Houston GLBTQX Ordinance Loses by Wide Margin

[Cow Poke]

I've read numerous articles about it, plus everything you've written in these forums.

It's clear, for example, that you personally, have quite a big issue with the fact that the mayor is lesbian.

No, I have quite an issue with the fact that she's a dishonest activist.

[Starlight]

You're quite the drama queen. "freaked out"?

I call conservative Christian groups running multiple ads about a "what if"-scenario that wasn't actually in the bill, and producing multiple articles on the topic, and spreading paranoid rumors and misinformation about that scenario, to be freaking out, yes.

I think you're missing the part where Parker is an activist who abused the power of her office on more than a few occasions

Yeah, I am missing that part, because it seems to exist largely in your imagination and in the imagination of the other Texan "Christians" who are frothing at the mouth in their desperation to oust Parker. It's brought to us by the same group that sees every single one of Obama's executive orders as an illegal abuse of power, and who just can't understand why he hasn't yet been impeached for being Obama.

She's in the "Hillary Clinton Trustworthy" camp.

An obviously impeachable offence.

[Cow Poke]

I call conservative Christian groups running multiple ads about a "what if"-scenario that wasn't actually in the bill,

The restroom / locker room was in it initially.

and producing multiple articles on the topic, and spreading paranoid rumors and misinformation about that scenario, to be freaking out, yes.

Well, that's pretty much what a drama queen does, so....

Yeah, I am missing that part, because it seems to exist largely in your imagination and in the imagination of the other Texan "Christians" who are frothing at the mouth in their desperation to oust Parker.

Hmmmm... "frothing at the mouth".... Starlight - calm yourself - it appears YOU are the one launching into hysteria here.

It's brought to us by the same group that sees every single one of Obama's executive orders as an illegal abuse of power, and who just can't understand why he hasn't yet been impeached for being Obama.

Yup - more Drama Queen!

An obviously impeachable offence.

Ummm... you might want to go look in the mirror... I think that's froth dripping from your mouth.

[Teallaura]

There is evidently no room to argue about the media campaigns surrounding the ordinance; CP won't give up a bare centimeter of ground there, and I don't blame him.

But there is still room to discuss the merits of the central question. To that end, two links for discussion.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/zinniaj...imagined-harm/



http://www.advocate.com/politics/tra...dtopee-selfies

this one's mostly photos, but the below quote captures the gist of it.

Trans women and men have been posting photos of themselves in the restrooms of the gender they were assigned at birth, at times adding signs to highlight how ill-fitting their presence is.

No, it really doesn't. The ordinance is a solution in search of a problem. There are no BR police asking for your credentials at the stall door. No one demanding that you prove you are the gender you appear. Nothing that reasonably constitutes an encumbrance at all. The only thing lacking is a legal protection to be where you don't actually belong but that only comes into play when there is a problem.

Not done. Bsck later.

[Sparko]

The restroom / locker room was in it initially.



Well, that's pretty much what a drama queen does, so....



Hmmmm... "frothing at the mouth".... Starlight - calm yourself - it appears YOU are the one launching into hysteria here.



Yup - more Drama Queen!



Ummm... you might want to go look in the mirror... I think that's froth dripping from your mouth.

I wonder if he is a trans-drama-queen or a cis-drama-queen?

[Jedidiah]

No, it really doesn't. The ordinance is a solution in search of a problem. There are no BR police asking for your credentials at the stall door. No one demanding that you prove you are the gender you appear. Nothing that reasonably constitutes an encumbrance at all. The only thing lacking is a legal protection to be where you don't actually belong but that only comes into play when there is a problem.

Not done. Bsck later.

So very true.

As I have said before if a man who looks and behaves like an ordinary woman goes into a restroom designated for women no one would notice or care. If he goes in looking like a man and shoves his identity in the face of others he creates problems which have nothing to do with the issue of this ordinance. The whole thing is an effort to push a lot of people and make them uncomfortable, not to make a small minority of people more comfortable.

[rogue06]

What about stuff like this?

Was that an accurate representation of the ballot initiative?

Coming home from work this morning I heard a local commentator on the radio who has a center left perspective blame the deliberate vagueness of the bill itself for its failure saying that it opened itself up to legitimate criticism of things like sexual predators gaining access to women's bathrooms noting the frequency of such folks crawling up through ceilings to install cameras looking into stalls and the like.

