August 15, 2014
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Tags: civil and equal rights, Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, LGBT issues, LGBTQIA+ Rights, TFNEF

HERO Won't Be on the Ballot in November

TFN just sent the following message regarding today’s developments in the effort to repeal the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.


Photo By Thomas B. Shea,
for The Houston Chronicle

Today a state district judge set a trial date in January for a lawsuit filed by religious-right groups seeking a public election to repeal the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). That court date eliminates the possibility of a November public referendum to repeal the sweeping anti-discrimination measure. You can read more on today’s proceedings here.

The judge’s decision today came after HERO opponents asked the court to put the repeal referendum on the November ballot. The Houston city attorney said earlier this month that those opponents had not properly gathered enough petition signatures to put repeal up for a public vote.

We’ll continue to update you on any developments regarding HERO, and we’ll let you know of any opportunities to get involved to ensure that all Houstonians have equal rights.

39 thoughts on “HERO Won't Be on the Ballot in November”

  2. Among the first things that we teach our children is to be discriminant in the food they eat, the drinks they drink, the friends they choose, the organizations they join, the person they marry, the neighborhood they choose in which to live, the businesses they choose to start and the PEOPLE THEY HIRE. Will our children have any rights left by the time they are grown?

      1. What are the chances that my children will be gay if they are taught to be discriminant in the friends they choose and the places they hang out, including awareness of homosexual teenage recruiters?
        I would say – less than 1%.

        1. Another ignorant opinion by our very own Jim Kennedy.

          Please tell us, Jim, when you decided to be straight. How old were you when you made that decision? What led you to make that decision?

          On second thought, Jim, don’t bother. I don’t think I can stand any more of your childish nonsense.

          Human sexuality is an innate biological property that can be quantified (somewhat) on a sliding scale; 50 shades of grey if you will. To put it in simple terms that Jim can understand, in the immortal words of Popeye the Sailor, “I yam what I yam.”

          1. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Doc, but Popeye is not the best mentor in the world. There are many things that a person is born with such as color of skin, color of eyes, physical height, male or female etc. But most things in life are matters of choice, such as sexual expression. Even heterosexuals are expected to be discrete in their sexual activities. You might consult with Congressman Wiener of New York or former President Bill Clinton as to why this might be important and prudent (consult a dictionary to see what this word means, I’m sure you’ve never heard it before).

          2. I’m quite prudent, Jim, but I’m also well-educated. You might try some of that.

            So, now it’s all about discretion, not discrimination. I’m glad you’ve changed your mind and support HERO. Welcome aboard!

          3. Discretion makes HERO even harder to support. I can only imagine Doc Bill showing up in the Human Resources Offices of the City of Houston wearing a tee shirt that reads -“I’M QUEER AND I’M HERE,NOW YOU HAVE TO HIRE ME. MY LAWYER’S NUMBER IS 555—etc.. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS”

          5. I know your strategy, Doc, you want to copyright this particular tee shirt, manufacture it and sell it to the millions who are so eager to wear it. You could hire “true homosexuals” for your plant and sales staff, but be very careful of the bisexuals who will apply merely for the job protection.

        2. I would say more like 3% to 5%, Jim. That’s about what the chances were fifty years ago when I was in high school, and none of us kids believed for a minute that Rock Hudson was “queer.” Liberace, yeah….

          But there weren’t any “recruiters” then, and there aren’t any now. Nobody recruited me to be straight – once I noticed girls as anything beyond cootie-infested annoyances at age 13, I decided that was what I liked and lusted after. And I’m quite sure that the same mechanism works for gay people.

          1. Actually the estimate was closer to 10% when the Kinsey report was published more than 50 years ago, then, as you mentioned, it was lowered to 3-5%. Most recently it has been lowered to less than 2%.
            Recruiting is necessary and common in situations where there are not enough volunteers and, where there is more competition to obtain commitment and participation. For example, military recruitment has been going on for many years for obvious reasons. College athletic programs send recruiters into high schools to recruit the best athletes in order to keep their respective college teams competitive.
            When homosexuals strike out at gay bars or other common meeting places, or they just want new and fresh adventure, they go to where the vulnerable, naive youth are and RECRUIT.

