Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.
Lake Shore Baptist Chruch member David Mosley. The Waco congregation has approved a statement accepting all people into its membership, including those in the LGBT community.
Our church, quite frankly, has a fair number of gay people, and the basic question that arises is, ‘Did Jesus come for them, too?’ We believe he brought a message of love and affirmation and not condemnation. It’s not that we are attempting to become specifically a gay-friendly church, but a friendly church extending its boundaries.
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Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, on the latest lawsuit against abortion restrictions in Texas.
Texas has failed to provide any credible evidence of what health benefit this might serve because there aren’t any. Women do not want these laws. Doctors do not want these laws. And the Constitution does not allow them.
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Democratic National Committee spokesman Adam Hoge, on Donald Trump selecting former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be his nominee for energy secretary.
Rick Perry has made loud and clear that he’s a climate change denier and doesn’t think that the federal government should ensure that every American has access to clear air, land, or water. These are not the qualities of someone fit to run the Energy Department and the Senate should overwhelmingly reject his nomination.
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Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health.
Ask yourself, no matter how you feel about abortion: If someone you know and love needs to have an abortion, how do you want that experience to be for them? If you are like the vast majority of Americans, pro-choice or not, you believe that a woman you love deserves support, respect, and compassion as well as high-quality abortion care from medical professionals she can trust.
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State Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, on how public officals can be guided by their beliefs while respecting those of others.
[Religious belief] can’t be something we impose on others. While not everyone agrees when a fetus becomes a person, we can all agree that a woman who is pregnant is a person. I believe that each woman is capable of making her own decision with her doctor’s advice, her family’s support and the faith in her heart.