#school: university of texas arlington

[absmarchive]

Women's March brings protesters to campus in support of women's reproductive rights

[covid-safer-hotties]

With COVID-19 relief gone, teachers are losing their jobs. It's a blow to diversity. - Published Sept 3, 2024

Erica Popoca's ninth grade English students were livid in the spring when she told them she wouldn't be back to teach this fall.

The district where she works in Hartford, Connecticut, terminated her contract because the COVID-19 relief money that covered her salary was about to dry up. Newer teachers such as Popoca were the first to be cut. Her students wrote letters urging school board members to change their minds.

Popoca, the founding adviser of the multilingual student club, worried she would lose bonds with Latino students she had taught for two years who identify with her culturally as a Latina and as one of the few teachers who speaks Spanish at the school.

The district ultimately came up with other funding to pay her, and in a win for her and her students, officials reversed the layoff.

Popoca is among the thousands of teachers and school staffers across the U.S. at risk of losing their jobs as districts balance their budgets and prepare for the shortfall after COVID-19 relief money expires. Districts have been scrambling to put unfunded staffers into different roles. The reality is that many students will lose contact with adults with whom they have built relationships in recent years.

The Biden administration granted schools $189.5 billion over the past few years through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) under the American Rescue Plan Act. School officials have until the end of September to commit the remainder of their money, and districts will no longer be able to pay for nonteaching staff roles with that money after Sept. 30. Schools nationwide used most of their relief fund money to pay for classroom teachers and support staff, according to a U.S. Department of Education analysis of district spending for fiscal year 2022. Districts across the country are now laying off recently hired educators, teaching assistants, counselors, restorative justice coordinators and other key staff at schools, or they're scrambling to find ways to retain them.

A recent survey of 190 district leaders by the nonprofit research group Rand found that teacher reductions were "the most common budget cut" officials anticipated. Conversations about staff layoffs cropped up in at least 28 districts ahead of the upcoming fiscal cliff, according to a tracker of media reports from the Georgetown University-based research center Edunomics Lab, which monitors potential layoffs at districts.

The post-pandemic layoffs have been widespread. Montana's Helena Public Schools cut 36 positions, including 21 teachers. The Arlington Independent School District in Texas cut 275 positions, including counselors, tutors and teaching support staff.

Newer teachers are the first to go in states that allow or require districts to use "last-in-first-out" policies, which protect tenured teachers – and many people terminated will be staffers of color, said Aaron Pallas, a professor of sociology and education at Columbia University. States that diversified their educator workforce in the past several years will see a backslide in that progress since "recently hired staff who are often more diverse" will be "laid off more than experienced staff who often are more traditionally white," he said.

Schools serving low-income students will be hit hardest by the shift in funding because those campuses received more federal relief money, Pallas said.

Schools were required to comply with some equity provisions when obligating the relief money. The end of the funding will disparately affect students of color and kids in high-poverty neighborhoods.

Popoca, who comes from the Bronx in New York City, is concerned about what the losses will mean for her school.

"I am relieved but wary because quite a few positions are still vacant," she said. "We don’t have the amount of staff we're supposed to have, and I'm concerned about how the lack of staff is going to impact the students and the school."

Which states are likely to lose new teachers? At least 11 states – Alaska, California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island – last year had policies explicitly requiring districts to consider seniority in layoff decisions, according to a 2023 analysis from Educators for Excellence, a New York-based nonprofit organization that supports state laws that rid of seniority-based considerations from layoff decisions. Some other states, including Connecticut, where Popoca lives, allow districts to consider seniority in layoff decisions among other factors, but it's not required. Some states ban districts from considering seniority as a factor.

Because junior teachers tend to begin their careers in higher-poverty schools, there could be cases in which schools lose high percentages of their staff, said Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab.

"It's really disruptive for students," Roza said. "And it's not great for teachers."

When Popoca told her class of mostly Black and Latino eighth graders last spring that she would be laid off, they were heartbroken. She's one of a few new staffers of color returning to the district this year. A few of her colleagues lost their jobs in the spring and won't be back when school starts, she said.

What should families expect to see at schools? In addition to the emergency funding layoffs, Roza said, many teachers may leave of their own accord. Some districts may also try to shrink their staffing pools with attrition rather than layoffs.

"They're going to hope and pray teachers just leave," Roza said.

Most of the cuts will likely hit the pool of support staff districts beefed up during the pandemic to help kids recover, Columbia's Pallas said.

The counselors, nurses, restorative justice coordinators and teaching assistants added to campus staff in recent years will be gone, and students and their school communities will start to feel that loss by the start of this school year, he said.

Francis Pina is one of several staffers and one of few Black men hired by Boston Public Schools to train teachers how to infuse social-emotional learning into classroom teaching. At the end of last year, he learned his role and the jobs of most new staffers on his team would be dissolved because it was considered a short-term position. Boston Public Schools paid Pina with COVID-19 emergency money through the end of the past academic year.

Pina will return as a high school math teacher this year, but he worries about what will happen to the district's social-emotional learning program.

When he heard his role was coming to an end, Pina said, he was nervous because he felt it was "really important to support students" still facing pandemic-related academic, social and emotional setbacks. He says students in the district haven't worked through all of those losses, even if the district has gone back to the "status quo."

As a Black man who attended Boston Public Schools, he believes he offers a unique perspective to kids, including Black students, and helps them thrive academically and emotionally in school.

"Prioritizing this is important," Pina said. "Kids need to know we care about them."

Teacher diversification will face a setback Diversity among the teaching staff has improved in recent years in Massachusetts, where Pina teaches. But the state's last-in-first-out policy means schools will lose diversification in the workforce, Roza, from the research lab at Georgetown, said.

That's a problem considering students of color are the majority at public schools in the U.S. Nearly one-fourth of public schools did not have an educator of color on staff, according to a May analysis of state-by-state data from TNTP, a nonprofit organization focused on the needs of students of color and those in poverty. Academic studies show students of color perform better academically when they have teachers from diverse backgrounds

There's a surprising reason: Why many schools don't have a single Black teacher

Representation on campuses may be further diminished when the emergency funding ends.

To stave off those losses and rescind seniority-based layoffs, some lawmakers tried to change how layoffs work, but they ran into pushback from the state teachers union, which said the policies harmed protections for senior educators. In March, the Massachusetts Legislature rejected sections of education bills that would have removed seniority considerations as the sole factor for layoffs.

