Lane Lewis

Lane Lewis grew up in Pasadena/Deer Park where he began his career as a Social Worker, counseling emotionally disturbed adolescents.

 

At 22 years old, Lane was troubled by the way queer youth, particularly trans-youth, were treated in these settings; so, he co-founded the Lewis-Scott Youth Center later to be called HIPY/The Houston Institute for the Protection of Youth, a residential center to help LGBTQ+ and HIV+ homeless youth off the streets. Lane worked at his paying job during the day and managed evenings at the youth center.

 

During the early 90’s, Lane served as an advisor to Houston’s Health and Human Services department pushing them to be more proactive in educating LGBTQ+ folks on safe sex.

 

During these years, Lane was an active member of Queer Nation, Act-Up, and hired as the Executive Director of the AIDS Equity League to advocate for the equitable treatment of those living with HIV/AIDS.

 

During his tenure at the AEL, from age 23 through age 25, he served on the National Executive Committee of Stonewall 25, an international event in New York at the United Nations calling for the recognition of LGBTQ+ human rights around the world.

 

Although barley of legal drinking age, he frequently lectured at Houston Independent School District, Sam Houston University, and Baylor College of Medicine to name a few. Simultaneously, he was an appointee of Mayors Lanier, Brown, and White as an advisor to the Houston Police Department on the Advisory Committee, Citizen Review Committee, and Administrative Discipline Committee.
 

Throughout the 90’s, Lane found time to serve on the Board of what was then called the Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus and was elected President in 1997, the year Annise Parker won her first election. During his term, he faced membership resistance as he pushed for more inclusiveness of people of color and trans members.

 

Upon return from NYC in 1994, when Lane was not tending bar or managing nightclubs like Pacific Street and Rich’s, he struggled with the nagging realization that if anti-sodomy laws were on the books, they would be used to discriminate. He knew that until that was taken off the books, marriage equality and occupational security would never occur.

 

During these years he searched for an opportunity to challenge 21.06.

 

In 1998, Lane found and befriended two defendants named John Lawrence and Tyron Garner that were willing to allow him to find them legal representation in a case that he felt would challenge 21.06.  This became the Supreme Court case “Lawrence v Texas,” which improved the rights and liberties of LGBTQ+ people across the United States.

 

In recent years, he was elected three times as County Chair of the Harris County Democratic Party from 2011 until 2017. While Chair, Democrats swept the ballot and amassed the largest electoral margins, they had ever achieved in Harris County.

 

Now at 57, he currently owns his own insurance company and has far more time for his books, his dogs, and his video games (not necessarily in that order).