Throughout the Houston campaign, the opposition argued that rejection of the Bathroom Ordinance would result in, among other things, conventions leaving Houston. We as a Republican Party have an opportunity to send a loud and clear message to the radical left by moving our 2016 Republican Party of Texas Convention from Dallas to another city. We should not reward Dallas with our business when its leaders brazenly reject the principles embodied in our 2014 Republican Party of Texas Platform. The Dallas Mayor and City Council sent us a clear message on Tuesday - they do not respect our values. It is now time for us to send a clear message and move the 2016 Convention from Dallas to another city.
I suppose if your “Christian” values include hatred, homophobia, exclusion, and intolerance, then sure, you could argue Dallas probably doesn’t respect those values. Neither do the several hundred other municipalities from coast to coast with various flavors of equal rights ordinances on their books. Houston seems to be about the only city of any appreciable size in which hatred and the right to discriminate against someone on the basis of who they are and who they love is the law.
Woodfill, former chairperson of the Harris County Republican Party, is crowing like the cock of the walk over the defeat of Houston’s Civil Rights Ordinance at the ballot box. That said victory was purchase with lies, deceit, propaganda, and a stunning, world-class absence of integrity seems to distress Woodfill not in the slightest. Any true Christian who made even the slightest effort to live the tenets of their faith would be embarrassed by the conduct of the anti-HERO campaign, whose “NO MEN IN WOMEN’S BATHROOMS!!” campaign was as disingenuous and dishonest and it was unChristian. Instead, they’re high-fiving themselves and congratulating one another on defeating a civil rights ordinance that would have done nothing but put them on par with municipalities nationwide, none of whom have experienced an uptick of disturbed men crashing women’s restrooms look to satisfy their sick urges. Then again, truth is for losers, Liberals, and those who support allowing men in women’s bathrooms, eh?
Woodfill, full of himself and gloating over his side’s glorious and righteous victory, is demanding that the Texas Republican Party pull its 2016 convention out of the Sodom and Gomorrah that is Dallas. The capital of the Metroplex this week actually (GASP!! OH, THE HUMANITY!! WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN???) strengthened protections for the right of transgender individuals. To Woodfill’s way of thinking, tolerance, compassion, and minding your own damned business cannot and must not be allowed to stand.
[T]he Dallas City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to clarify transgender protections that have been in place since 2002. However, opponents are somehow alleging that Dallas passed a new “bathroom ordinance,” as they seek to capitalize on their momentum from Houston by attempting to repeal Dallas’ 13-year-old nondiscrimination ordinance.
It’s likely not much of a stretch to believe the LGBT Community in Dallas would love to see the Texas Republican Party’s hyper-Jesus-y bacchanal convention pulled from their city, seeing as how it promises to be a veritable hootenanny of godly homophobia, hatred, and hyper-religious self-righteousness. Any city that hosts the Texas GOP’s biannual hatefest could only count on seeing their reputation for bigotry and intolerance enhanced. Why would ANY city want to host a collection of Far Right hyperChristian zealots who spend WAY too much time thinking about the private sexual behavior of consenting adults?
In truth, how can any political party which focuses on the private, personal, and consensual behavior of adults be taken as having anything possible to add to the public discourse…about anything? Consider that the 2014 Texas Republican Party platform not only endorsed “ex-gay” therapy, it weighs in on issues of personal sexuality, which is no one’s damned business:
“Homosexuality is a chosen behavior that is contrary to the fundamental unchanging truths that have been ordained by God in the Bible, recognized by our nation’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans.”
The again, this is the same party whose platform also clearly states that “We oppose the teaching of higher order thinking skills, critical thinking, and similar programs.” They’re opposed to independent, creative thinking, but they’re ALL about creating obedient Christian soldiers who vote Republican and are Conservative enough to do what they’re told when they’re told to do it.
Woodfill seems to have deluded himself into thinking that the anti-HERO campaign’s wide margin of victory represents a popular mandate allowing him and his fellow travelers to claim moral superiority:
“We’re opposed to the ordinance, period,” Woodfill said. “I mean the people overwhelmingly rejected it and they’ve already spoken. The question now is do our mayor and our elected officials listen to the people?”
What’s clearly been lost on Woodfill is that while his side may have won, that hardly represents an endorsement of their hatred and homophobia. What Woodfill refuses to recognize, much less acknowledge, is that when you purchase victory with lies, deception, disinformation, and fear-mongering, the questions revolve around what, if anything, you’ve actually won? Victory facilitated by dishonesty and deceit doesn’t represent the majority of voters endorsing your moral position; it’s proof of the power of the Big Lie.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker has made it clear that she’s not going to stand idly by and leave office without attempting to resurrect HERO in some form or fashion. This fight isn’t over, and I firmly believe that in the end, haters like Woodfill will lose. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long and it bends toward justice,” which means it will bend away from those who anchor their Christian faith in hatred, intolerance, and exclusion.
In the meantime, I hope the voters of Houston will be forced to come face to face with the reality that hatred comes with a cost. As businesses and conventions begin to take their dollars elsewhere, The City That Hates © will be left to deal with the consequences of succumbing to propaganda and fear-mongering. Haters never win.