“While we are happy to see the legislature taking strides to improve teacher diversity in Massachusetts, it is disheartening to see that the Education Committee chose not to prioritize protecting these very educators in the event of district layoffs,” Lisa Lazare, executive director of Educators for Excellence's Massachusetts chapter, said in a news release.

More new staffers of color are expected to face layoffs this year, Roza said.

For now, Popoca, in Connecticut, is looking forward to returning to the classroom and seeing her students – many of whom come from Latin American countries and with whom she feels a special bond. She's worried about the cuts, she says, because the school needs more teachers and support staff, not less.

She already has heard from people she knows who had considered entering the teaching profession in Hartford or elsewhere who have pulled back because of the district's lack of money.

"It's really concerning," she said.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Jun 25, 2024

The impact of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in June 1969 has often been overblown. Those few summer days when the beleaguered gay community fought back against the police on the streets of New York City are rightly considered a milestone in the struggle for equal rights in the West. But endless arguments about ‘who threw the first brick?’ have obscured the truth that gay equality was achieved by the activists who persisted in the aftermath, harnessing that energy and changing the world forever.

Perhaps a more important milestone was the march organised by a handful of campaigners a year after Stonewall. Craig Rodwell’s idea had been to make this a yearly commemoration that would supersede the ‘Annual Reminder’ picket events that he had been holding every Independence Day in Philadelphia since 1965. It would be known as the ‘Christopher Street Liberation Day’ – later retrospectively rebranded as the first New York ‘Pride’ march – and it was orchestrated chiefly by Rodwell, Fred Sargeant, Linda Rhodes and Ellen Broidy.

The march took place on 28 June 1970, and it was an audacious display. Police hostility to gay people was rife, the local media were overwhelmingly unsympathetic and there were fears of violent repercussions from observers. The day passed off peacefully, perhaps because of a general sense of astonishment that thousands of gay people would assemble so openly. A reporter for the Village Voice wrote that ‘no one could quite believe it, eyes rolled back in heads, Sunday tourists traded incredulous looks, wondrous faces poked out of air-conditioned cars’. At the head of the march, Fred Sargeant carried a bullhorn and called out instructions to the marchers as they made their way from the West Village to Central Park.

Fifty-four years later, and Pride has transformed from an important act of resistance into a month-long orgy of corporatism and virtue-signalling, full of heterosexuals desperate to identify themselves into an oppressed group with the help of trans ideology. ‘Progress Pride’ flags flutter from every high-street store. This relatively new design – a kaleidoscopic eyesore that has replaced the traditional six-stripe Pride flag – is emblazoned on schools, universities, hospitals, civic buildings. In the city of Arlington in Texas, this year’s family friendly Pride event included displays of dildos, half-naked drag queens and human dogs in bondage gear, all co-spon.sored by Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest producer of armaments. In London, numerous pedestrian crossings have been repainted with the ‘Progress Pride’ motif. Police horses find walking across the coloured stripes confusing and disturbing, so the animals have undergone special training to overcome their fears. After all, it is essential to address the rampant homophobia within the equine community.

What might the thousands who turned out on that summer day in New York in 1970 make of this distorted version of Pride? Those gay men and lesbians who risked social ostracism and physical violence to gather in public have little in common with this garish and unsettling facsimile. A poll from 2021 determined that almost 40 per cent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 now identify as LGBTQ. Given the vast majority identifying as such do so as ‘trans’, ‘nonbinary’ and ‘queer’, this means it is statistically certain that gay people are now the minority in this coalition. The early pioneers of gay rights didn’t risk so much for their movement to be usurped by fetishistic heterosexuals with a martyr complex.

It would be interesting to see polling data on how many gay people support Pride in its new ‘trans-inclusive’ incarnation. One recent poll on X asked a simple question: ‘Do you want Pride anymore?’ And although 93.5 per cent of respondents replied in the negative, social-media polls are notoriously useless and we would be unwise to draw any conclusions from them. Still, it is surely significant that this poll was reposted by Fred Sargeant, and that his answer was a resounding ‘No’. That the man who led the first Pride march, bullhorn in hand, should now reject the annual event that he co-created because of its embrace of gender ideology is far from trivial. Nor is it trivial that while handing out pamphlets critical of the trans movement at a Pride event in Vermont in 2022, Sargeant was physically attacked by trans activists.

[ A parade through New York City on Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day, 1971. ]

He is not alone. Many gay people have expressed dismay at the metamorphosis of Pride and feel that it no longer represents them. This can be confusing for those who have not been paying attention to its ongoing political evolution, but there is a very good reason why groups of gay men and lesbians are now holding alternative Pride rallies this year. In August 2022, police insisted that lesbians leave a Pride parade because their banners, proclaiming that ‘lesbians don’t like penises’ and ‘trans activism erases lesbians’, were causing consternation. When gay people are being escorted away from Pride marches by the police, we can safely say that the movement has fallen.

Some might argue that the LGBTQIA+ explosion is an example of what happens when liberalism goes unchecked, that it is the natural consequence of an excess of tolerance and the rise of identity politics. Yet while identity politics in its current intersectional form has proven to be deeply illiberal and regressive, there have been sound reasons throughout history for people with shared characteristics to organise and resist. Unlike the various campaigns for imaginary victimhood that dominate today’s ‘social justice’ causes, being openly gay in the 1970s came at a huge cost. At the time of the first Pride parade, every state in the US with the exception of Illinois criminalised gay sex. In services and employment, discrimination against gay people was permitted, and even most progressives assumed that homosexuality was a mental illness. This is a world away from the exaggerated or fabricated grievances of the diversity, equity and inclusion industry today.

Now that gay people have complete equal rights under the law, the protest element of Pride has been appropriated by those with an apparent craving for oppression. Asexual activists, for instance, have taken centre stage at certain Pride events, even though nobody in the history of humankind has ever been burned at the stake for not wanting to have sex. It isn’t the case that those who identify as asexual are facing discrimination; it’s that nobody cares about what they don’t get up to in the bedroom. But of course, for those of a narcissistic temperament, there can be nothing more devastating than being ignored.

[ Furries march on Congress Street during the annual Pride Portland parade, 2017. ]

Many of those who call themselves ‘nonbinary’ are similarly vocal, but there is no serious comparison to be made between the historical persecution of homosexuals and experiencing some pushback when you demand that others refer to you as ‘they’ or ‘them’. Coming out as gay in 1970 increased the risk of being violently assaulted; coming out as ‘nonbinary’ today only increases one’s chances of being employed at the BBC.

