[quote]Houston voters struck down a non-discrimination ballot measure Tuesday, delivering a blow to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement that had campaigned heavily for passage.Prop. 1, known as [URL="http://houstonunites.org/"]Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance,[/URL] would have barred discrimination on the basis of race, age, military status, disability and 11 other categories in a variety of areas. (Religious organizations and institutions would be exempt from the requirements.)
It was HERO's protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, however, that attracted the most attention and made the ballot measure the center of the LGBT community's efforts this election.
The Houston City Council [URL="http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/houston-passed-its-equal-rights-ordinance-last-night/"]narrowly approved[/URL] the equal rights ordinance last year, but after a petition drive by anti-gay activists, the Texas Supreme Court [URL="http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/2015/07/24/texas-supreme-court-suspends-houston-equal-rights-ordinance/30617999/"]ordered the city[/URL] in July to either repeal it or put it on the November ballot -- giving each side just a few months to make their case.
A [URL="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/10/31/3718110/houston-hero-endorsements/"]long list of local and national figures[/URL] publicly came out in support of Prop. 1, including President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The measure also had the backing of companies like Apple and GE, as well as local businesses that wanted to avoid a backlash similar to what Indiana experienced when Gov. Mike Pence (R) [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/26/indiana-governor-mike-pence-anti-gay-bill_n_6947472.html"]signed an anti-gay "religious freedom" law[/URL] earlier this year.
But these heavy hitters weren't able to get past the catchy, fear-mongering slogans and images used by their opponents.
Conservative activists -- who were [URL="http://www.buzzfeed.com/dominicholden/why-is-the-lgbt-movement-struggling-to-uphold-a-simple-law-i#.fbGYYrylY3"]heavily outspent by LGBT advocates[/URL] -- dubbed Prop. 1 the "bathroom ordinance" and adopted the slogan "No men in women's bathrooms," playing up fears that passage could lead to male sexual predators dressing up as women and entering women's restrooms. [/quote]
[thumb]http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/crop_0_0_3484_1846,scalefit_630_noupscale/56377d28190000b100b956a4.jpeg?cache=ezNZFmzvg1[/thumb]
strange, I always hear houston talked about like it was some liberal haven within my lovely state. Wouldn't know tho, haven't been there.
[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/houston-equal-rights-ordinance_5638de92e4b00a4d2e0bee4e[/url]
[QUOTE]playing up fears that passage could lead to male sexual predators dressing up as women and entering women's restrooms.[/QUOTE]
Nothing's stopping potential predators from doing this either way so this is a pretty weak argument against the proposition.
The thing i love about the anti-lgbt mass is how they always believe that gay/transgender people are all perverts, yet all the "reasoning" that the anti-lgbt side uses are often the most perverse things i ever heard. A guy dressing up as a women to go to the girls bathroom? I wonder where they got that idea from
i'm pretty sure a real kiddy fiddler wouldn't be above barging buck naked into a girls' bathroom and snatch someone into his personal anti-lgbt rape van
They had a really strong smear campaign that played into the fears of gullible people. They literally played it off as [I]"The city is trying to pass a law that would allow men to go into women's bathrooms!"[/I] and completely ignored the rest of the bill.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYpko86x6GU[/media]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1u-N3cG2DQ[/media]
[quote]Everyone cares about privacy.
Some people have raised concerns about the ordinance’s impact on privacy and comfort in bathrooms. Many people don’t personally know a transgender person, so it’s understandable some folks may have questions at first.
But what we need to remember is nothing in the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance changes the fact that it is – and always will be – illegal to enter a restroom and harm or harass other people.
What gets lost in this conversation is that this law actually provides needed protections to all Houstonians by banning discrimination due to race, disability, gender, and more – in employment, housing and restaurants and stores[/quote]
[url]http://houstonunites.org/facts/[/url]
[quote]The Texas Leftist published an article pointing out that anti-discrimination ordinances like Houston's HERO ordinance existed in many other cities besides Houston. The website gave a list of cities with similar ordinances here. Moreover, Media Matters contacted multiple city officials in Austin, Dallas and El Paso and asked: "Have gender identity/transgender public accommodations protections resulted in increased sexual assault or rape in women's restrooms? Has [CITY] encountered any other problems as a result of such protections?" The article published by Media Matters reported negative responses from all three cities. Supporters of Proposition 1 argued that this report shows that anti-discrimination ordinances for members of the LGBT community do not cause an increase in crimes committed in women's restrooms. The article from Media Matters also stated, "Law enforcement officials, victims' rights advocates, and human rights commission officials in states and localities with transgender non-discrimination protections have debunked the claim that sexual predators will exploit non-discrimination laws, calling it 'beyond specious.'"[14][/quote]
[url]http://ballotpedia.org/City_of_Houston_Anti-Discrimination_HERO_Veto_Referendum,_Proposition_1_%28November_2015%29[/url]
It was a disaster.
