The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) was an innocuous law. The 2014 statute protected 15 different characteristics from discrimination, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Considering nine other Texas cities with more than 100,000 people already have antidiscrimination laws on the books, Houston was late to the party. Tuesday, after an ugly campaign that stoked prejudice and unwarranted fear with outright lies, voters in the state’s largest city voted to repeal the law. The vote wasn’t even close. Proposition 1 was rejected with 62 percent of the vote. Opponents of HERO stopped at nothing to kill the law. They stripped the law of its true meaning and intent. They aired an ad heart-stopping in its content and in its ability to reduce a broad civil rights law to bathroom access.
I’ve had a couple days to digest the defeat of HERO and to process the impact it’s had on me and the broader culture. What I’ve come to realize is that the reason for my anger is that I lived in the Houston suburbs and worked in Houston for a little over 10 years. I’m upset that I spent almost one-fifth of my life in a place so deeply and profoundly prone to hatred and bigotry. I devoted 3722 days of my time on this Earth to a place engrossed in hatred, homophobia, and exclusion…and too deep in self-denial to recognize- much less admit- the truth.
I suppose the one “good” thing to emerge from this sorry saga is that Houston’s bigotry problem has been laid bare for the world to see. No longer can city fathers put forth the propaganda that Houston is a city committed to diversity. No longer can Houston be portrayed in the soft, warm light of tolerance and acceptance. Houston is now (and, truth be told, always has been) The City That Hates ©. It’s a place in which campaigns can be (and are) won through the combination of the inattention of voters and the skillful employment of dishonesty, disinformation, and smear tactics. Hate wins in Houston because voters can’t be bothered to pay attention to what’s happening long enough to recognize the propaganda they’re being spoon-fed.
There is a national conversation on transgender issues thanks in no small part to the very public coming out of Caitlyn Jenner as a transgender woman. But we are learning that far too many people are willing to wallow in ignorance and fear than to open their ears and hearts to those sharing what it means to be transgender. It is not simply a matter of “simply claiming to be a woman that day,” as bigoted opponents claimed in their ugly ad.
Let’s not forget that something more troubling happened than the defeat of a law. The civil rights of a minority — lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Houston — were put up for a popular vote. And they lost big. This defeat is a reminder of how fleeting the euphoria of June 26, 2015, was. That was the day the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had a constitutional right to marry.
Equality- a basic human right- was put to a popular vote in Houston. Voters were allowed to decide who is and isn’t “worthy” of a seat at the table. Equality lost, and though the sheeple of Houston may not recognize or acknowledge this, they did as well.
When the anti-HERO campaign can run a perverted, thoroughly dishonest ad such as “Houston’s Proposition 1 Bathroom Ordinance” without being completely and utterly embarrassed, one understands the deep underlying vein of hatred that festers just below the surface in the Bayou City. To refer to Houston as The City That Hates © should be taken as neither new nor newsworthy. While claiming (accurately, I suspect) to be the most diverse city in the country, there’s long been a bigoted, spiteful White component of the populace which hates and lives in abject fear of those who are different. Those who aren’t White, Conservative, Christian, and heterosexual are viewed as suspect and defined as “less than” and, therefore, less worthy of a seat at the table.
Perhaps the lesson that should be taken from HERO’s defeat is that the quest for LGBT rights (which in a just world would be referred to only as “human rights”) and equality is far from over. Yes, the Supreme Court’s recognition of marriage equality was a landmark moment and shouldn’t be minimized. Millions of Americans are now able to enjoy the same rights and benefits heterosexual married couples have long taken as their due. That’s no small thing, but while it represents a victory in a significant battle, the war is nowhere near over.
“This loss is a wake-up call that despite remarkable progress for LGBT equality, we must never become complacent in the face of injustice,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, chief executive of GLAAD, a national LGBT media advocacy organization. “The vote in Houston shows that LGBT Americans still have a long way to go to secure basic protections and enjoy the same acceptance that others take for granted. The ugly fear-mongering that led to this result does not represent the values of most Americans who believe firmly in fairness.”
Hundreds of cities from coast to coast- even in Texas, never a hotbed of tolerance and acceptance under the best of circumstances- have had ordinances similar to HERO on their books for years with nary a protest. In these places, equality of treatment and opportunity is accepted- and expected- as the norm. That Houston has chosen to be the hateful, bigoted exception illustrates just how little tolerance Houstonians have for those who race, skin color, religious beliefs, and/or sexuality fall outside the “norm.”
Houstonians should, and I suspect will be shown that hatred and bigotry come at a cost. When Indiana passed- and Governor Mike Pence signed- a bill legalizing discrimination against LGBT residents, the backlash was swift and furious. Embarrassed, shamed, and faced with the threat of a significant economic backlash, Pence and the Indiana Legislature backed down. Time will determine if the same thing happens in Houston, but no one who knows anything about Houston could credibly claim to be surprised by the defeat of HERO. The city has for far too long papered over its ugly, hateful side in an effort to present itself as a place where all are welcome to live and do business.
The truth, sadly, is far different from the Chamber of Commerce platitudes and self-congratulatory bluster…and now the entire country is finally able to see Houston for the breeding ground of hatred and bigotry it is. Good luck with that, y’all; remember, karma is the gift that keeps on giving.
