Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American attorney who has served as the 48th governor of Texas since January 20, 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Abbott previously served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015. He is the third governor of any U.S. state to permanently use a wheelchair. He is also the first disabled governor in Texas history.
Greg Abbott had a blunt response to learning that LGBTQ+ groups have written to the United Nations to complain about suffering from "systemic" discrimination in the Lone Star state.Dismissing the international organization with a six-word post on X, formerly Twitter, Abbott wrote: "The UN can go pound sand."His comment comes after Texas passed a string of laws that critics consider discriminatory against LGBTQ+ people.
Seven new laws in particular have drawn the ire of some gay and transgender organizations and human rights groups, which joined forces to write a letter to officials at the U.N. "to raise alarm about the deteriorating human rights situation for LGBTQIA+ persons in the state of Texas, United States of America, due to hostile rhetoric and legislation from the Texas state government."The letter was signed by Equality Texas, ACLU of Texas, GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
The LGBTQ+ abbreviation is used to refer to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, or other.
Some groups use the term LGBTQIA+ with the I standing for intersex and the A standing for asexual.The seven Texas laws cited in the letter as examples of LGBTQ+ discrimination are:"Taken individually, the seven pieces of legislation (the 'Bills') discussed in this submission will disrupt the lives of LGBTQIA+ people of various ages and backgrounds," the letter to the U.N.