Of course, all of this must be symptomatic of the developing cult of victimhood in the Western world. Ironically, there is now power in being the victim. Those who claim to be ‘marginalised’ are able to get people fired, drive them from public life, and harass and bully them in the name of ‘progress’. Who would have thought there was so much clout in being oppressed?

Far from being a collective gesture of unity, Pride is now widely interpreted as a celebration of homophobia. This is because it has become infected with gender ideology, which seeks to eliminate gay people from their own history. Although trans-identified individuals were rarely seen at activist meetings and events in the early decades of the gay movement, revisionists are now insisting that gay people owe their rights to the hard work of trans campaigners. We are told that a black trans woman, Marsha P Johnson, was the key figure at the Stonewall riots. This is wrong on many counts. The riots were overwhelmingly dominated by young gay men. Although Johnson took part in the demonstrations, he wasn’t present when the rioting began. Most significantly, by his own admission, he was a transvestite who didn’t identify as female.

Fred Sargeant has been much vilified for exposing the truth of what took place in these early years of the gay rights’ movement, and he is now a thorn in the side of activists whose worldview depends on a narrative that runs contrary to the truth. Recently he posted a link to the Digital Transgender Archive on the Third International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy, which explicitly outlines how gay and trans movements in the 20th century were completely separate. The conflation of the LGB and T is an invention as recent as 2015. As the document explains, while the gay-rights movement in the US began in the 1920s, ‘the existence of a transgendered community that seeks reforms did not come into existence until the 1990s’.

The historical revisionism doesn’t end at Stonewall. Activists have attempted to claim that certain gay historical figures were mistaking their true trans identity for homosexuality. Just as Mormon priests have been known to baptise the dead and thereby convert them unwillingly to their cause, trans activists have been busy harvesting the annals of history for potential recruits. Those falsely claimed as trans include George Eliot, Dr James Barry, Radclyffe Hall and Joan of Arc. People who were gay and gender nonconforming are particularly vulnerable to this kind of retrospective ‘transing’. It’s very convenient for activists that the dead can’t complain.

While many trans campaigners consider themselves supportive of gay rights, overt homophobia is nonetheless often tolerated and encouraged within their circles. There are innumerable examples online of trans activists claiming that homosexuality is a form of transphobia and that only bigots have ‘genital preferences’. ‘If you’re a cis gay man’, writes one, ‘and your sexuality revolves around you not liking female genitalia I hope you die and I will spit on your grave’. A video recently went viral featuring an activist explaining to gay men why they should transition to female and that ‘maybe being gay is an outdated concept’. An online influencer called Davey Wavey uploaded his attempt at gay conversion therapy in a video entitled ‘How To Eat Pussy – For Gay Men’. One can imagine it being shown to young men at an evangelical Christian retreat for those who wish to find a ‘cure’ for their immoral urges.

This isn’t simply a case of a handful of lunatics on the fringe – this idea has also been normalised in mainstream gay culture. Australia’s Human Rights Commission prohibits lesbians from holding female-only events on the grounds that it discriminates against men who identify as female. Sall Grover, the founder of women’s app Giggle, is currently in a legal battle in Australia because she refused to allow a man to join. Stonewall has even redefined ‘homosexuality’ on its website as ‘same-gender attracted’. Its former CEO, Nancy Kelley, once suggested that women who don’t wish to date trans people are ‘sexual racists’. No, Nancy, they’re just gay.

We have seen all this before. In the 1980s, it was a common trope for gay men to be told that they ‘just haven’t found the right girl yet’ and to suggest to lesbians that they ‘just need the right dick’. The rights of homosexuals depend upon a recognition that a minority of people are attracted to their own sex. Once sex is eliminated from the equation, gay rights are no longer tenable.

The most obvious example of how gay rights have been threatened by trans ideology is that young gay people are disproportionately at risk of surgical ‘correction’. Given that between 80 and 90 per cent of adolescents referred to the NHS Tavistock Clinic were orientated towards their own sex, it is clear that in many cases homosexuality was being treated as gender dysphoria. I am usually mistrustful of accusations of various ‘phobias’ which can be used as a rhetorical technique to discourage disagreement. But if medicalising people for being same-sex attracted doesn’t qualify as homophobic, I’m not sure that anything does.

And so Pride and its accoutrements have come to represent an ideology that seeks not only to erase the foundations of gay rights, but also to re-conceptualise same-sex attraction as a condition that requires medical treatment. When police officers decorate their cars with the Pride colours, when NHS workers display the rainbow lanyard, when schools decorate their halls with bunting in solidarity, they are almost certainly doing so with the noble intention of promoting equal rights. But they are inadvertently promoting a movement whose end goal is the eradication of homosexuality.

This is not to deny that the ‘Progress Pride’ flag and all it represents have been embraced by many gay people. It is clearly the case that a majority have not realised the extent to which the flag has been hijacked for a cause that actively works against their interests. The situation has hardly been helped by prominent celebrities, often now referred to as ‘Vichy gays’, who have cheered on this sinister development. Homosexuals are not immune to the condition of useful idiocy.

Given that Pride has become so divisive, and given that so many lesbians, bisexuals and gay men now consider it to be an essentially hostile enterprise, it would be prudent for corporations and government bodies to stop pretending that there is a consensus on this issue. Ignorance is no longer an excuse. By flying the ‘Progress Pride’ flag, they are taking a side in a highly contentious cultural debate, one that alienates as many gay people as it attracts. Those who are serious about gay rights need to distance themselves from Pride once and for all.

==

When the demand for 'oppression' outstrips the supply.

Time to resist again.

[joaquinwhorres]

I'm prob arriving late to this as per usual but did I just read the words TLOU OC? HELL YEAH

It is never too late to roll up and ask about one of my OC's. Especially Sloane. I love her so much and have been dying to share her with the world. So here's some fun facts just for you:

Sloane Yeong

She and her two older sisters (Evelyn & Cassandra) grew up next door to Tommy and Joel in Arlington, Texas.

She's been "in love" with Tommy since she was 7 and he was 11, a fact her sisters loved teasing her about.

They never addressed his obvious infatuation with Cassie.

Sloane left Texas after graduating high school as her sisters had also moved on (New York for Cassie, Washington for Evelyn). She attended Drexel University where she became an environmental engineer, then moving to Pittsburgh for work.

She was in Pittsburgh when the Outbreak happened and all the way up until it fell.

Sloane ends up in Jackson in 2018, just two years after it's founded and when it still needs a lot of help to make the community functional.

