HERO Repercussions

[KinkaidAlum]

The NCAA issued a formal statement stating that it is too late to move the 2016 Final Four from Houston because it takes years to organize, but that all future NCAA sanctioned events will be up for evaluation (translation, Houston, get your act together or we won't be back). 

 

I bet one of the reasons ole Bob took back his $10,000 donation to the NO side is he heard from the folks at Lone Star how that wasn't going to help land future gigs at Reliant. 

[august948]

The NCAA issued a formal statement stating that it is too late to move the 2016 Final Four from Houston because it takes years to organize, but that all future NCAA sanctioned events will be up for evaluation (translation, Houston, get your act together or we won't be back). 

 

There is some upside to that...

 

 

[DrLan34]

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2015/11/houston-tourism-sees-first-impact-after-hero.html

 

As of Nov. 6, Waterman said that he's heard from four "fairly large," citywide customers that are concerned about what HERO's loss means for Houston. These customers could be conventions or events in Houston, and are “thousand-plus” customers, Waterman said, meaning that on their peak nights, more than 1,000 hotels rooms in Houston are booked for the event.

 

"We're not putting a timeline on it, but Houston has to have some sort of equal rights ordinance in place in the next six months to a year," Waterman said.

[BigFootsSocks]

Figured this would happen sooner or later

[samagon]

no timeline, but here's a timeline. ha.

 

yeah, so many people in Houston were excited and all that about how cosmopolitan we are, how diverse, how inviting. 

 

This kind of provides a different narrative. 

[Montrose1100]

no timeline, but here's a timeline. ha.

 

yeah, so many people in Houston were excited and all that about how cosmopolitan we are, how diverse, how inviting. 

 

This kind of provides a different narrative. 

The real wake up call is the lack of voters. Unfortunately a big blame can be placed on my generation.

[august948]

no timeline, but here's a timeline. ha.

 

yeah, so many people in Houston were excited and all that about how cosmopolitan we are, how diverse, how inviting. 

 

This kind of provides a different narrative. 

 

All this says is that we're a little freaked out by the prospect of men in women's restrooms.  And how bone-headed the political leadership around this was to not see this coming.

 

Now that they got a good caning on this, it'll be back in a different form and get passed and we'll move on.

 

[BigFootsSocks]

The real wake up call is the lack of voters. Unfortunately a big blame can be placed on my generation.

I don't know if I would call it blame necessarily though; like I said earlier, it was an odd-year election where the people who are more likely to vote are the ones who are retired or not working. The rest of us have jobs and priorities to attend to.

It's insane that there's no online voting tool set up

[august948]

I don't know if I would call it blame necessarily though; like I said earlier, it was an odd-year election where the people who are more likely to vote are the ones who are retired or not working. The rest of us have jobs and priorities to attend to.

It's insane that there's no online voting tool set up

 

There are jobs and priorities to attend to in even-year elections, too.  Plus there's always early voting.

 

Let's just call it what it is...apathy.

 

[curbur]

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/anti-hero-ringleader-defends-man-sued-for-photographing-women-in-a-bathroom-7908863

 

..of course he would.

 

 

From what it sounds like in interviews, Parker isn't going to go quietly on this issue and let the next mayor handle it. I'm betting that the city council now enacts separate ordinances for employment & housing protections, and pushes off public accommodations until a later time. There will be no bathroom argument to be made, and thus, those that oppose this will have to admit that they don't agree with giving lgbt individuals the same rights they enjoy implicitly by being part of the large majority.

[gmac]

I don't know if I would call it blame necessarily though; like I said earlier, it was an odd-year election where the people who are more likely to vote are the ones who are retired or not working. The rest of us have jobs and priorities to attend to.

It's insane that there's no online voting tool set up

 

I am so sick of hearing this excuse. And that's what it is -- an excuse. If you can't find time to vote with all the options available, that's on you.

[Montrose1100]

I don't know if I would call it blame necessarily though; like I said earlier, it was an odd-year election where the people who are more likely to vote are the ones who are retired or not working. The rest of us have jobs and priorities to attend to.