From a politics view, it was a [I]brilliant[/I] smear campaign.
Sadly we live in an age where blatant smear campaigns trump fact
So the problem with local elections is that nobody cares. I live in a city of 300,000 people. 500 voted.
If I got all my friends together and went out to the polls, we could have totally rigged the election, or at least influenced it significantly.
I'd imagine it's much the same in Houston. The only people who bothered to vote were the anti-lgbt people, everyone else was too busy to care. This is why special interest groups like churches and businesses rule local elections.
[QUOTE=woolio1;49054316]So the problem with local elections is that nobody cares. I live in a city of 300,000 people. 500 voted.
If I got all my friends together and went out to the polls, we could have totally rigged the election, or at least influenced it significantly.
I'd imagine it's much the same in Houston. The only people who bothered to vote were the anti-lgbt people, everyone else was too busy to care. This is why special interest groups like churches and businesses rule local elections.[/QUOTE]
That's how it is. IIRC from my Texas government class, [del]only 20% (or less) end up actually voting.[/del] No one cares about local politics.
[editline]5th November 2015[/editline]
In 2013, the Mayor of Houston received 97,009 votes, giving her a majority of 57.22%
Houston has a population of 2,099,451.
[B]4.6% of Houston decided who won.[/B]
As for the Ordnance. 156,882 voted no. So 7.45% of Houston decided.
257,309 people out of 2,099,451 voted on the ordinance. 169,549 people voted on the Mayor in 2013.
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_mayoral_election,_2013[/url]
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston[/url]
That "Men in Women's Bathrooms" hit pretty hard here. I honestly feel though that the HERO supporters did a piss poor job advertising and raising awareness about it. All I saw were just signs stating "YES to Prop 1" around my area, where as I saw and heard a ton more advertisement for NO.
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;49053906]strange, I always hear houston talked about like it was some liberal haven within my lovely state. Wouldn't know tho, haven't been there.[/QUOTE]
That's weird, last time I was there it was the most hyper conservative area I've ever been in the US
i can just imagine a sex predator just like going "oh dang" when he sees the female sign on the bathroom.
[QUOTE=OvB;49054331]That's how it is. IIRC from my Texas government class, [del]only 20% (or less) end up actually voting.[/del] No one cares about local politics.
[editline]5th November 2015[/editline]
In 2013, the Mayor of Houston received 97,009 votes, giving her a majority of 57.22%
Houston has a population of 2,099,451.
[B]4.6% of Houston decided who won.[/B]
As for the Ordnance. 156,882 voted no. So 7.45% of Houston decided.
257,309 people out of 2,099,451 voted on the ordinance. 169,549 people voted on the Mayor in 2013.
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_mayoral_election,_2013[/url]
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston[/url][/QUOTE]
The passing or failing seems to be more an effect of which side cares more, not what the majority wants.
[media]https://youtu.be/iHBA-c5fTdU[/media]
[editline]5th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=sgman91;49055579]The passing or failing seems to be more an effect of which side cares more, not what the majority wants.[/QUOTE]
That's my point. The Pro argument didn't do a good job explaining what it was about, and the Anti guys came out of the woodwork because a commercial told them Houston was making it legal for pedophiles to go into the girls bathroom.
Thank God. Absolutely absurd these people want to force their sexual perversions onto children
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Dumb or troll baiting" - Craptasket))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=da space core;49053969]The thing i love about the anti-lgbt mass is how they always believe that gay/transgender people are all perverts, yet all the "reasoning" that the anti-lgbt side uses are often the most perverse things i ever heard. A guy dressing up as a women to go to the girls bathroom? I wonder where they got that idea from[/QUOTE]
From the good wholesome cartoons they grew up with, I reckon.
"Why yes ma'am, lady's room is this way!"