She's been there for about two year before Tommy arrives, both of them are surprised to see each other and naturally end up clinging to the other as a piece of life from before.

Sloane has only killed one person in the entirety of the outbreak. Doing so earned her the respect of her group and is the only reason she made it to Jackson alive, but it still haunts her daily. 

[lboogie1906]

Seaman Reby Cary (September 9, 1920 - December 7, 2018) educator, community activist, politician, entrepreneur, and WWII veteran he was born in Fort Worth to Reverend Smith and Maggie B. Cary. He has a BA in History from Prairie View A&M College. He completed the requirements for his MA in history but WWII interrupted his studies. He returned to Prairie View and completed his MA.

He enlisted in the Coast Guard, becoming one of the first African Americans to be commissioned in the ranks of apprentice seaman. He became a Radioman Second Class and was assigned to the USS Cambria. He noted that thousands of other Black women and men in WWII still had to ride on segregated trains.

He found that vocational training programs for veterans were restricted to white former servicemen only. He co-founded the McDonald College of Industrial Arts for African Americans

He was a counselor and history/government instructor at Dunbar Middle School. He became an assistant professor of history at Tarrant County Junior College and became the first Black professor hired at the University of Texas at Arlington. He led a successful crusade to remove Confederate symbols from the UTA campus.

He established a successful real estate company. He was a noted local historian who authored several books on African American history in North Texas.

He became the first African American elected to the Fort Worth School Board. He ran for the Texas State Legislature, becoming the first State Representative elected in District 95. He introduced the bill to create the Texas Commission on Human Rights to fight racial discrimination across the state. He became a Republican.

He was a member of New Rising Star Baptist Church and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He served the Boy Scouts of America, the United Way, and the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce.

He married Nadine Spencer Cary (1945-2013). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphaphialpha

[dankusner]

OBIT — Robert L. Ross

Professor, academic scholar, Dallas Voice writer Robert Ross dies at 70

Robert L. Ross built a prodigious career studying and teaching the English language.

As a journalist, author and lecturer, he was an apostle for the literary world.

On May 25, Ross died at the Oak Lawn home he shared with his loving wife and best friend, Anita, and their two cats, Furphy and Duffy.

Ross was 70.

In the early part of April 2005, he was diagnosed with an advanced case of lung cancer.

Ross remained a busy freelance writer for the Life+Style section of Dallas Voice.

His final assignment, an interview with modern dance visionary Desmond Richardson, ran in the May 5th edition.

Raised on the coastal town of Florence, Ore., and the son of a logger, Ross’ appreciation for the written word was shaped by a high school English teacher.

His first crack at professional writing was during a summer break for the county newspaper in Siuslaw Ore.

At the University of Oregon, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in English.

Escaping the chill of the Pacific Northwest, Ross fell in love with North Texas’ blistering heat while earning a masters in English at Texas Christian University in 1964 and a doctorate in English, at the University of Texas at Arlington in 1978.

Over the years, he helped shape others who pursued language arts — teaching composition and literature at Southern Methodist University, Clemson University in South Carolina, Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Ross was an academic globetrotter: a guest professor who taught postcolonial literature at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, Australia, Essen University in Essen, Germany and the University of Calgary in Calgary, Canada.

He also lectured at universities in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia.

Publishing an extensive number of essays that appeared in academic books and journals, Ross also wrote and/or edited five books: “Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction, An Anthology,” (Taylor & Francis, 1999), “Australia, A Traveler’s Literary Companion,” (Whereabouts Press, 1998), “Border Lines, Contemporary Poems in English,” (Copp Clark, 1995), “International Literature in English: Essays on the Major Writers,” (Garland Publishing, 1991), “Australian Literary Criticism: 1945-1988” (Garland Publishing, 1989).

Helping build a worldwide network of literary and cultural enthusiasts, Ross was the first president of the American Association of Australian Literary Studies and the founding editor of Antipodes, the organization’s journal.

With such sterling reputation, Ross was a rare and supremely qualified Life+Style contributor.

He began a prolific freelancing career at Dallas Voice in May 2000 and took on a myriad of assignments.

While his forte was covering fine arts (theater, literature, photography, documentaries and anything connected to European or exotic cultures), Ross especially enjoyed profiling GLBT North Texans who exposed him to new adventures: leather aficionados, transgender activists, a lesbian auto mechanic and a proudly corpulent dancer who performs during half-time shows at professional basketball games.

Regardless of age or stripe, Ross touched many lives.

In December 2004, twentysomething reclusive author J.T LeRoy — a former teenage sex-worker and arguably the J.D. Salinger of the 21st century — sent a letter to the Dallas Voice offices praising Ross’ review of the novella “Harold’s End.”

LeRoy said he was struck by Ross’ gorgeous and insightful prose.

Always polite, erudite and extremely dignified, Robert Ross was an asset to Dallas Voice.

We will miss him very much.

— Daniel A. Kusner

[tasktechnology]

University of Texas At Arlington

Do you want to know about University of Texas At Arlington ?

The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), located in Arlington, Texas, is a prominent public research institution that was established in 1895. It is one of the 14 institutions that collectively form the state-wide University of Texas System. UTA can be characterized in the following key aspects.

History: The University of Texas at Arlington has a long history that began when it was established as Arlington College. It evolved from a little private school to a significant research organization throughout time.

Location: The campus is located right in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the country's largest urban areas. Students have access to a variety of businesses, professions, and cultural opportunities thanks to this advantageous location. UTA excels in the classroom.

If you need more information click here.

[trashyinfernomusic]

The Big Texas Post

Y’know what’s funny? Explaining Texas culture to non-Texans.

People from Dallas: Dallasites. People from Houston: Houstonians. People from Austin: Weird.

Texas has two pro baseball teams, three pro basketball teams, two pro football teams, two pro soccer teams, and one pro hockey team (and tried to get a second in the Houston Aeros but that didn’t work out).

Most sports orgs are based in either Dallas or Houston, and the two cities have a rivalry that when left unchecked causes brawls in restaurants and bars (among other chaotic things). The general rule is that Houstonians hate Dallas, Dallasites hate Houston, everyone hates Austin, and San Antonio and El Paso are just the two kids in the corner trying to stay out of the fighting. However, if you’re from out-of-state and you hate on any of them, you’ll be the one on the receiving end of a beat-down because “no one messes with my little brother but me, damnit!”

