In May 2023, a family-friendly drag show at a New Braunfels, Texas church attracted protestors. In part three of Queer Texas, Heather Stewart talks to the pastor of Faith United Church of Christ about the protest and the fallout that followed. This episode also explores the roles that faith and religion play in the lives of three LGBTQ+ people in New Braunfels and the locals’ mixed responses to queer-affirming churches, drag shows and the city’s first queer-friendly bar.

After Cameron Wright confessed to assaulting Aliah Hernandez in 2014 in a New Braunfels, Texas hotel room, both the officer assigned to Aliah’s case and Aliah’s friends and family thought it was an open-and-shut case. But two grand juries declined to indict Wright. In part two of Queer Texas, Heather Stewart shares the rest of Aliah’s story. Aliah’s best friend shares her frustrations at the lack of indictment, and a legal professional weighs in on why the grand juries might have declined to indict.

Resources:

• FBI anonymous tip form: https://tips.fbi.gov/
• Matthew Shepard Foundation hate crime prevention resources: https://www.matthewshepard.org/resources/hate-crime-prevention-resources/
• Equality Texas resources: https://www.equalitytexas.org/community-resources/
• Comal County, helpful links for victims of crime: https://www.co.comal.tx.us/so/Victim-Services/Helpful%20Links%20Victim%20Services.pdf
• Lambda Legal help desk: https://lambdalegal.org/helpdesk/
• San Antonio Gender Association: https://sagender.org/

In December 2014, Aliah Hernandez, a trans woman, told police she was assaulted after revealing her gender identity to a man whom she met up with at a hotel in New Braunfels, Texas. In the first episode of Queer Texas, a four-part “Forsaken” series that outlines the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community in the mostly conservative city of New Braunfels, Heather Stewart shares Aliah’s story.

Everyone’s familiar with AMBER Alert – the notifications sent out when a child is missing or kidnapped and in danger. But what many don’t know is that the system was created because of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted while riding her bike in Arlington, Texas in January 1996. Her body was found four days later. The tragedy rocked the North Texas community and led one citizen to ask what she could do to help, and the AMBER Alert system was born. As of Dec. 31, 2023, the AMBER Alert system has saved 1,200 children.

This spring, protests and encampments materialized on college campuses across the United States. On campuses like Columbia University, the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin, law enforcement has arrived to break up the protests, arresting dozens of students. Videos have shown officers shoving students and professors to the ground and using pepper spray and batons against protesters. In this episode, host Sara Kinney shares stories from student journalists who witnessed violence and were injured in their coverage of the protests.

In the second episode of this two-part series, Cristela Jones shares the stories of Brenda Moore and Pinkie Mae Davis-Herron, two of four Black women who went missing in Austin in 1976, and discusses “Missing White Woman Syndrome.”

In 1976, four Black women went missing in Austin, Texas. Their stories went largely untold. In this two-part series, Cristela Jones interrogates why these women’s stories haven’t been told – why we’ve heard the names Gabby Petito and Natalee Holloway, but not Debra Kay Stewart, Jennifer Joyce Barton, Brenda Moore or Pinkie Mae Davis-Herron. In this episode, Cristela details the stories of Debra Kay Stewart and Jennifer Joyce Barton, who went missing just days apart.

The mostly conservative state of Texas is not necessarily known for its promotion of sex education in schools – it’s actually not even required to be taught at all. In this episode, Mackenzie Matwick talks to the Austin Independent School District’s Health Education Curriculum Specialist to show what they are doing to change this stigma. She also walks down memory lane to talk about what it was like going through the Texas school districts herself with the help of her mom, and gives the rundown of what students in Texas are being taught versus what information is being held back from them.