Clarke D. Newman, OD, FAAO
Special Contributor
I read with great disappointment the “Voices” opinion written by Rabbi Denise Eger in the Jan. 24 edition of Dallas Voice. First, let me welcome Rabbi Eger to Texas, and more importantly, to the LGBTQIA+ community of Texas. It is great that we have had such a distinguished community advocate move to Texas. I am sure that, in the long run, your presence here will be felt in many positive ways.
With that said, I am very disappointed to read such a wholly uninformed opinion published in the Dallas Voice. Ordinarily, I would not “woodshed” a fellow member of the community in public, but since you chose to air this completely inaccurate characterization of Equality Texas in public, my comments must be made in the same forum in the hope of undoing the damage you have so clearly done to this very valuable organization.
If we are lucky, we can use this unfortunate moment as a teaching moment, not only to educate Rabbi Eger, but the community at large.
The first thing I want to say is not to Rabbi Eger, but to the members of the LGBTQIA+ community of Texas: All of the very things Rabbi Eger accuses EQTX of not doing, EQTX is doing. Period.
I am neither on the great staff nor on the hard-working board of Equality Texas. I have been serving on the Dallas Steering Committee of Equality Texas for seven years, and I am a past chair of that committee.
Equality Texas is one of 48 member organizations of the Equality Federation, which works collaboratively on critical non-partisan issues — from advancing workplace fairness and family recognition to defeating anti-transgender bills and HIV criminalization laws — that affect how LGBTQ+ people experience the world from cradle to grave.
Equality Texas has a similar remit. EQTX works to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Texans through political action, education, community organizing and collaboration.
The Equality Texas Foundation, a non-profit
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