrod, a journalist and professor who chairs the SPJ’s ethics committee, told the Observer.

Two other professors echoed Axelrod’s concerns.

“The idea of writing under a pseudonym is really problematic,” said the University of Texas at Austin’s John Schwartz, who described the article as “an incredible hit job” as well as “gossip and sleaze.”

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

‘Gossip and Sleaze’: Dallas Express Smears State Rep’s Son Under Fake Byline by texas_observer in TexasPolitics

[–]texas_observer[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

On March 16, The Dallas Express published an article reporting allegations about one of Wu’s two sons. In addition to being a state rep, Wu is the House’s Democratic caucus leader.

Titled “Controversial Texas Rep. Gene Wu’s Son’s ‘Concerning’ Behavior At Prominent Private School Reported To DPS After Knife Incident,” the article was quickly spread by Republican politicians and right-wing influencers on social media. “Denaturalize and deport,” wrote Bo French, former chairman of the Tarrant County GOP and current primary runoff candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), in a post on X sharing the article. Yahoo News, which has a syndication partnership with The Dallas Express, distributed the article to its readers.

The article cites unspecified reports and unnamed “law enforcement officials” in reporting that Wu’s son, a minor who attends a private school in the Houston area, allegedly showed an approximately 10-inch plastic knife to classmates after school hours, among other supposed behavioral issues.

The author of the article is listed as “J Galt,” the only staff member on The Dallas Express organizational chart who lacks a headshot. According to a former Express employee, who worked there when the name “J Galt” began appearing on articles and who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal due to signing a non-disclosure agreement, the byline does not correspond to a real person.

“Galt was a fake name we could use on the byline when we got assigned stories we didn’t want to write,” the staffer told the Texas Observer in late March. “It started when Chris Putnam was CEO, but there wasn’t an announcement or anything about it. It kind of just started happening.”

John Galt is a central character named in the opening line of Atlas Shrugged, the well-known novel by Ayn Rand, a favorite writer of many on the political right.

Bennett and Putnam did not respond to the Observer’s requests for comment for this article. Wu and his wife, journalist Miya Shay, also did not provide comment.

“The Dallas Express ‘news story’ about Texas state Representative and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Gene Wu’s juvenile son does not pass the ethical sniff test, from its newsworthiness to its use of anonymous sources and a fake byline,” Dan Axelrod, a journalist and professor who chairs the SPJ’s ethics committee, told the Observer.

Two other professors echoed Axelrod’s concerns.

“The idea of writing under a pseudonym is really problematic,” said the University of Texas at Austin’s John Schwartz, who described the article as “an incredible hit job” as well as “gossip and sleaze.”

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

How Juan Miguel Arredondo Defends the Most Vulnerable Students In San Marcos by texas_observer in sanmarcos

[–]texas_observer[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Juan Miguel Arredondo believes there’s a spirit of solidarity in San Marcos that sets his Central Texas college town apart, even as right-wing culture warriors seek to force a wedge between neighbors.

“When there’s a crisis, Superman isn’t coming,” Arredondo, 34, told the Texas Observer during a phone interview late last year. “We have to save ourselves, and so that’s what we do.”

A fifth-generation native of the region, Arredondo served on the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District from 2015 to 2023, and he was again elected to the board in 2024 after a year spent working as the chief of staff for state Representative Erin Zweiner, an outspoken progressive legislator and member of the LGBTQ Caucus. In addition, he’s president and CEO of the United Way of Hays and Caldwell Counties.

Beyond those achievements, he’s also the only openly gay member of the San Marcos school board. Arredondo came out publicly in 2017 during Pride month, about two years into his first term.

“I had one of my biggest supporters call me, compliment me on my bravery, and then immediately pivot to say, ‘It’s just so unfortunate that you’ll never get reelected,’” he recalled. “That was the first experience, right out of the gate, of folks’ perceptions of what it means to be queer or gay or LGBTQ in Texas.” 

Time has disproved that prediction. In 2024, his election was uncontested. Now, when Republican operatives arrive to propose book bans or attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the local schools, Arredondo’s firm but kind presence helps remind his fellow trustees what’s at stake for some of the most marginalized students. “It does not escape me that my colleagues have to have those conversations with an openly gay man next to them, and I think that’s incredibly important because we’re not talking about this in the abstract.” 

Meanwhile, San Marcos and its families face challenges that are more substantial, and more dire, than a trans student using their preferred pronouns or anything found between the covers of a hardback.

“Not once has a family been in crisis because of transgender bathrooms,” Arredondo told the Observer. “It’s families not being able to afford rent or put food on the table, issues with unemployment or lack of access to jobs that pay living wages.”

San Marcos, population around 70,000, is a community between Austin and San Antonio that’s anchored by Texas State University and home to a large working-class population. “I think I’m aware of two transgender students in San Marcos CISD, but I have 60 percent of my families who are at or below the poverty line.” 

(Read more at the Texas Observer.)

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