HERO Repercussions

[KinkaidAlum]

Look for national boycotts to hit the hotel/restaurant and convention business hard. The national backlash to our stupidity will be huge. Much bigger than Indianapolis is facing.

[Montrose1100]

Look for national boycotts to hit the hotel/restaurant and convention business hard. The national backlash to our stupidity will be huge. Much bigger than Indianapolis is facing.

The total results are not in yet. Don't be quick to forget Houston was one of the biggest "support chick-fil-a day" cities.

[intencity77]

Look for national boycotts to hit the hotel/restaurant and convention business hard. The national backlash to our stupidity will be huge. Much bigger than Indianapolis is facing.

Not to mention the upcoming Super Bowl. After this embarrassment, it should rightfully be moved to a more 'progressive' city...El Paso maybe?? Anyway, there's already a growing petition for it. I can only imagine it will gain even more signatures.

[IronTiger]

Well, I can see people trying to take HERO's non win to court because that's always what happens.

[OkieEric]

What a joke.  Those fear-mongering commercials were insulting and infuriating, but apparently highly effective on the masses

 

Thank God something like this can never happen again:

 

http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/2015/11/03/police-man-coaxed-girl-into-having-sex-in-cvs-restroom/75119790/

[august948]

Look for national boycotts to hit the hotel/restaurant and convention business hard. The national backlash to our stupidity will be huge. Much bigger than Indianapolis is facing.

 

They may try, but I would think a boycott would be even less effective than they normally are since it was a voter decision and not a leadership decision.  It's much easier to put pressure on an individual politician than it is to put pressure on the mass of voters who voted it down.

 

If HERO comes up again, and I'm sure it will, proponents better find a good way to counter the men-in-women's-restrooms argument.  That seems to have struck a visceral chord with every woman I've heard discussing it.  I'd be curious to see a breakdown of for/against by gender.

 

[BigFootsSocks]

Well when you look at the spread of who actually voted, it's not surprising. I don't have the numbers right here, but it was around 35% over the age of 65, and around 15% for the 18-39 crowd.

I don't think this outcome represents the majority of the populace, but we just didn't vote. I mean, when it's an odd year election it's always hard to find voters, and when most people are working all day, you can't be surprised when the older-crowd are the ones dictating these things.

The bathroom thing just enrages me. It's not even the point of the freaking ballot, and I would have a lot more respect for the opposition (how much more can you go than none, though?) if they just came out and said "We don't want these same rights for the LGBT citizens" rather than this pseudo "women's rights" spin they put to it.

I mean, honestly, how many pedophiles and rapists are out there that are just so frustrated that they can't go into a women's restroom to satisfy their mentally-I'll sexual desires now, because this law didn't pass? Oh, what's that? They'll continue doing it anyway? They already are? A law being passed or not makes no difference?

Yeah, really, really says a lot about the opposition to this.

[Montrose1100]

Well when you look at the spread of who actually voted, it's not surprising. I don't have the numbers right here, but it was around 35% over the age of 65, and around 15% for the 18-39 crowd.

I don't think this outcome represents the majority of the populace, but we just didn't vote. I mean, when it's an odd year election it's always hard to find voters, and when most people are working all day, you can't be surprised when the older-crowd are the ones dictating these things.

The bathroom thing just enrages me. It's not even the point of the freaking ballot, and I would have a lot more respect for the opposition (how much more can you go than none, though?) if they just came out and said "We don't want these same rights for the LGBT citizens" rather than this pseudo "women's rights" spin they put to it.

I mean, honestly, how many pedophiles and rapists are out there that are just so frustrated that they can't go into a women's restroom to satisfy their mentally-I'll sexual desires now, because this law didn't pass? Oh, what's that? They'll continue doing it anyway? They already are? A law being passed or not makes no difference?

Yeah, really, really says a lot about the opposition to this.

Another note of sadness is most of the people I talk to, friends, old friends, family, facebook friends, strangers... The ones who were opposed to this, were some of the ones who needed it most (Veterans, Minorities, etc.). The same sadness could be applied to people who talk bad about medicare, obamacare, or food stamps. It's sad really.

[gmac]

Is it sad because they disagree with your rock-solid interpretation of what is best for society?

[jgriff]

To get something like Prop 1 passed it will need language added that explicitly prohibits the law from being used to give people who were born as a man access to female locker rooms, bathrooms etc.

[Montrose1100]

Is it sad because they disagree with your rock-solid interpretation of what is best for society?

It is sad because a Veteran would vote against this because of a bathroom scare tactic when they would benefit from being protected by law against discrimination. So yeah, kinda sad.

 

I've seen some extended family members who own small businesses that don't have health insurance (yeah, I know, dumb on their part), try to apply for obamacare to help them when they were diagnosed with cancer. It's sad. I didn't say I was some moral authority over what is right or wrong, but heart crushing sadness. It's called compassion and empathy, not my way or the highway.

[BigFootsSocks]

It's sad when the opposition is fighting it while using nothing more than some bs scare tactic, so yeah, it's pretty sad.

[august948]

It's sad when the opposition is fighting it while using nothing more than some bs scare tactic, so yeah, it's pretty sad.

 

Scare tactics are, unfortuantely, part and parcel of our democratic process.  Remeber the "throw granny off the cliff" ad? 

