Texas Tech Alumni Pride Network

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🙏🏻 Share this if you care about freedom of expression and human rights! CENSORSHIP is happening at Texas Tech University at an unprecedented scale. Teachers are being restricted in what they can teach, and students starting next fall face restrictions on what they can research and produce. This severely impacts freedom of expression, academic freedom, and the rights and visibility of LGBTQ people, which are a core part of our existence and represent so many of us. Of the hundreds of examples, things reportedly NOT ALLOWED by Texas Tech University include Elsa from Frozen, Romeo and Juliet, Moby-Dick… and David Bowie. Tonight, David Bowie performed at Texas Tech ❤️🏳️‍🌈 Bowie at Texas Tech, 2026. Site-specific video installation with sound. ODEE.

“Rest in Peace” Texas Tech University System 🕊️

The community is invited to a "funeral" for academic freedom at Texas Tech University on Thursday, May 7th at 1508 Knoxville Ave hosted by Raiders Against Censorship (RAC) and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT).

Event Schedule
• 8 AM: Memorial Wake (Bring objects representing academic freedom)
• 9 AM: Board of Regents Meeting (Funeral attire requested; hats and gloves provided)
• 11 AM: Funeral Services & Eulogies
• 11:30 AM: Funeral Procession (Bring signs)

Take Action: Submit Testimony
The deadline to request to speak or submit written testimony is Tuesday, May 5th at 9 AM.

Email [email protected] AND [email protected]. You must specify the agenda item you are addressing.

Stand with Texas Tech students, faculty, and staff to protect free academic freedom and free thought.

Please share to help save Texas Tech University!! 🤠👆

BREAKING🚨🏳️‍🌈 DeSantis just signed the law BANNING Florida cities and counties from supporting Pride or DEI.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1001/SB 1134 — the "Anti-Diversity in Local Government" bill — sending a sweeping new restriction into Florida law with implementation set for January 1, 2027. The bill passed the House 77–37, with five Republicans joining Democrats in opposition, after two years of sustained pushback from mayors, commissioners, and thousands of residents who showed up to testify against it.

Here's what it does. Cities, counties, school districts, and other local government entities in Florida can no longer create, maintain, or fund diversity, equity, or inclusion programs, offices, or initiatives. Any organization receiving a public contract or grant must certify they won't use that money to "advance DEI." Local officials who violate the law can be removed from office. The House sponsor celebrated on the floor: "Florida is where DEI goes to die."

For LGBTQ Floridians, the impact is immediate and practical. Local Pride events, LGBTQ community centers that rely on city grants, youth housing programs, anti-bullying initiatives, and HIV outreach that were supported by county or municipal dollars now face an existential question: can we survive without public funding? Equality Florida confirmed the bill also restricts local governments from "promoting" Pride events — even if they can still permit them. That distinction is a fig leaf. You can't fund it, can't staff it, can't advertise it as a city, can't use city resources.

Advocates fought hard enough to extract carve-outs. The Pulse Memorial in Orlando was protected. Some narrow exceptions were written for specific community programs. But the bill's language is so broad and vague that local officials are already bracing for years of legal uncertainty over what counts as a violation.

The bill doesn't take effect for eight months. That window is a gift. Cities and counties can use it to shift funding to protected channels, write clearer ordinances, and build records that distinguish LGBTQ public health programs — which the state can't constitutionally just erase — from vague "DEI ideology." Equality Florida has vowed to challenge the law in court, arguing that anti-animus evidence from the legislative record is overwhelming.

What you can do right now: pressure your city council, your county commission, and your mayor to announce how they're protecting LGBTQ programs in the transition period and whether they intend to challenge this law. "We'll figure it out later" is not a plan. Florida's q***r community needs local leaders to say out loud — now — whose side they're on.

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Opinion | How Not to Talk About Your Colleagues in Texas and Florida

We’re not fighting a lost cause. By Ben Wright: https://bit.ly/4eilNjr

Flashback Friday-Texas Tech PRIDE Through the Years:

10 years ago 109 faculty/staff at wrote a Letter to the Editor after multiple homophobic incidents occurred on campus. The letter reminded everyone of that hate speech has no place at our University. They also presented a one of a kind print signed by over 100 faculty/staff pledging their support of LGBTQ students by . https://dailytoreador.com/article/letter-to-the-editor-faculty-coalition-supports-campus-lgbt-groups-condemns-slurs-20160406

An LGBTQ+ faith event opened its doors as Turning Point USA shut people out, deep in the heart of Texas The Baylor event brought LGBTQ+ Christian voices to campus as Turning Point USA hosted a closed-door stop nearby.

Not your ordinary petition. Q: Who is next on the hit list you ask? A: Sociology, History, English, basically any curriculum that is not humanistic in nature. Race, class, and ability are still topics on the chopping block. Small steps from all of us, make one big movement. Read and sign the Petition from Raiders Against Censorship;

Sign the Petition Stop Texas Tech's Unconstitutional LGBTQ+ Censorship Before It Takes Effect June 15

Repost from Pride of Dripping Springs

Banning trans people from using the restroom is a blatant attempt by politicians to push us out of public life. We won’t take it.

“While there is nothing inherently wrong with desiring a lucrative job or wanting to attend an elite institution, the consequence of such a corporatized view of education is a culture of apathy and dishonesty in the classroom.”

Who decides?
Who benefits?
Who is left out?

STUDENT VOICE: Humanities education is in trouble in the state of Florida. We need a shift in culture Our results-driven culture is affecting societal attitudes toward the humanities. The tendency to prioritize course difficulty and postgraduation job results leads to a broader cultural trend in which the humanities are dismissed.

helps but it doesn’t get the job done! We are in action mode. Do small things and they will add to another person’s small thing and again and again…we must move forward!

The Hill Opinion | "Last week, a federal court settlement required the Trump administration to permanently restore the pride flag at Stonewall National Monument, a hard-fought win for le***an, gay, bisexual, transgender and q***r cultural representation and artistic freedom. Still, the victory brings into focus the erasure of transgender and q***r activism from the official history of the site designated to honor that legacy."
Read more: https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/5839739-pride-flag-legal-victory/