Meanwhile, you have all the people who self-identify as being from one of the big cities even though they’re really from a suburb that’s about an hour away. Live in Spring, TX? “Oh, I’m from Houston.” Live in Arlington (which is where the Texas Rangers - largely considered a Dallas sports team - are located)? You’re considered from Dallas or the DFW area. We Texans don’t really care about the accuracy. We care more about whether or not you’re from the coast (Houston), the middle (Dallas/San Antonio), the weird (Keep Austin Weird was supposed to be a slogan that would promote mom-and-pop small businesses in the city. The rest of Texas leapt on the opportunity to make fun of it. Sorry, Austin), the border (El Paso, Texarkana), or somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. The state’s too big to get into the nitty gritty.

And don’t even get me started on college rivalries. You’ve got U of H, UT, A&M, SFA, and even more acronyms and mascots and history and - well, let’s just say it can all get out of hand. Actually, A&M and UT refuse to play each other anymore out of stubbornness - they hate each other that much. (Personally, I land on the Aggie side of things. Anyone who goes so far as to genetically engineer maroon bluebonnets to prank another school has earned my affection. Though UT can give as good as they get.)

Some other weird/fun things about Texas include: - Drive through margarita places - Kolaches (which are a Czech sweet pastry that we bastardized into a savory breakfast option) - The Battle for the Boot (I kid you not, two baseball teams compete against each other for a silver cowboy boot every once in a while. It’s the silliest and yet most Texan thing ever.) - Buck-ees - The second largest port in the US (the amount of people who don’t understand that yes, Houston is on the water, and yes, it has a booming transport industry is alarming) - Really good barbecue (ours is tomato based, which makes the sauce thick and sweet) - Strange laws including one where you’re not allowed to have pliers in the back pocket of your jeans (it’s a holdover from when cattle rustlers would use them to cut barbed-wire fences) - There’s a law where in the US, no state capital is allowed to be taller than the US capital. Texas built theirs on a hill - it’s not taller, it just happens to be... higher. - People argue over this one, but Texas DOES have the right to secede from the union. - Six Flags the theme park was named such because it stands for Six Flags Over Texas. Why? Texas has had six different flags flying over it: France, Spain, Republic of Texas, United States, Confederacy, and Mexico. Yes, you read that right: France. No, we were not acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. - Dry counties are a thing. No alcohol is allowed to be consumed or sold! That being said, a trailer park of 200 came together to create the town Mobile, TX so that they could sell and consume liquor in the 90s - In 1963, Janice Joplin was voted “Ugliest Man on Campus” at the University of Texas - The Houston Grand Opera is considered one of the best opera companies in the world!

[breadbandit]

#1 -- UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS @ ARLINGTON

Location: Arlington, TX

Average Cost of Tuition: Undergraduate - $12,208 / Graduate - $11,044

Acceptance Rate: 93%

Average GPA: 3.47

Average SAT Score: 1000-1220

Average ACT Score: 19-26

# of Students (as of Fall 2022): 40,990

Top 3 Most Popular Majors: Nursing (3,456 Graduates), Business (386 Graduates), Biology (324 Graduates)

more stats and info below!!

UTA is considered to be very inclusive to all genders and sexual orientations, scoring a 5/5 on the Campus Pride Index. (Read more about what that means here: https://www.campusprideindex.org/campuses/details/8553?campus=university-of-texas-arlington)

UTA's Best Colleges Ranking: 299/443 in National Universities, 156/227 in Top Public Schools, 104/212 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs, and 135/618 in Nursing. (Read how colleges are ranked here: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings)

UTA's planetarium is one of the top 3 largest in the state of Texas. Not only does it provide a fantastic view of the night sky, but it is also used to host parties, as well as live shows. (Read more about the planetarium here: https://www.uta.edu/planetarium)

[absmarchive]

Editorial: We can do better than Texas' upcoming sexual education update

[justingelbman]

The Top Male Golfers from New Jersey

The state of New Jersey has produced a series of world-class golfers over an extended period. Rumson-born Vic Ghezzi won 17 tour events, including the 1941 PGA Championship, while Arlington’s George Dunlap won the Intercollegiate Individual Championship playing for Princeton University multiple times before winning the 1933 United States Amateur title. Additional golfers of note from New Jersey include Eugene Homans, Jim Colbert, and Al Besselink. More recently, golf in the state has been represented by the likes of Harry Higgs and Scottie Scheffler.

Harry Higgs was born in Camden in 1991, though he began playing golf at Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kansas. He played college golf at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Following his college career, Higgs began competing on the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) Tour Latinoamerica from 2015 to 2018.

Higgs won the 2018 Diners Club Peru Open. His results that season secured him a tour card for the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA’s development brand. He excelled on the tour, winning the 2019 Price Cutter Charity Championship. Higgs’ strong results culminated in a top-five finish and a tour card for the 2019-2020 PGA Tour. Highlights from his first season on the tour included second-place showings at the Bermuda Championship and the Safeway Open.

The Camden native made his major tournament debut in 2021 at the PGA Championship, held on the Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course. He showed no nerves on the sport’s biggest stage, shooting a bogey-free round on his final day to finish the event tied for fourth. His results at the PGA Championship qualified him for the 2022 Masters Tournament. He made the cut and finished in the top 15. He competed at the US Open for the first time in 2024.

Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, was born in Ridgewood and raised in Montvale. He showed an early interest in golf and, under the tutelage of Justin Leonard, enjoyed prolific success as a youth athlete. Leonard, who has remained Scheffler’s coach for over two decades, helped Scheffler secure 75 victories on the PGA junior circuit before he reached high school.

Despite a series of injuries brought on by a growth spurt, Scheffler led Highland Park High School to three consecutive state titles while continuing to succeed as a junior golfer. He made his PGA Tour debut at age 17 as an amateur. He finished the HP Byron Nelson Championship tied for 22nd place and gained attention for a third-round hole-in-one. Before turning pro, Scheffler spent four years at the University of Texas. He led the school to three Big 12 championships, among other achievements.

Scheffler turned pro in 2019. He competed with Higgs as a member of the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour, with Scheffler earning the tour’s Player of the Year award. He was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year the following season, which was highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the 2020 PGA Championship. Later in the season, he secured two big wins for a victorious Team USA at the Ryder Cup.

Since 2022, Scheffler has established himself as one of the most decorated athletes born in New Jersey. He won his first tour title at the WM Phoenix Open and won the 2022 Masters Tournament a few weeks later. He secured the world No. 1 ranking during this time, a position he has held for nearly a year.

