November 5, 2015 8:05 AM

When victory is purchased by lies, deceit, disinformation, and lack of integrity, what have you won?

Houston, widely lauded as the most diverse city in America, earned a more unfortunate distinction Tuesday when voters struck down the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, a law aimed at protecting a wide range of citizens from discrimination in the workplace, in housing and at public businesses. Religious and hard-right conservative leaders opposed to HERO, as it’s commonly known, rode the wave of unfounded fears they helped provoke to defeat the ordinance at the ballot box, making Houston the only major American city without a non-discrimination ordinance…. Former Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill, who helped spearhead the challenge against HERO, crowed about the victory from a sparsely attended Election Day party at the Marriott on Westheimer. “This was a long battle, it was a long journey just to earn the right to vote,” Woodfill said. “Houston has spoken loudly and clearly that we don’t want women in men’s restrooms.”

The truly sad thing about the defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) isn’t that hate won and love lost. It’s a battle lost, yes, but in the long war, love will win. The haters are on the wrong side of history…all one needs to do is look at the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage to understand where LGBT rights are heading. No, what’s truly sad and depressing about Tuesday’s defeat is that those who opposed HERO and are now crowing to the four winds purchased victory with deception, disinformation, and fear-mongering. Houstonians were swayed by fear and so voted for discrimination. Cheating and dishonesty may have won this battle, but they will not win the war for equality.

The one dominant characteristic of the anti-HERO campaign was the utter lack of integrity with which it conducted itself. “NO MEN IN WOMEN’S BATHROOMS??” Really? There was nothing in the ordinance that would have allowed disturbed unfettered access to women’s bathrooms. It was, is, and will remain a crime for anyone to enter a restroom with the intent to do harm. So why the emphasis on dishonesty, deceit, and disinformation? Perhaps it was because the anti_HERO campaign knew that, in a city as diverse as Houston, sticking to facts was a ticket to a resounding defeat. No, they recognized early on that the only way to defeat HERO was to demonize it, to paint it as something so potentially evil that it could threaten the safety of defenseless women and children. And so that’s exactly what they did.

Evidently, “Texas values” are hatred, homophobia, deceit, and dishonesty. Even the Governor of Texas had no problem with repeating the thoroughly dishonest and disingenuous “NO MEN IN WOMEN’S BATHROOMS!!” propaganda. How very Christian of him.

In the end, they convinced Houstonians, some of the most politically disconnected and disinterested voters in the country, that it wasn’t about equality or equal rights- it was about bathrooms. A reasonable person might look at that and see through the deception and the propaganda, but 62% of those who voted swallowed the propaganda and voted against men in bathrooms…or so they thought. The fact that nothing in HERO would have allowed men in women’s bathrooms mattered not at all to the haters. They weren’t concerned about the truth, because winning wasn’t everything- it was the ONLY thing…and so they lied. And lied. And lied as early and often as they need in order to convince the sheeple to submit.

Josef Goebbels was right: Repeat something enough and it will eventually become the truth. Even something as patently, offensively untrue as the anti-HERO campaign propaganda and fear-mongering. “NO MEN IN WOMEN’S BATHROOMS!” became the rally cry in opposition to something that was never true to begin with.

Wow…mama must be SO proud.

After Houston voters struck down a city ordinance protecting transgender people discrimination, some are calling for an economic boycott of the city — including asking the National Football League to relocate its 2017 Super Bowl originally slated for Houston.

The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, or HERO, was defeated by a wide margin, the Houston Chronicle reports. The ordinance would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and also a wide range of other factors already protected by federal law: sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status.

Writing for Outsports, trans military veteran Brynn Tannehill called the vote ugly, pointing out the ordinance would have prevented discrimination in “jobs, housing, and in places of public accommodations — including hotels, restaurants, and public restrooms.” Virtually every major city in the country has a similar ordinance, except Houston, she writes.