          3. Hmmm, I feel left out. I was never recruited by my gay friends or their gay friends. I bathe, I believe I’m personable and attractive yet no one ever tried to persuade me to switch teams or even to join the team I’m on. Now, it might be argued that my wife and earlier, my girlfriends, recruited me but I think they were not concerned with teams but rather an individual partnership.

          4. Military and athletic recruiters know from experience and training what they are looking for. Some of us are the extreme of homophobia, we suffer from homonausea. If a homosexual recruiter comes even in close proximity to us, we might very well puke all over him. He knows then not to try any further.

          5. Jim,
            Don’t worry too much about that. Most gay folks likely find you just as repellant.

            Dan

          6. Thanks, Dan, this is one time I hope you are 100% correct. although I hope it goes beyond MOST to ALL.

    2. Jim. Many people still believe that it was wrong of the government to force businesses to avoid discriminating against racial minorities in hiring for jobs. The argument was: I own this business. No man should be able to tell me what I can and cannot do with it.

      As Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court has said. A person’s right to do whatever they want to with what they own ENDS at the point where it starts denying another person their legitimate rights. Black people and gay people have a fair human right to earn a living just like every other human being on this planet.

      By the way Jim, I do not know if that is your real name or not. If you are an admirer of the Late D. James Kennedy, I would just like to say, as a Christian, that I really do think he was a dominionist pig.

      1. Oh, thanks, I didn’t realize that black people CHOSE to be black, I was always taught that they were BORN that way. The key word in the Ginsburg statement is “legitimate”. Judge Ginsburg is a Jew and the word is out in a few countries and among several million people in the Middle East that Jews don’t even have the right to exist.
        If we compared the number of souls that D. James Kennedy led to eternal salvation with the number that Charles has led, what would that comparison look like?

        1. Wow, Jim you are fount of knowledge! Just how many souls has D. James Kennedy led to eternal salvation?

          1. Bill. All by himself, I think Jesus answered the question about D. James Kennedy and how many souls he saved:

            Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15)

            Every generation has its own Religious Right, Matthew 23 shows how Jesus chose to deal with his own Religious Right vultures in his own time. And they killed him for it too.

          2. No, Jim, I didn’t ask Jesus, I asked you. You made the claim about D. Kennedy and best I can tell it’s just as full of hot air, bluster, nonsense and ignorance as everything else you’ve posted here. Now your flailing and calling on a divine miracle to save you.

            Fact is, Jimbo, you’re a social dinosaur. You’re obsolete. Your mediaeval social values have been updated and refined by the modern world society. Curse the darkness, Jimbo, it’s all you have left.

          3. Charles, the Supreme Court as well as other courts throughout the land have concluded that there is a religious LEFT as well as a religious RIGHT. The scribes and Pharisees and Sadusees are considered to be the Religious Left who were adamantly opposed to Jesus’ efforts to establish the Christian Right.

          5. NOW I’ve gone delusional?? Now? Now?
            My friends told me that long ago when I announced that I was going to try to talk sense into homo lovers.

          6. Doc, in this life there is no way of knowing exactly how many souls D. James Kennedy led to eternal salvation, but it is estimated to be more than five million in more than 200 countries.
            I can’t think of a higher compliment than being categorized with D. James Kennedy. Thank you!!

    3. Ah, the old bait and switch. Very dishonest of you, Jim Kennedy! Do you teach your children that, too?

      Personal choice involves deciding whether to buy a blue t-shirt or a yellow one, whether to order a cheese burger or a bacon cheese burger, chocolate or vanilla, celery or french fries, Ford or Chevy. Those are choices and we teach our children how to evaluate choices and make the best choices, or at least, to live with them.

