Even before the Houston City Council passed the Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) in May of last year, opponents claimed — without a shred of evidence — that the anti-discrimination measure would allow sexual predators into public restrooms to assault women and children. That cynical and deeply disingenuous claim is the central argument HERO opponents are making in their campaign to repeal the ordinance in the November 3 election. In case you missed it, the Houston Chronicle last week published a sharp editorial that takes what the newspaper calls the “bathroom bogeyman” argument head-on.
None of the states and municipalities that have passed similar anti-discrimination measures, including Minnesota more than 20 years ago, have reported any evidence that sexual predators are using the laws to invade restrooms and harm people, the Chronicle points out:
The fact is, [HERO opponents] are not concerned that men dressing up as women are just waiting for HERO to pass … so they can don skirts, blouses and high heels and assault women and girls in public bathrooms. Their aim is to defeat an ordinance that partially benefits gay and transgendered Houstonians, people whose lives they can’t accept. If they can stir up the general public with scare tactics that border on the absurd, then so be it; they will have saved Houstonians from surrendering to the creeping acceptance of what they believe to be a deviant lifestyle. They ought to be ashamed of themselves, and anyone persuaded by their cynical ploy should be too.
Exactly right. The anti-HERO campaign’s scare tactics are designed simply to protect the ability to discriminate against and harm people simply because of who they are or whom they love. Frankly, the animus HERO opponents demonstrate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people itself argues for why the Houston City Council was right to pass the anti-discrimination ordinance.
Houston was the last major city in Texas to pass a comprehensive ordinance barring discrimination based on a number of characteristics, including race, sex, age, religion, disability, and family, marital and military status, as well as sexual orientation and gender identity. HERO’s passage sent a message that Houstonians value the diversity that has helped make their city one of the world’s most welcoming and dynamic.
Houstonians may come from different backgrounds or have different beliefs, but what’s most important is what they have in common — taking pride in their work, respecting their coworkers and customers, and getting the job done. HERO guarantees that everyone has the opportunity to earn a living, take care of their families, have housing, and be served by businesses and government, without fear of discrimination.
Opponents don’t like that, and they’re willing to lie to voters to kill HERO. We’re confident most Houstonians will be reject such a cynical strategy and vote “YES” in support of HERO on November 3.
Join Houston Unites, the campaign to support HERO.
I see we are a country that has no sense of moral decency. Why people to flaunt their perversion and sin is amazing.
I don’t see how anyone is flaunting “perversion” and “sin” by refusing to accept discrimination from people who don’t like them. But I do wonder why some folks flaunt their dislike and hostility toward their fellow human beings. That amazes me.
How does protecting people from insidious discrimination in day-to-day life constitute flaunting “perversion” and “sin.” Such discrimination is itself a sin. I fail to see how exchanging one sin for another (if that is your perspective) achieves some sort of positive Christian effect?
Please, Amazed, never travel to France where in fine restaurants and department stores there are attendants in the Men’s rooms – usually women – keeping the place nice and tidy and providing clean hand towels.
Please, Amazed, never, never travel to France and stop at a park along the motorway where the restrooms are openly used by men, women and children.
Please, Amazed, don’t even go into your own house where you will find bathrooms used by men, women and children!!
Run, Amazed, they’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!
I had the same experience in Ibiza, Spain. My first night there, I walk into the restroom and see a female janitor, and my first thought is “Oh s#*t, I’m in the wrong room!” But then I saw there was a “male” icon on the door, so I wasn’t in the wrong room after all. The presence of a woman mopping the floor of a men’s restroom while it was being used seemed weird at first, but I can’t say I was too bothered by it.
I live in San Antonio where a nondiscrimination ordinance was passed a couple years ago with the same flare-up of bigotry about “men in dresses” using women’s restrooms, a total misunderstanding of what transgender rights is all about. I contended then, as I do now, that anyone who is over 40 years old and has been using the restrooms at their place of employment, used public restrooms in stores, libraries and sports facilities, has shared unbeknowingly those restrooms countless times with transgender people and… nothing… happened. Nothing. The transgender person in the next stall or using the sink next to you was simply another PERSON in the restroom.
During City Hall hearings prior to the vote on San Antonio’s nondiscrimination ordinance, a representative from the “other side” (religious maniacs) presented a slideshow of how chimpanzees resort to male-on-male homosexuality when the tribe’s females are given birth control pills. The subtext is “Ladies, don’t take the pill or use an IUD because it will make your husband Larry want to hump your BFF’s husband Chester.” And another speaker flashed photos of public restrooms at recognizable places (Alamodome, etc.) to terrify the faithful that those restrooms would become hotbeds of depravity if the nondiscrimination ordinance were passed.
And pass it did. Haven’t read anything in the news about ANYTHING going on in restrooms (other than no.1, no.2, handwashing, and primping, I assume). Sheesh!
It’s craziness John. Just naked lying and craziness—and the sad part—the really, really, really sad part—is all of the Christians who are actually stupid enough to believe this ridiculous propaganda.
I have a transgendered friend. You would not ever think that she was anything but a woman. The only reason that she goes to a woman’s rest room is because she needs to do what you and I would do.
Nobody ever knew about her past and there is no reason under the sun why anyone should.
Religious bigots kill me; they claim to be godly but they are some of the biggest liars on the face of the planet.
In my Sunday school classes when I was a child—no person—not one single person—ever taught me that TELLING LIES FOR JESUS is a good or right thing to do.
The opponents of HERO and that so-called “Pastor Council” should be ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES for engaging in such nakedly deceptive tactics. Considering these LIES, are any of these HERO opponents really any better at all than the many high-profile Christians whose names were on the Ashley Madison membership list?
Where have all the REAL Christians gone—long time passing? Does anyone see the LOVE of Jesus Christ in these people?