[img]http://i.imgur.com/WWznHrw.jpg[/img]
just texas delaying the inevitable with illogical arguments.
there will be LGBT protections written into antidiscrimination laws on state and federal level at some point, its inevitable, and if people don't want to see the supreme court writing those laws, they'd better tell their senators and congressmen to work it out in congress before someone sues up to the SC again.
[QUOTE=Sableye;49056495]just texas delaying the inevitable with illogical arguments.
there will be LGBT protections written into antidiscrimination laws on state and federal level at some point, its inevitable, and if people don't want to see the supreme court writing those laws, they'd better tell their senators and congressmen to work it out in congress before someone sues up to the SC again.[/QUOTE]
I don't think LGBT anti-discrimination laws necessarily means they'll be able to use whatever bathroom they want. It'd be more about workplace discrimination and things like that
[QUOTE=KennethKaniff;49055871]Thank God. Absolutely absurd these people want to force their sexual perversions onto children[/QUOTE]
Smells like gimmick sniff sniff
[QUOTE=OvB;49054007]They had a really strong smear campaign that played into the fears of gullible people. They literally played it off as [I]"The city is trying to pass a law that would allow men to go into women's bathrooms!"[/I] and completely ignored the rest of the bill.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYpko86x6GU[/media]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1u-N3cG2DQ[/media]
[url]http://houstonunites.org/facts/[/url]
[url]http://ballotpedia.org/City_of_Houston_Anti-Discrimination_HERO_Veto_Referendum,_Proposition_1_%28November_2015%29[/url]
It was a disaster.
From a politics view, it was a [I]brilliant[/I] smear campaign.[/QUOTE]
i swear i always though these were purely fake and the result of a satire.
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;49053906][thumb]http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/crop_0_0_3484_1846,scalefit_630_noupscale/56377d28190000b100b956a4.jpeg?cache=ezNZFmzvg1[/thumb]
strange, I always hear houston talked about like it was some liberal haven within my lovely state. Wouldn't know tho, haven't been there.
[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/houston-equal-rights-ordinance_5638de92e4b00a4d2e0bee4e[/url][/QUOTE]
Houston is more of a below average city with no personality and shit people.
Austin is the haven for liberals.
[QUOTE=Tudd;49058040]Houston is more of a below average city with no personality and shit people.[/QUOTE]
You must of been in a shit part of the city whenever you came here, unless you are just saying that based off somebody else's experience. I live in Houston and honestly it's not a bad city at all.
I reallyreally wonder what it's like to live life not having to worry or fight for a baseline level of needs/respect
[QUOTE=woolio1;49054316]So the problem with local elections is that nobody cares. I live in a city of 300,000 people. 500 voted.
If I got all my friends together and went out to the polls, we could have totally rigged the election, or at least influenced it significantly.
I'd imagine it's much the same in Houston. The only people who bothered to vote were the anti-lgbt people, everyone else was too busy to care. This is why special interest groups like churches and businesses rule local elections.[/QUOTE]
Go to any Facebook right wing page click on any one of the people commenting and its 75% they are going to be retired. How can we compete with old people who have nothing else to do. I have a job and social life. Its not that I cant vote but its a pain in the ass. I'm surprised they haven't found a way to integrate it into Facebook yet.
[QUOTE]playing up fears that passage could lead to male sexual predators dressing up as women and entering women's restrooms.[/QUOTE]
I think it's fair to let transsexual people use the restroom in line with their gender identity.
A sexual predator will enter a women's restroom no matter the law.
[QUOTE=cqbcat;49060626]I think it's fair to let transsexual people use the restroom in line with their gender identity.
A sexual predator will enter a women's restroom no matter the law.[/QUOTE]
"Yeah, but we wouldn't want to make it EASIER for them, would we?!" - Conservative logic
They seem to be the most paranoid bunch out there. You propose legislation that improves the living conditions and available rights of anybody who isn't them (ie not a white heterosexual christian entrepreneur/"up-and-coming" entrepreneur) and the first thing they do is make a fuss about something bad that will happen without any real reasoning behind it. "BUT PEOPLE WILL MOOCH OFF OF/ABUSE THE-" Yes, and you'll never get rid of people like that. But hey, fuck the people that NEED their rights [I]as human fucking beings[/I] upheld and shit, so long as they have theirs, right?
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