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Houston Politics

Fringe Right LIES To Thwart Houston NDO

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It appears as though the far-right is moving to try and stop Houston’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance from passing Council.  Here’s an email received today from Steven Hotze, President of the Conservative Republicans of Texas.  In an effort to enrage their supporters, they’ve renamed the planned NDO the ‘Sexual Predator Protection Act’…
Dear Fellow Conservative,
Mayor Annise Parker is introducing a city ordinance on Wednesday, April 30th, at 1:00 pm at City Hall which would create a new minority class for individuals based solely upon their practice of sodomy and other homosexual and lesbian activities. This is outrageous!
This would make those who engage in deviant sexual acts a new minority class equal to African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and other legitimate minorities. This is a slap in the face of true minorities. It is absurd to base a person’s minority status upon a choice of sexual activities or any other activity, for that matter, in which a person is involved. It’s outrageous!
Mayor Anise Parker’s proposed ordinance should be entitled the “Sexual Predator Protection Act.” It would allow men to put on women’s clothing and go into a female bathroom or locker room in both public and in private business locations open to the public. If challenged all he has to say in his defense is that he thinks that he is a woman. Parker and her supporters call this “transgendered.” Most would consider this deviant and perverted behavior. Do you want your mother, wife, girlfriend, daughters or granddaughters to be exposed to this danger? To allow this would be outrageous!
Parker wants to coerce the public, by force of law, to accept her lesbian relationship as morally equivalent to marriage. This violates not only the Texas Constitution Marriage Amendment, but also our Sovereign God’s law for marriage. “For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5)
While we are all sinners in need of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us of our sins, it would be outrageous to allow any group who organizes politically, based upon their sexual activities, to elevate themselves to minority status.
Please call the members of the Houston City Council today and tell them that you are outraged about Parker’s Sexual Predator Protection Act. Tell them the following:
  1. Parker and her supporters’ sexual behavior does not give them a right to a minority status like legitimate racial minorities, and
  2. You do not want girls and women to be exposed to sexual predators in restrooms or showers.
The City Council names and contact information are listed below.
Also, go to City Hall this Wednesday, April 30, for the 1:00 pm city council committee hearing on Parker’s ordinance. It is important for the council members to know that their actions are being watched.
Parker’s “Sexual Predator Protection Act” will be voted on by the Houston City Council on Wednesday, May 7th.
It is critical that you start calling the city council members today and tell them that you are outraged about Parker’s Sexual Predator Protection Act.
Please forward this email letter to your family members, friends, neighbors and business associates.
Committed to advancing Biblical principles, I remain, as always,
Sincerely yours for Constitutional liberty,
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
Just because Houston’s pro-equality movement has made some significant progress in recent weeks doesn’t mean that we’ve won the fight yet.  As you can see, Hotze and his organization are not above spreading as many lies as possible to get what they want.  If this ordinance is to pass, it’s going to take an overwhelming show of support from those that know the truth.So we are clear, here’s some myth-busting from the American Psychological Association…

1.) Sexual orientation is NOT a choice.

2) LGBT people are NOT child molesters or sexual deviants
3)  Being LGBT is NOT a disease of any kind.  We all have a sexual orientation and a gender identity.  It is something that you are born with!!
And many more from years of extensive research from the APA.  Remember the meeting at City Hall is tomorrow 2pm, with a rally for equality starting at 1pm.  If you can attend, please do so and help create a better Houston for us all.  There’s also still time to call and email your City Council representatives.  This is for real folks!!
CRT1
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Obama Visits Houston, Lambastes Congress

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It appears that traffic frustration isn’t the only thing that President Obama stirred up during his recent visit to Houston.

After a somber appearance at Ft. Hood, the President and First Lady of the United States came to the Bayou City for some fundraisers in River Oaks and the Museum District. Here’s coverage from Reuters via Huffington Post…

HOUSTON, April 9 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sharply criticized what he called the least productive U.S. Congress in modern history on Wednesday in a fund-raising speech that he used to try to energize Democrats to vote in November congressional elections.

Obama blasted Republicans in the U.S. Senate for blocking a Democratic-supported bill earlier in the day aimed at addressing a gap in pay between male and female workers. Republicans argued that pay discrimination is already illegal.

Obama also cited Republicans’ refusal to agree to an immigration overhaul and an increase in the minimum wage as examples of what he called obstruction by his political opponents.

“This has become the least productive Congress in modern history, recent memory. And that’s by objective measures – just basic activity,” Obama said.

[…]

Obama said Republican “obstruction” this year may be a good political strategy if Democrats do not vote in the mid-terms. Democrats are active in presidential campaign years, he said, but “we have this congenital disease, which is in mid-term elections, we don’t vote at the same rates.”

“We need you to take these mid-terms as seriously as any presidential election that you’ve ever been involved in,” said Obama.

Though the 113th Congressional session isn’t yet over, President Obama is likely to be correct. This Congress is well on its way to being the least productive in history, and at this point in the year, it’s next to impossible to change that. Just 98 bills have left the House chamber since January of 2013.

Yet unlike the average American worker, Congress gets to do no work, keep its job and still get paid. Don’t forget that every legislator that represents us in Washington is getting paid a minimum of $174,000 per year to NOT legislate. Adding insult to injury, one of the few bills that could be passed this year is whether or not Congress deserves a raise. I am believer in the role of government, but this is just ridiculous. If we’re looking to cut a welfare program, Congressional pay is a GREAT place to start.