      Rights are legal boundaries granted by government, not God as many right wingers who flunked civics often bray. Rights are granted by governments. You have the right to vote, granted by the government. You have the right to assemble and to speech unimpeded by the government.

      You do not have the right to be exempt from criticism by your fellow citizens. You do not have the right to shout “Fire” in a movie theater because you feel like shouting “Fire!”

      Here’s another thing. As a business owner, or representing a business, you do not have the right to exclude applicants for a job because of race, creed, religion, gender and a host of other conditions. You don’t have a right to fire an employee because they wear a cross, or don’t wear a cross.

      As a business owner open to the public you do not have the right to refuse service to customers based on race, religion, gender and a host of other things. You do not have the right to give “special discounts” based on the same things.

      None of these rights have been taken away. Name one right, as you call them, Jim Kennedy, that has been taken away.

      How about the right to be a bigot? Is that a right, Jim? How about the right to be a racist? Is that a right, Jim? How about the right to exclude goods and services from people named Jim Kennedy? Is that my right? If I’m the Fire Station Captain and a 911 call comes in from Jim Kennedy, can I tell the crew to “stand down?” Why not? Isn’t that my right to discriminate? Can’t wait to hear your response, Jim.

      1. I still think most people who think homosexuality is a simple choice, like chocolate over strawberry, are bisexual or have strong bisexual urges. I am not saying that Jim does. I am just speaking in broad terms.

        The thing I always try to emphasize to the “choicers” is that true heterosexuals and true homosexuals do not experience any such conflicting urges. Also, as Jesus said, sin begins in the heart and flows outward rather than being on the outside and flowing inward. This means that anyone who experiences homosexual urges, even if they do not act upon them, are viewed by God as being homosexuals. All it takes is a homosexual thought momentarily dancing through the brain, and then you are toast in the Lake of Fire. The choicers who have conflicting internal sexual urges never seem to think of that simple theological fact.

        1. Are you saying that the environment in which a kid grows up has nothing to do with the kind of adult he becomes?
          Are you saying that homosexuality is a disorder of the brain or what is more commonly referred to as a mental disorder?
          Are you saying there is a difference in brain chemistry or brain physiology between a “true” homosexual and a bisexual who is 50-50 or 60-40 or 80-20 or 90-10?
          Jesus also said that confession and repentance must come from the heart in order to have any effect on a person’s choices. But confession and repentance ARE choices.

          1. No Jim. I am saying that people who think homosexuality is a simple choice, like chocolate over strawberry, are probably bisexual themselves because it seems like only a choice in their own lives. People tend to think (wrongly) that what people are feeling and experiencing in their own lives is exactly what every other human being is feeling or experiencing. It ain’t so. True heterosexuals and true homosexuals do not experience this “choiceness” because they are not wired to do it.

          2. Charles, your theory of there not being any choices for “true” homosexuals and “true” heterosexuals is a bit idealistic and would probably have trouble in a court of law.
            The U.S. Senator who received financial aid in college because she claimed to be 1/32nd Native American Indian could testify to this.
            If a person is denied employment by the City of Houston and that person sues and takes the City to court claiming to have had a homosexual affair 20 years ago in college, how far will he or she get?

          3. Jimbo. If you feel (within yourself alone) that you have a choice—like I could go gal or I could go guy—either one seems viable from where I sit. DO NOT make the critical mistake of believing that everyone else is experiencing and feeling the same thing as you. I can assure you they are not. If you feel recruitable, I can assure you that most other people do not feel that. Only bisexuals like Lady Gaga and Elton John feel what you are feeling inside. Speaking for all of us 100 percent heterosexuals and 100 percent homosexuals out here, if you are having any of chose internal “choice” feelings, then you are 50 percent FAG. If that disgusts you, then I would urge you to abide by the 50 percent of you that is heterosexual and feel good in that. The only thing that I would ask is that you avoid the invalid assumption that everything you feel inside of yourself is the same thing that all other people are feeling. I can assure you that it is not.

