Alejandra Salinas and Elizabeth Hadaway Combine Public Service with Private Devotion

For Alejandra Salinas and Elizabeth Hadaway, love didn’t begin with a grand gesture. It started with five-minute car rides through downtown Houston.

“So we met at work. We were both lawyer associates at Susman Godfrey,” Salinas recalls. “And Elizabeth came in and was just tremendously hard working.”

In the pre-COVID days, long nights at the office were routine. Salinas would walk home alone late at night, something Hadaway found unsettling. “So she thought she would offer me a ride home at night,” Salinas says. “Those five minutes, where she would drive me from the office to my apartment, became the best parts of our days.”

Over six months, those brief conversations grew into something deeper. “We just fell in love over those five-minute conversations that we just both treasured so much,” Salinas says. “We got together, and the rest is history.”

That relationship was rooted first in professional admiration. “From the very beginning, there was a deep admiration of one another professionally,” Hadaway explains. “That actually came first. And that deep respect for one another, I would say, is the foundation. Then our romantic relationship got built on top of that.”

Today, Salinas and Hadaway are both partners at Susman Godfrey LLP, one of the nation’s top litigation firms, and they are widely recognized as one of Houston’s leading queer power couples. But for them, power is inseparable from purpose.

“I remember our first date talking about how both of us, when we grew up, would often, in our prayers and in our reflections, talk about how we can make a positive impact on this world,” Salinas says. “I think it was part of how we fell in love with one another.”

That shared commitment shows up in their legal work and beyond. “Both of us have really tried to do everything possible to elevate minority lawyers and make sure that they feel supported at the firm, and that they can rise in their careers,” Salinas says, describing efforts to create “the new POC Female LGBTQ+ Club” within a historically white-male-dominated profession.

Their impactful and sometimes pro bono work has included cases involving discriminatory school policies, election interference, bail reform, and a First Amendment challenge involving racial discrimination against children. “We currently represent a father in a First Amendment challenge after he became a victim of retaliation for standing up against racial discrimination against his children in a school district,” Hadaway adds.

Their partnership was tested, and strengthened, during Salinas’ successful campaign for Houston City Council. “It was awesome. I could not be prouder of Alejandra,” Hadaway admits. “I think it is an incredibly brave thing to run for public office, and even braver to do so in these times and to do so as an out lesbian.”

For Salinas, watching her wife balance law practice, home life, IVF, and campaign work was transformative. “Every day on this campaign, I fell more in love with her, and I just grew more respectful of her,” she reveals. “An activist said, ‘Your wife is the greatest block-walker we’ve ever seen,’ because she brings excellence to everything she does.”

Visibility has become a defining part of their public life. “At a time where our community is under attack, this campaign was a good reminder of the importance of being visible and doing it in a joyful way,” Salinas says. “Just by being ourselves and by showing up, we can make somebody else’s day or life just a little bit easier.”

Hadaway agrees. “Visibility matters. It matters to show up, and it matters to speak up,” she says. “If we can give other folks a feeling of safety, even for a little bit, or inspiration to stand up or become more politically involved, that is a win.”

At home, their relationship is sustained by intention and simplicity. “We cherish that,” Hadaway says of their quiet nights together. “A Friday night sitting with our puppies on the couch next to each other is very valuable.”

Asked what they’ve learned from one another as leaders, the admiration flows easily. “My wife is a CEO type,” Hadaway says, praising Salinas’s ability to listen, synthesize, and execute.

Salinas, in turn, describes Hadaway as “the smartest person I know” and “the most empathetic and kind person I know.”

Moreover, Salinas offers a lesson learned through her lived experience. “In a relationship, you both can be stars on your own, but together you should be better. You can be better versions of yourselves.”

In a city and in a moment that needs examples of courage rooted in care, Alejandra Salinas and Elizabeth Hadaway are showing Houston what queer love, leadership, and partnership can look like when it’s created with intention.

View the photo galleries of Houston City Council Member Alejandra Salinas’s Swearing-In Ceremony [here] and her Runoff Election Watch Party [here].