As LGBT activists breathe a sigh of relief that the legislative session ended this week without passage of an anti-gay marriage bill, they also get to celebrate this: Willie Nelson speaking out about anti-gay discrimination.
Texas Wins – a coalition of clergy, business leaders and LGBT activists – announced that the country music legend signed on to endorse their campaign.
“Discrimination against the LGBT community in not what Texas is all about. And that’s why I’m thrilled to support Texas Wins,” Nelson said in a press release issued by the organization.
Texas Wins called Nelson's demonstration a “critical endorsement” of LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination protections. Texas lawmakers filed more than 20 anti-gay bills this session, including one that would have eliminated LGBT protections in several cities across the state, including Houston, and another that sought to defy a possible U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. The session ended Monday with none of the anti-gay measures becoming law.
Texas Wins, whose campaign manager is lesbian Houstonian Christina Gorczynski, helped rally businesses, faith leaders and other supporters against the legislation. The group published a poll last month that showed nearly 63 percent of Texans support laws protecting LGBT people from discrimination.
Nelson is currently on tour but returns back to his native Texas for his 4th of July Picnic in Austin.