By winning the 2023 Players Championship, Scheffler joined Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win the event and the Masters Tournament within 12 months of each other. He repeated the feat in even more impressive fashion the following year, defending his Players Championship title in March and winning a second Masters title the following month.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

How Pride became a carnival of homophobia | Andrew Doyle

So, Pride Month is finally over. The flags, the rainbow bunting, the corporate drag shows, all of it is being wound down for another year, and many people will be breathing a sigh of relief. Gay people included.

For what began all those decades ago as an annual demonstration against homophobic bigotry held to commemorate The Stonewall riots of 1969, has descended into a month-long orgy of virtue signaling. Far worse than that, due to Pride's embrace of gender ideology, it has helped to fuel a new form of homophobia in faux progressive garb.

The impact of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in June 1969 has often been overblown. Those few summer days when the beleaguered gay community fought back against the police on the streets of New York is rightly considered a milestone in the struggle for equal rights. But gay equality was truly achieved by the activists who persisted in the aftermath, harnessing the energy of the uprising and changing the world forever. Perhaps a more important milestone was the march organized by a handful of campaigners a year later. Veteran gay rights activist Craig Rodwell wanted to hold a yearly commemoration of Stonewall, building on the annual reminder picket events he had been organizing on Independence Day in Philadelphia.

The first New York Pride March, as it was later rebranded, was held on the 28th of June 1970. It was called the Christopher Street Liberation Day and was organized by Rodwell, Fred Sargeant, Linda Rhodes and Ellen Broidy. It was an audacious display. Police hostility to gay people was rife at the time, the local media were overwhelmingly unsympathetic, and there were fears of violent repercussions from observers. Nevertheless, the day passed off peacefully, perhaps because of a general sense of astonishment that thousands of gay people would assemble so openly. At the head of the march, Fred Sergeant carried a bullhorn and called out instructions to the marchers as they made their way from the West Village to Central Park.

Fifty-four years later, and Pride has transformed from an important act of gay and lesbian resistance into an event full of heterosexuals calling themselves "queer" or "non-binary," desperate to identify into an oppressed group. Progress Pride flags flutter from every High Street store. This relatively new design, a kaleidoscopic eyesore that has replaced the traditional six stripe pride flag, is emblazoned on schools, universities, hospitals and civic buildings.

In the city of Arlington in Texas, this year's "family friendly" Pride event included displays of dildos, half- naked drag queens and human dogs in bondage gear. And it was all spon.sored by Lockheed Martin, the world's largest producer of military armaments.

In London, pedestrian crossings have been repainted with the Progress Pride motif. Police horses find walking across the colored stripes confused and disturbing, so the animals had to undergo special training to overcome their fears. After all, it is essential to address the rampant homophobia within the equine community.

What might the thousands who turned out on that summer day in New York in 1970 make of this distorted version of Pride? Those gay men and lesbians who risked social ostracism and physical violence to gather in public have little in common with this garish and unsettling facsimile.

A poll from 2021 determined that almost 40% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 now identify as LGBTQ. And given the vast majority of them identify as "trans," "non-binary" and "queer," this means that gay people are now the minority in this coalition. The early pioneers of gay rights didn't risk so much for their movement to be usurped by fetishistic heterosexuals with a martyr complex.

A recent poll on X asked a simple question: "Do you want Pride anymore?" The response was overwhelmingly negative. But while social media polls are notoriously unreliable, it is surely significant that this one was reposted by Fred Sargeant and that his answer was a resounding "no." That the man who led the first Pride March, bullhorn in hand, should now reject the annual event that he co-created is far from trivial.

[ Continues... ]

==

Note: This is a video version of an article by Andrew.

Update: It's funny that this video has been age-restricted by YouTube, given it just depicts events at public Pride parades.

[radiatestaging]

Exploring Rental Opportunities in Mansfield, TX- Your Comprehensive Guide

Mansfield, Texas, is a thriving community situated within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Known for its excellent schools, vibrant parks, and family-friendly atmosphere, Mansfield is an attractive destination for renters. Whether you are relocating for work, seeking a change of scenery, or looking for a place that offers a blend of suburban tranquility and urban convenience, Mansfield has a lot to offer. This guide will help you explore rental opportunities in Mansfield, TX, and provide you with essential information to find your ideal home.

The Appeal of Mansfield

Mansfield tx rentals is renowned for its quality of life. The city boasts top-rated schools, making it a great place for families. The Mansfield Independent School District (MISD) is highly regarded, with numerous schools receiving high marks for academic performance and extracurricular activities. For those pursuing higher education, nearby institutions like Tarrant County College and The University of Texas at Arlington offer accessible options.

In addition to its educational opportunities, Mansfield features an array of parks, recreational facilities, and community events. The city has over 900 acres of parkland, including the expansive Oliver Nature Park, which offers hiking trails, wildlife viewing, and educational programs. The Mansfield Activities Center provides residents with a variety of classes, sports leagues, and special events, ensuring there's always something to do.

Types of Rentals Available

Mansfield offers a diverse range of rental properties to suit different lifestyles and budgets. From cozy apartments to spacious single-family homes, the rental market caters to various needs. Here’s a look at some of the options:

Apartments: Ideal for singles, couples, or small families, apartments in Mansfield come in various sizes and styles. Many apartment complexes feature amenities like swimming pools, fitness centers, and community rooms. Popular apartment communities include The Meridian Apartments and Hunter's Point Apartments.

Townhomes and Condos: For those looking for a bit more space and a sense of ownership, townhomes and condos offer an excellent alternative. These properties often provide additional amenities such as garages and private patios.

Single-Family Homes: If you need more space or desire a yard, single-family homes are plentiful in Mansfield. These homes vary in size, from modest three-bedroom houses to larger, luxurious properties. Neighborhoods like Walnut Creek Valley and Lowes Farm are known for their beautiful homes and family-friendly environments.

Luxury Rentals: For those with a higher budget, Mansfield has several luxury rental options. These properties often feature high-end finishes, spacious layouts, and premium amenities. Luxury communities like Mansions of Mansfield provide residents with upscale living experiences.

Tips for Renting in Mansfield

When looking for a rental in Mansfield, consider the following tips to ensure you find the perfect place:

Set a Budget: Determine your rental budget before you start your search. Consider all costs, including rent, utilities, and any additional fees such as pet deposits or maintenance fees.

Research Neighborhoods: Mansfield has several distinct neighborhoods, each with its unique charm. Research different areas to find one that aligns with your lifestyle and needs. Consider factors like proximity to work, schools, and recreational facilities.