It's insane that there's no online voting tool set up

The polls are open until 7. There's no excuse. Plus every employer I've had since 18 (retail, restaurant, office), has allowed me to leave early.

Edit: I agree it's insane there isn't an online option but they know people are too lazy to go and vote.

Votes like this and even for mayor should be a top priority.

[towerjunkie]

This was a matter of voter turnout, democrats barely vote during odd year elections and since most republicans are an older segment of people, they vote more frequently and in larger numbers. Republican leaders took the entire matter and flushed it (pun intended) down the toilet by highlighting the "bathroom issue" as a last-resort to try and knock it down, and it worked. 

[mollusk]

There are 31 early voting locations spread across Harris County.  Trust me, if The Director of Domestic Bliss (who it seems manages to get lost in the sock drawer) can find one, so can you.  They are open 7 AM to 7 PM Monday through Saturday, with shorter hours on Sunday.  Anybody can vote at any of those locations.  My experience is that I never have to wait in line when early voting.  

 

You don't vote, you don't get to whinge about the results if they didn't go your way.  Period.

[BigFootsSocks]

There are jobs and priorities to attend to in even-year elections, too. Plus there's always early voting.

Let's just call it what it is...apathy.

I mean, yeah, basically, but there's research that shows odd year elections have the kind of voter turnout that we saw. I mean, there's usually more at stake during even year elections.

[mkultra25]

The polls are open until 7. There's no excuse. Plus every employer I've had since 18 (retail, restaurant, office), has allowed me to leave early.

Edit: I agree it's insane there isn't an online option but they know people are too lazy to go and vote.

Votes like this and even for mayor should be a top priority.

 

I can't remember the last time I actually voted on election day. Early voting is the way to go, and as mollusk pointed out, the polls are open on Saturday during the early voting period. 

 

In addition, employers in Texas (and many other states) are required by law to give employees two consecutive hours off to vote on election day:

 

http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/news/texas-law-mandates-workers-get-time-off-to-vote/

 

It's definitely voter apathy, far more than the logistics of when and where to vote, that drives poor turnout. 

[BigFootsSocks]

Yeah, I agree with the apathy thing, but it was a clear political move to put this on an odd year election cycle.

[ADCS]

People don't vote in off-year elections, because most people don't like politics outside their own areas (such as church, business, etc). That's especially the case in a diverse city of 2.2 million, where many, if not most, people feel like they don't even know their neighbors, much less the people who live 20 miles away. You can blame nonvoters for their apathy, but really, why should they care when it doesn't affect them in more than an abstract way?

 

Most people don't think abstractly - it's what pertains to the here and now that's important. That's a big reason the messaging for No won - because it's easy to visualize some creep marching into women's bathrooms. It's not easy to visualize "people who you don't know, in other cities, are going to look down on you for bigotry, and that'll really come back to bite you in the backside".

[BigFootsSocks]

It's easy to visualize a creep going into a women's bathroom, but that doesn't mean that this law would've made it legal, nor would it have meant that it doesn't happen before this law past.

Apathy may have lost the Proposition, but Ignorance definitely won.

[KinkaidAlum]

Not voting in off year elections, especially at the local level, is why Texas has textbooks touting the African-American "workers" who came to the States instead of calling it the slave trade.

 

When only the old and the freaks vote, we become the City and State most of the civilized world thinks we are...

[august948]

It's easy to visualize a creep going into a women's bathroom, but that doesn't mean that this law would've made it legal, nor would it have meant that it doesn't happen before this law past.

Apathy may have lost the Proposition, but Ignorance definitely won.

 

Ignorance wins most elections.  That's the key to a successful political career.

 

[august948]

People don't vote in off-year elections, because most people don't like politics outside their own areas (such as church, business, etc). That's especially the case in a diverse city of 2.2 million, where many, if not most, people feel like they don't even know their neighbors, much less the people who live 20 miles away. You can blame nonvoters for their apathy, but really, why should they care when it doesn't affect them in more than an abstract way?

 

Most people don't think abstractly - it's what pertains to the here and now that's important. That's a big reason the messaging for No won - because it's easy to visualize some creep marching into women's bathrooms. It's not easy to visualize "people who you don't know, in other cities, are going to look down on you for bigotry, and that'll really come back to bite you in the backside".