      2. #1–In America, government was established basically with a twofold purpose — to protect our lives & property and to restrain evil. Our founding fathers had to define the criteria for determining what is or is not evil. Since the vast majority of the founders were of the Christian heritage, they leaned toward Christian standards of good and evil. They made it quite clear that our rights are from God, but God ordained government to PROTECT those rights, NOT DESTROY them.
        #2–Are you saying that you have the right to criticize us bigoted, RR, narrow-minded, Bible-thumping, intolerant Christians, but we don’t have the right to criticize those of you who condone homosexuality and try to force its spread?
        Fire stations and firemen that are funded by all taxpayers is not the same as a private enterprise funded by private funds.
        #3-A person has no choice as to which race he or she is born into; however, other things should not be necessarily protected. For example, if a person comes into my store applying for a job and his creed is “all Jews must die”, or if a known drug user with two DUI’s and a child molestation charge applies for a job driving a bus in my private school, or someone who walks off the street and applies for a job as a masseur in my health studio, or a homosexual activist applies for a job as counselor in a city-sponsored youth camp.
        #4-Special discounts or extra charges are the norm in many businesses from insurance to restaurants to Disney Land. Try getting health or life insurance if you are a smoker or diabetic or have high blood pressure. Try getting insurance on your new Mustang if your 16-year-old son is the principle driver. Try walking into a convenience store in South Chicago with a black kid wearing a hoody and his hands in his pockets.
        #5-Rights lost — How about praying in public, especially the classroom and ball games and Council meetings, Bibles in the classrooms, crosses in National cemeteries, an accurate portrayal of history, science and sociology in our school text books and libraries and the right to withhold funding from a drunken district attorney and the right to choose my associates.

        1. Before I say “blow it out your ass Jim,” just exactly why are you so personally hung up on this homosexuality thing? Are you afraid that someone might try to recruit you—and if they are persuasive enough—you might go?

        2. Jim, I’m glad your posting on this forum that strives to support education in Texas. You are the perfect example of an ignorant, opinionated, bigot that the education system of Texas has obviously failed. You are historically, constitutionally and legally wrong in everything you wrote.

          The great irony is that if you actually lived in the country you profess to desire, that country would be Iran and you would be a persecuted minority living in the streets.

          Because of your lack of education, Jimbo, you have no idea how cushy and lovely your life is.

          1. Doc, you don’t know anything about the extent of my education. You don’t know the name of the University where I teach nor with which department I am affiliated. You don’t know of the books and papers I’ve written.
            It should not surprise you though that I am currently researching and writing about countries where there is freedom of open expression of homosexuality such as Gay Pride parades, job protection etc.
            I have found that in the countries where these freedoms exist, their governments originated with a strong Christian influence. Iran, as you mentioned, is a good example of the opposite, as are other Muslim and Communist countries around the world. In these countries there is very limited freedom like we experience in the “free world” and Christians and homosexuals are commonly persecuted and even executed.
            My purpose in keeping up with the comments of you and others is to give me a better understanding of the mind-set of those who are obsessed with homosexuality, abortion etc., but hate the Christian influence that fought and sacrificed to achieve this status of freedom.
            I am gifted with the ability to bring out the “best” of a person’s thoughts and ideas.
            Thanks for your participation and input.

          2. Don’t worry, Jimbo, I recognize your style. You’re Jack Chick, right?

            I love Big Daddy!

            When are you going to do a series on “Big Daddy Becomes a HERO?”

          3. Doc, my reply may contradict my claims of knowledge and education, but I don’t know who or what Jack Chick and Big Daddy are.
            I have no idea what you are talking about.

          4. Google is not your friend, Jimbo. You might actually learn something there that goes against your bigoted opinions. Stay away from the Google! And Wikipedia, too!