Tour Properties: Whenever possible, tour potential rental properties in person. This will give you a better sense of the space and the surrounding community. If an in-person tour isn’t feasible, many properties offer virtual tours.

Read the Lease Carefully: Before signing a lease, read it thoroughly. Pay attention to details such as the lease term, security deposit, and policies on pets and maintenance. Ask the landlord or property manager to clarify any points you don’t understand.

Check Reviews: Look for reviews of apartment complexes or landlords online. Websites like Yelp and ApartmentRatings can provide valuable insights from current or former tenants.

Conclusion

Mansfield tx rentals, is a dynamic and welcoming community with rental options for everyone. Whether you're looking for a simple apartment, a spacious single-family home, or a luxurious living space, Mansfield's diverse rental market has something to offer. By setting a budget, researching neighborhoods, touring properties, and thoroughly reviewing lease agreements, you can find the perfect rental to call home in this vibrant city.

[lboogie1906]

Dr. Julius Franklin Nimmons Jr. (September 11, 1939) academic historian and university administrator was born in Danville, Virginia to Julius Franklin Nimmons Sr. and Mozella Flannagan. He has two sisters. He graduated from Langston High School and enrolled in Morehouse College where he received a BA in History.

He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Tunisia and was the Associate Peace Corps Director in the Republic of Somalia. He earned an MA in European History from Atlanta University. He pledged Phi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in 1969 and holds life membership. He married Shirley Wilkins (1969-2004). They had two daughters.

He was an American Council on Education Fellow, and that year he was awarded the Phi Lambda Chapter, Alpha Phi Alpha’s Outstanding Teacher award. He earned a Ph.D. in American History from Howard University with a dissertation titled, “Social Reform and Moral Uplift in the Black Community, 1890-1910 Social Settlements, Temperance, and Social Purity.” This research overlapped his tenure as a professor at Saint Augustine’s University. He was appointed Chair of the Division of Social Sciences and served as Special Assistant to the Saint Augustine’s College President.

He became the ninth President of Jarvis Christian College. He partnered with the College of Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington to establish a two-year pre-engineering program. He worked at Harford Community College as the college’s Dean of Arts and Sciences. He was appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of the District of Columbia and he was selected as interim president during a period of campus unrest. He was appointed the sixth President of UDC. He was instrumental in restoring financial stability, increasing student enrollment, and maintaining the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation for UDC.

He remained at the institution as a Distinguished Professor of history until his retirement. He moved to Monroe, North Carolina, and taught history at Central Piedmont Community College. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphaphialpha

[mserinmitchell]

Biography

Overview

Full Name: Erin R. Reagan Mitchell.

Pronunciation: If you value your life you will say it without the middle name.

Nickname(s): None. No, seriously don't try it.

Age: Forty-eight.

Sexuality: Straight.

Height: 5 feet and 4 inches (163 cm).

Weight/Build: Slim.

Scars/Birthmarks/Distinguishing Markings: Erin's upper lip has a distiguishable mole.

Personality & Morals

introvert / extrovert / ambivert risk-taker / cautious organized / disorganized (organized in her work life, disorganized in her personal life). close-minded / open-minded calm / anxious / restless disagreeable / agreeable / in-between (tends to be more agreeable when with close friends). patient / impatient outspoken / reserved leader / follower / flexible empathetic / un-empathetic optimistic / pessimistic / realistic traditional / modern / in-between hard-working / lazy

Moral alignment (chaotic good, lawful neutral, etc): Chaotic Evil

Guilty Pleasure(s): Erin enjoys playing Call of Duty, sneaking into the White House kitchen for desserts, following her ex-fiancé on Instagram as a fake 'model,' reading her horoscope weekly and occasionally calling the Psychic Hotline (of course it's all bullshit), and has used her NSC card to assert authority over her sister.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths/Skills (Mental/Physical): Highly intelligent and strategic thinker, Fluent in multiple languages, including Arabic, Kurdish, and Spanish, Excellent negotiation skills, Strong public speaking abilities, Physically fit, with a rigorous exercise routine to maintain stamina and resilience (though also medicated), Exceptional problem-solving skills and adaptability in high-pressure situations, Deep knowledge of international relations and political science, Strong leadership and team management abilities.

Weaknesses (Mental/Physical): Tendency to overwork, leading to physical and mental exhaustion, Difficulty balancing personal life with professional responsibilities, Can be overly critical of others and sometimes herself, Struggles with delegating tasks, often taking on too much herself, Vulnerable to emotional manipulation, especially in personal relationships, Occasionally lets personal biases affect her professional judgment.

Biggest Advantage: She once had a personal relationship with the President when he was running for senator. Although they eventually broke things off, they have remained close friends since.

Biggest Vulnerability: Her secret drug habit.

Mental Ailments: She has an undocumented case of PTSD stemming from her time in Iraq, where her Humvee was blown up by an IED, and she was pulled into a firefight where she nearly lost her life.

Physical Ailments: N/A

Addictions/Bad Habits: Stress smoker.

Phobias: Nyctophobia (Due to the anxiety and trauma from her past near-death experience).

Lifestyle

Birthplace: Arlington, Texas. (USA).

Current Residence: Washington D.C. (USA).

Education: University of Michigan (Political Science Major).

Religion: Baptized as a Baptist but now non-practicing and an atheist.

Job: White House Deputy Chief of Staff

Hobbies: Running, Paintball, and Classic Car Restoration.

Relationships

Status (Single/Dating…/Married to…): Single. After returning from Iraq, her fiancé couldn't cope with her dramatic change in behavior and personality and called off their upcoming wedding. Since then, she hasn't been in a serious relationship, instead pouring all her effort and attention into her job.

Family: Erin comes from a close-knit family. Her father, James Mitchell, is a retired army officer who instilled in her a sense of duty and discipline from a young age. Her mother, Sarah Mitchell, is a dedicated high school teacher known for her strong-willed nature. Erin and her younger sister, Kate, don't get along and often find themselves in conflict. Adding to their strained relationship, Kate ended up marrying Erin's former fiancé Luke.

Friends: Erin shares a close friendship with the White House Chief of Staff, David. Over time, David has taken on the role of a father figure for her, offering guidance and support. Kate was always very close to her own father, and with the physical distance separating them, she deeply misses him. David's presence fills that void, providing her with the mentorship and paternal care she values so much.

Enemies: Probably more than she can keep track of.

Other notable relationships (If any): She has a stray cat she feeds on occasion.