[rogue06]

So everyone freaked out over a section that was removed from the bill. And then campaigned against, and voted against the bill, because of that section which wasn't even in the bill.


Texas shoots sanity squarely in the foot, as per usual.

Keep in mind that it wasn't Texas per se but Houston which is one of the more decidedly liberal parts of the state (a bright blue dot surrounded by a sea of red). IOW, it was a liberal area, inhabited by predominantly liberals, who voted it down by a wide margin.

[Cow Poke]

Keep in mind that it wasn't Texas per se but Houston which is one of the more decidedly liberal parts of the state (a bright blue dot surrounded by a sea of red). IOW, it was a liberal area, inhabited by predominantly liberals, who voted it down by a wide margin.

I think you're thinking of Austin -- the "blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup". But, Houston isn't far behind.

[rogue06]

I think you're thinking of Austin -- the "blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup". But, Houston isn't far behind.

Which is why I didn't say "the most liberal" but rather "one of the more"

[Cow Poke]

Which is why I didn't say "the most liberal" but rather "one of the more"

That works. And then there's San Antonio.

[Sam]

That would include me!



You REALLY need to deal with this bitterness issue, Sam -- it's eating you up



How bout taking your own advice, Sam .... buybye!

I'm unclear whether this was intended to be a ban or not. Could you clarify?

[Cow Poke]

I'm unclear whether this was intended to be a ban or not. Could you clarify?

Sure Sam - it's not a ban. I have no hard feelings toward you and wish you no ill will.

[Sam]

Sure Sam - it's not a ban. I have no hard feelings toward you and wish you no ill will.

I appreciate that - sincerely.

I was reading the NYTimes article regarding HERO today and Lt. Gov Patrick's quotes seemed relevant to this thread:



When you've got Texas' Lt. Governor bringing up protecting "our wives and our sisters and our daughters and our granddaughters" and mentioning "men in ladies' bathrooms" without solicitation, I think we have to acknowledge that disinformation played a key role in defeating this measure. While I'm willing to agree with the "both sides play dirty politics" angle, I can't see most people in Houston having a detailed history of HERO's legislative process in their heads come time to vote. In any event, the plausible answer seems more in line with what Starlight said, that people may not have really understood what HERO, as submitted for referendum, would have allowed.

[Cow Poke]

I appreciate that - sincerely.

I was reading the NYTimes article regarding HERO today and Lt. Gov Patrick's quotes seemed relevant to this thread:



When you've got Texas' Lt. Governor bringing up protecting "our wives and our sisters and our daughters and our granddaughters" and mentioning "men in ladies' bathrooms" without solicitation, I think we have to acknowledge that disinformation played a key role in defeating this measure. While I'm willing to agree with the "both sides play dirty politics" angle, I can't see most people in Houston having a detailed history of HERO's legislative process in their heads come time to vote. In any event, the plausible answer seems more in line with what Starlight said, that people may not have really understood what HERO, as submitted for referendum, would have allowed.

Sam,

I have been saying -- the Mayor and her team did a LOUSY job of explaining it. They had just as much, if not more, muscle behind this and ads bought, and money coming in from the outside, and celebrities and the President weighing in, Sally Field here campaigning..... and it didn't help that the original language did INDEED have "restroom and locker room" in it. Given that this mayor has been such an arrogant zealot in pushing this - probably because she thought she was riding the wave of other pro-gay events around the country - it's no wonder that people didn't trust her.

She fought dirty, and she also lied. To see her at the press conference angrily decrying others as "liars" was ... well, almost "justice".

She blew it. Her team blew it. And her assault on the Texas Pastors was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

So, if the public was "misinformed" -- who's fault is that?

And, earlier, when I was saying "I LIVE here" ... I don't think you have even the slightest clue about how much "TV" we've been subjected to -- endless ads and media attention on this "informing" us that this is a wonderful thing, and that the "bathroom ordinance" was a lie.....

You couldn't watch the local news without being inundated with "Vote for Prop 1" ads.

Perhaps it would have been a way different outcome if Annise Parker hadn't been such an arrogant ass issuing such broad subpoenas for Pastors' sermons and notes. And it HAS been on the nightly news -- for MONTHS -- that the way this whole thing was handled was quite controversial. Parker abused her office in the pursuit of her personal agenda, then flat out lied about it.

That didn't go unnoticed.