AUSTIN — Five women lawmakers have decided to form the Texas Legislature's first LGBTQ caucus.

State Rep. Mary González will serve as the group's chairwoman. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News on Thursday, the El Paso Democrat said she hopes the caucus will advance bills that are "transformative" for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Texans across the state.

"We want to honor the moment," González said, just minutes before her staff planned to file the paperwork making the caucus official. "We want to have an intentional and strategic agenda." When González was first elected in 2012, she was just the second openly LGBTQ member elected to the 181-member Texas Legislature in its history, and the only one serving at the time. Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin, was elected in 2014.

Last year, the number of openly LGBTQ legislators more than doubled with the election of Reps. Jessica González of Dallas, Julie Johnson of Carrollton and Erin Zwiener of Driftwood. These five women represent nearly 20 percent of the Democratic women serving in the Texas House.

The spike in openly LGBTQ members has already prompted other history-making changes. For example, Johnson became the first lawmaker whose same-sex spouse was invited to join the Legislative Ladies Club, a social group made up of the husbands and wives of Texas House members. Read more via Dallas News