Backstory

Erin Mitchell was born and raised in Arlington, Texas. Her father, James Mitchell, an army officer, instilled in her a profound sense of duty, discipline, and patriotism. Growing up in this structured environment, Erin was taught the values of responsibility, resilience, and service from a young age.

Erin's relationship with her younger sister, Kate, was often tumultuous. The two had starkly different personalities—Erin being disciplined and driven, while Kate was more carefree and rebellious. Their sibling rivalry was a constant in their household, characterized by frequent arguments and competitions.

Her childhood was marked by a blend of rigorous discipline and the warmth of Texas hospitality. She excelled in academics and was actively involved in various extracurricular activities, from debate club to volunteering at local community centers. Frequent relocations due to her father's military background helped Erin develop adaptability and a broad perspective on life.

Always preferring the cold weather she once experienced after her father was briefly stationed in Poland, she decided to attend college in Michigan. Choosing her major was an easy decision, as politics had always been her passion. While at college, Erin met Luke, a fellow student in her Political Science class. They quickly hit it off, bonding over their shared passion for politics and similar upbringing in military families. Their relationship blossomed, and they became inseparable throughout their college years. However, their paths diverged after graduation. Luke decided to join the Air Force, driven by a sense of duty and adventure. Erin, on the other hand, chose to stay in Michigan to support their Poli Sci professor's bid for the Senate. The demands of their new lives and the long-distance strain proved too much, leading to their eventual breakup. Despite the heartache, Erin threw herself into the campaign, gaining valuable experience and solidifying her commitment to public service.

While most of her time working with Daniel was strictly professional, they had a brief affair after getting drunk at a caucus after-party. They eventually broke things off, with Daniel wanting to mend things with his wife and young daughter, but they remained close friends. Daniel offered Erin a spot on his team, but after witnessing the horrors of 9/11, Erin decided to enlist in the Army, following in her father's footsteps.

Erin quickly bonded with her comrades, despite being the only woman in her division. They respected her for getting the job done without complaints and treated her like a younger sister. While posted to Fort Riley, Kansas, she reconnected with Luke during a joint training mission. They rekindled their relationship, moved in together, and Luke eventually proposed. However, Erin's back-to-back tours in Iraq started to strain their relationship.

Her time in Iraq ended when her Humvee was totaled by an IED, and she barely survived. Upon returning home, despite not having physical injuries that wouldn't heal, life was not the same, and her relationship with Luke became shaky. They eventually broke up. A year later, Erin discovered that Luke and her sister Kate had connected and were now about to get married, walking down the aisle that Luke and Erin had once planned to walk down.

Seeking a fresh start, Erin finished her Army contract, packed her bags, and moved to Washington, D.C., in search of employment. However, her rough appearance and even rougher attitude made finding a job difficult. Just a day before she planned to call the Army back and take up a desk job, she ran into Daniel again. He offered her an opportunity to work on his team during his race to the White House, promising a position as Deputy Chief of Staff if he won.

The rest is history.

[dankusner]

Why don’t Rangers have a Pride Night?

They are only MLB team without such an event

All but one of the 30 of the Major League Baseball teams are hosting Pride Nights this season, most during Pride Month, which celebrates and supports LGBTQ culture and rights.

The Texas Rangers are the only team without a Pride Night.

They say they are committed to making everyone feel welcome at all games.

Have the Rangers ever hosted a Pride Night?

No.

In September 2003, two years after the Chicago Cubs hosted what is considered the first Pride game, the Rangers invited local LGBTQ groups to a game as part of a fundraising event, similar to what they do for all kinds of groups throughout each season.

There were some Rangers fans who expressed opposition through a website beforehand and, while not widespread, there were some protests outside the stadium before that game.

What do the Rangers say about not hosting a Pride Night?

The team has been consistent with its response when asked: “Our longstanding commitment remains the same: To make everyone feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball — in our ballpark, at every game, and in all we do — for both our fans and our employees. We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact across our entire community.”

What role could Texas politics play in the decision?

Texas has been dominated by Republicans for a generation, and state lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott last year joined the push from many conservative states to limit LGBTQ rights.

The Legislature passed new laws expanding definitions of prohibited sexual content in public performances and in school books, and activists fear those measures will be used to target drag shows and ban LGBTQ literature from libraries and classrooms.

Texas became the most populous of what are now at least 25 states with laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.

And Texas public universities have been directed to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion offices and training.

Abbott also signed into law the “Save Women’s Sports Act” that bars transgender college athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity.

Texas already had a similar law for high schools.

Amid that conservative political landscape, there is less outside resistance in their home market to the Rangers not having a Pride Night.

Rangers majority owner Ray Davis has donated at least $560,000 to Texans for Greg Abbott since 2013, which classifies the former energy executive as a “mid-tier” donor, according to state campaign finance records.

Why do the Houston Astros have a Pride Night, but the Rangers do not?

The Astros hosted their first Pride Night in 2021. Houston, the state’s most-populated city with about 2.3 million people in a metro area of about 6.7 million, is one of the biggest strongholds for Democrats in Texas.

Another is Dallas, not far from the Rangers’ home ballpark.

A majority of the elected officials in Houston and Dallas are Democrats.

The Rangers’ ballpark in Arlington is just off Interstate 30, halfway between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas.

What do the Rangers do to support the LGBTQ community?

The Rangers were a sponsor of the NAGAAA Gay Softball World Series in 2022 when the event took place in Dallas and Waxahachie.

The club participated in the opening ceremonies in Dallas and worked with the local organizers and NAGAAA officials on several initiatives for the event.

The team is working on initiatives with local groups, including the Pegasus Slow-Pitch Softball Association, which promotes quality amateur softball at all levels of play with a special emphasis on the participation of members of the LGBTQ community.

Pegasus has been invited by MLB and the Rangers to participate in a training program for inclusion on July 14 as part MLB’s All-Star Legacy Program initiatives. The Rangers are hosting the All-Star Game on July 16.

The Rangers have worked in the past with the Resource Center, which provides programs and assistance to LGBTQ communities and anyone impacted in North Dallas by HIV/AIDS through advocacy, health and education. Team employees volunteer and support Resource Center events.

An Inclusion and Community Impact Council was developed by the team to foster conversations, ideas and programs to support employees internally and the community externally.

Rangers employees participate in anti-harassment programs, and education programs offered by MLB.

The Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation focuses on anti-bullying messaging at the club's youth academy, and the staff works with outside agencies to ensure a welcoming environment for all athletes.