Blasting frustrations aside, there are very clear reasons for the degeneration of America’s legislative branch. The first one is of course money. Congressional campaigns have become so expensive that the average federal law-maker spends more time fund-raising than they do on anything else. It’s quite sickening that they are being paid to call donors just so they can keep their job.

And of course the little time that they are in session is spent in total disagreement. Thanks to the GOP’s calculated gerrymandering plan, this is the most divisive Congress in recent American history. Congressional questionnaires that have measured basic ideology over the years prove this fact. And because so few in Congress have to compete for voters in the middle of the political spectrum, the two parties continue to drive further and further away from each other.

Let’s hope that voters start taking notice of the waste happening on Capitol Hill this year. It’s really becoming too much to bear.

Houston Politics

Houston GLBT Caucus Calls Out Council on NDO

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In contemporary times, it’s difficult to win any election without endorsements. Short of spending a fortune on TV ads, they are often the best way to get a candidate’s name out to the voters. But as any candidate is well aware, endorsements typically have to be earned through a record of service and a rigorous screening process.

For Houston and Harris County, one of the most important endorsements that a political candidate can earn is that of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus. The Caucus endorsement means additional votes, and has been the difference between victory and defeat in several local races. So it’s no surprise that most of the municipal candidates for office, both Democrat and Republican, seek this most esteemed prize.

Yesterday, the GLBT Caucus redefined the brewing debate over Houston’s coming Human Rights Ordinance. Though Mayor Parker made a firm pledge to pass a Human Rights Ordinance in her recent State of the City speech, the planned legislation, to the disappointment of many in progressive community, does not extend to private employment because it wouldn’t have the votes to pass Council. But judging from the GLBT Caucus’ 2013 candidate questionnaire, those votes should already be locked down. Eleven Council Members promised to support a comprehensive Non-Discrimination Ordinance during the Caucus screening process, and now that organization is calling them out on that promise.

Posted on the group’s Facebook page, the Caucus confirms that Council Members Jerry Davis, Ellen Cohen, Dwight Boykins, Ed Gonzalez, Robert Gallegos, Mike Laster, Larry Green, Steven Costello, David W. Robinson, C. O. Bradford and Jack Christie all pledged public support for a comprehensive Non-Discrimination Ordinance.

Eleven votes (presumably twelve including the Mayor) out of a Sixteen-member Council is certainly enough to pass the ordinance, with more potential votes lining up. Noah M. Horwitz of Texpatriate did some legwork on this, and even spoke to CM Bradford directly for a most interesting response. I called Council Member Michael Kubosh’s office, and here is what a staff member had to say…

“Council Member Kubosh is against discrimination in all forms, and is looking forward to seeing the proposed ordinance.”

Even with this cautious response from a staff member, sources close to Texas Leftist say that Council Member Kubosh would be likely to support a Non-Discrimination Ordinance that extends to private employment. Said source worked with Kubosh on this issue prior to his election to City Council, and has spoken with him recently as well.

Of course there is no record of Kubosh’s stance, as he did not seek the GLBT Caucus endorsement. But for the Council Members that did, they deserve to be held to their word. Some questions still remain here… What about the other side? Who in the Business community is pressuring Council to not pass the ordinance? Why do they want to support discrimination, and more importantly, why is their voice on the issue loud enough to counter the voices of citizens?

Those answers need to be discovered. Lone Star Q has much more on the topic.

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Houston Non-Discrimination Ordiance: Updates

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Perhaps better than any of her predecessors, Houston Mayor Annise Parker knows that discrimination is a real issue for the LGBT community. She was a Past President of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, and her activism is remembered from civic protests to consultation in the landmark Lawrence V. Texas case. And of course, the mayor’s recent wedding to her long-time partner is still illegal in her home state, pending further court decisions.

Given this history, it was especially heartening to hear Parker, in her 3rd and final inaugural address as Mayor, pledge that the time has come to pass a comprehensive, LGBT inclusive Non-Discrimination ordinance (AKA Human Rights Ordinance) in Houston.

Other Houstonians say that it’s time as well. Texans Together Education Fund, an organization founded to increase civic engagement in underserved communities, has started a petition to get the ordinance passed, and whose members are actively lobbying to bring it forth to City Council. Unlike years past, Non-Discrimination has now mobilized Houston’s progressive community to the point where it will impossible for municipal government to ignore. And of course, Houston has a nearby example with San Antonio’s recent NDO, led by Mayor Julian Castro.

But it appears that even the planned ordinance for Houston will not include *direct* discrimination protections for those working in the private sector (which of course is the majority of the workforce). Here’s what Parker had to say on Houston Matters earlier this week…

Craig Cohen: When can we expect a comprehensive Non-Discrimination Ordinance that protects all Houstonians regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, and will such an ordinance protect those employed in the Private Sector?

Mayor Parker: I hope to have it passed by the end of May. It will affect the Private Sector in as much as if they do business with the City of Houston. It will affect the Private Sector if they operate public accommodations or multi-family housing. But the first draft I’m working on does not apply to the Private Sector otherwise.

Why can’t this first version of the ordinance include private employment? In short, the answer is simple politics. Sources say the Houston ordinance will lose votes on Council if it affects private employers. It’s true that any step is a step forward, especially in these times of heightened contention in politics. But if a Council Member wants to allow discrimination to continue, they deserve to be put on record with a vote. Instead of protecting them, Parker and her administration should let them deal with the Progressive community’s ire. Texas Leftist cannot confirm at this time which persons are against equal protection, but if that information is ever revealed, it will surely be passed along via this blog. As for now, we’ll wait to see what develops this May.