 

And also why should they care if conventions or other businesses stay away due to this vote?  Unless their job and income is directly tied to it, or they are going to attend it, conventions and events are at best just something that is happening around town and at worst a big hassle injected into the daily routine.  For instance, If you're a worker bee at an oil company and aren't a basketball fan then the final four is just a pain in the rear.  Folks like that who vote aren't really going to care much about the supposed backlash, which personally I suspect is more posturing (or posing) than anything else.  We'll see, though, if these big events put their money where their mouths are or if they're just playing PC lip service.

[samagon]

All this says is that we're a little freaked out by the prospect of men in women's restrooms.  And how bone-headed the political leadership around this was to not see this coming.

 

Now that they got a good caning on this, it'll be back in a different form and get passed and we'll move on.

 

which is odd, because as of now they're forcing men into the women's restroom.

[sevfiv]

As an aside, I have already heard about three different conferences in my field(s) talking about relocating - two so far can't because of time constraints, but it has definitely set a terrible tone outside of Houston.

[kylejack]

Would Prop 1 have really made it against the law to keep men out of women's bathrooms?

 

That depends on whether or not you consider a transgender woman to be a man.

[kylejack]

On the question of turnout, turnout was actually pretty good this year. Highest since 2003. Youth turnout was really low, but then, it always is.

[curbur]

On the question of turnout, turnout was actually pretty good this year. Highest since 2003. Youth turnout was really low, but then, it always is.

 

Sorry for all the assholes you have to deal with on reddit, granted you're pretty vocal about your opinions. There were too many times the past 2 weeks where you were the lone voice of reason in a thread chain off some user's ridiculous, bigoted tangent.

[august948]

That depends on whether or not you consider a transgender woman to be a man.

 

And that's the million dollar question.  As far as I can tell, the biggest fear (not from the ads but from women I heard discussing this) was that a straight (relatively) man could dress as a woman and enter the women's restroom freely (or worse).  Then, if someone complains or calls security, could claim to be transgender.  How would you know?

 

 

[kylejack]

And that's the million dollar question.  As far as I can tell, the biggest fear (not from the ads but from women I heard discussing this) was that a straight (relatively) man could dress as a woman and enter the women's restroom freely (or worse).  Then, if someone complains or calls security, could claim to be transgender.  How would you know?

Since the 70s it has been illegal to enter the restroom of the opposite sex with the intent of causing a disturbance. Other than that, it's not illegal. For example, there was a woman in the 90s who was at a George Strait show at the Rodeo in Houston. She had to pee and the women's line was ridiculously long so she went in the men's and handled her business. Since she was just handling her business and was not trying to cause a disturbance, she was acquitted by the jury.

I think it would come down to what the person was doing in the restroom. If they are just using the restroom, washing up, and leaving, I do not think it would be a crime. If they were hanging around in there, or peeking over stalls or something, then that is the intent of causing a disturbance and is illegal.

[august948]

Since the 70s it has been illegal to enter the restroom of the opposite sex with the intent of causing a disturbance. Other than that, it's not illegal. For example, there was a woman in the 90s who was at a George Strait show at the Rodeo in Houston. She had to pee and the women's line was ridiculously long so she went in the men's and handled her business. Since she was just handling her business and was not trying to cause a disturbance, she was acquitted by the jury.

I think it would come down to what the person was doing in the restroom. If they are just using the restroom, washing up, and leaving, I do not think it would be a crime. If they were hanging around in there, or peeking over stalls or something, then that is the intent of causing a disturbance and is illegal.

 

I've encountered women in the men's room twice; one was clearly drunk and confused, the other was a similar situation to the above where she needed to go and couldn't wait in the women's line.  From my perspective both cases were mildly amusing at the most and really no big deal.

 

If intent to cause disturbance is the only criteria, then wouldn't this be a non-issue (i.e. not even requiring a special ordinance)?  Based on what you said above, it's already perfectly legal for a transgender man to take care of business in the women's restroom.  Why not then just exclude this issue in HERO and pass the other 99%?  Or is there more to it than that?