Even more importantly, there’s no evidence of equal rights ordinances in other munincipalities sparking an increased public safety risk concerning public restrooms. That’s a fact, but the anti-HERO campaign knew facts weren’t their friends. They couldn’t win based on facts…and so they defaulted to dishonesty, deception, and a distressingly thorough lack of integrity.

I have but one word for the liars: karma.

I suspect there will be a significant cost to Houston for coming down on the side of hatred, homophobia, and exclusion. There will likely be pressure exerted upon the NFL to relocate the 2017 Super Bowl, and with any luck Houston will face a backlash similar to what Indiana faced earlier this year when it passed a bill legalizing discrimination against the LGBT community. If Houston is going to stand on the side of hate, Houstonians need to face the reality that there will be consequences. They will very likely lose business, conventions may go elsewhere, and sporting events will quite probably look to other cities. Individuals and businesses may decide to boycott Houston, and I’d say more power to them. If the Bayou City is going to support hatred, exclusion, and oppression, why should individuals, organizations, and businesses implicitly endorse that by doing business in Houston?

Opponents ran ads stoking fears that providing basic protections to trans people from discrimination would lead to men following little girls into the bathroom and assaulting them, fears Tannehill compared to the now-infamous Willie Horton ads, which played on the racist fear that African-Americans are somehow sinister.

“Opponents of the bill instead ran false ads claiming that this would allow transgender people to rape and murder people’s wives and daughters. This accusation is completely baseless, and represents a naked attempt to demonize a group of people already being murdered in record numbers,” Tannehill wrote, pointing out a record level of violence of 22 trans women murdered in 2015.

People deserve to know that they’re valued and that their individuality will be respected. Houston just addressed that concern with volume and clarity, essentially telling the LGBT community to go f—k themselves. Those of us who value equality are well within our rights to say the same to Houston…and I hope that will be exactly what happens.

“It’s disappointing that a city that is diverse and inclusive as we are can’t do the right thing — not only the right thing for people, but a good thing for businesses,” said native Houstonian Kim Frederick, who, standing at the bar, watched on TV as the polling numbers plummeted. “I’m embarrassed as a Houstonian. I’m angry as a woman. This city is a majority-minority city, so the fact that [the opposition] has somehow managed to get people to vote against our own rights — that says a lot about the people here. I’m embarrassed at what this is going to look like on the national stage.”

On Twitter, #BoycottHouston was trending within an hour of the final count.

As well it should have. The triumph of hatred, homophobia, deceit, and dishonesty must not be allowed to stand. It may take time, but I truly believe that in the end love will win and those who voted for fear and exclusion will come to regret their vote.

As for the anti-HERO campaign, those of us who believe in karma know that those who trafficked in propaganda, lies, and an epic, almost unfathomable lack of integrity will see this come back to them. Perhaps not today, or tomorrow, but I don’t believe that such evil and dissembling will pass without consequence.

If you’re former Houston Astro Lance Berkman, I hope that you can sleep at night knowing that your laughable lies and dishonesty helped to deny equal protection under the law to all Houstonians. I hope that you can live with participating in the Big Lie that was “NO MEN IN WOMEN’S BATHROOMS!!” When I lived in Houston, I admired and respected your skills and talent displayed on baseball fields all over the country. As a human being, however, you’re beneath contempt.

When all you care about is winning, regardless of the cost, tactics, or dishonesty, what you get is the anti-HERO campaign. I’ve heard and read much about how the pro-HERO crowd is now crying the bitter tears of defeat and selling sour grapes. That smug arrogance and self-superiority may allow the victors to feel better about themselves now, but they’ve won one battle in a war they will ultimately and inevitably lose.

Beyond that, I have only one question: if victory is purchased with lies, deceit, dissembling, and an absence of integrity, what have you really won? It may seem trite, but it’s true; cheaters never win. You may prevail in the short term, but karma will eventually work its magic. I look forward to karma having its day.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 5, 2015 8:05 AM.

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