 

So would HERO allow a law-abiding, transgender man to use a women's restroom or not?

 

[Naviguessor]

^^ It would.  Where should a person who identifies as a woman, wears women's clothing and lives their life as a woman go to the bathroom at NRG Stadium?  The Men's Bathroom?  Really??  Transgender individuals are not very well understood by the general public and are almost universally discriminated against at every turn.  They, more than almost any other class, need some protections. But, they have just been portrayed as child molesters by "Religious Leaders" in our City.  Convince people to be afraid of something, then tell them how to vote.  How very "Christian" this whole disgraceful ordeal as been.  Not just to the GLBT community, but for Houston as a whole. 

 

Huge step backward for us in the eyes of the country.     

[htownproud]

scare tactics like if you don't vote for this, we--fellow citizens in Houston--will actively campaign to convince existing and future jobs and economic opportunities to go elsewhere.  

 

i voted for prop 1, but I am absolutely disgusted at the other proponents that think that trying to ruin Houston economically is the appropriate response to the vote yesterday.  Their shrill reaction does not help advance their cause IMO.  I hope they reconsider, but once the social media has their pitchforks in hand, it is tough to get them to put them down. 

[Slick Vik]

Not a single incident of transgender bathroom assault in any city that's passed an ordinance, 220 and counting

[intencity77]

scare tactics like if you don't vote for this, we--fellow citizens in Houston--will actively campaign to convince existing and future jobs and economic opportunities to go elsewhere.

i voted for prop 1, but I am absolutely disgusted at the other proponents that think that trying to ruin Houston economically is the appropriate response to the vote yesterday. Their shrill reaction does not help advance their cause IMO. I hope they reconsider, but once the social media has their pitchforks in hand, it is tough to get them to put them down.

Sign me up! I'll gladly join the "shrill". Honestly, what IS disgusting is that this issue was open to voters in the first place. Then to only reject it, is a million times more appalling. You can overlook that fun fact all you like but people have the right at this point to fight this how they like, "pitchforks" and all. Even if that means trying to dent the local economy. I say this as a native Houstonian who has lived here all 38 years of my life. Sorry, but the majority of the city's residents should be held responsible for their complete and utter ignorance. Other U.S. states/cities had to pay for their ignorance, Houston should not and will not be immune to that.

[htownproud]

Sign me up! I'll gladly join the "shrill". Honestly, what IS disgusting is that this issue was open to voters in the first place. Then to only reject it, is a million times more appalling. You can overlook that fun fact all you like but people have the right at this point to fight this how they like, "pitchforks" and all. Even if that means trying to dent the local economy. I say this as a native Houstonian who has lived here all 38 years of my life. Sorry, but the majority of the city's residents should be held responsible for their complete and utter ignorance. Other U.S. states/cities had to pay for their ignorance, Houston should not and will not be immune to that.

Based on that diarrhea of the keyboard, it appears you were signed-up to the shrill long before my post.  In any event, rather than insult people that supported the proposition (like me and my contemporaries), and rather than trying to punish the city as a whole, perhaps you should channel that energy into redrafting a proposition that the larger populace will adopt.   

[jgriff]

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

[KinkaidAlum]

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." MLK

 

You either believe in equal rights for all or you do not. You cannot cherrypick who has rights and attack the most vulnerable among us. The transgender community made an easy target because they are completely misunderstood and make up such a small segment of our society that their voices are invisible but their threat was made real. 

 

It makes me sick to see that "Christianity" was behind the defeat. Jesus didn't spend his time on Earth attacking the weakest and demonizing the misunderstood. He walked with them as a brother and friend. 

 

 

 

 

[samagon]

To get something like Prop 1 passed it will need language added that explicitly prohibits the law from being used to give people who were born as a man access to female locker rooms, bathrooms etc.

 

Nah, that's not needed. People need to stop and think about it logically, rather than assuming that anyone who is different than they are is automatically a perverted creep hellbent on taking advantage of little girls.

 

Look at it this way, Bruce Caitlyn Jenner comes to town, do you want her to go in the men's room, or the lady's room to make smelly noises (and maybe wash her hands before she leaves)?

 

I've seen some pictures of Caitlyn, if I didn't know she was once a he, I would think she was just another woman that maybe hit a few branches of the ugly tree. So ask yourself, if you saw a woman that was not pretty, would you rather they walked into the men's room, or lady's room? How about if you saw a dude with the soft features of a woman?

 

There's actually a really strong chance you, and everyone who voted against this prop has already been in the bathroom with someone who identifies as the sex they weren't born as, either the restroom of their born sex, or the sex they identify with, and you never knew because they aren't freaky perverts who want to molest anyone/everyone they see in the restroom. They just want to make smelly noises and leave (maybe wash their hands before they leave) just like everyone else who goes to the bathroom.

 

Chances are though, Caitlyn is never coming to Houston because 66% of the public believes that she's a crazed sex fiend out to prey on little girls in the bathroom, so why should she want to come here?

 

Too bad no one told this guy what the results of the vote was, he probably wouldn't have done anything had he known: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3303985/Police-hunt-man-lured-12-year-old-girl-inside-bathroom-Texas-CVS-raped-her.html

[ADCS]

I'm not terribly concerned. This is just angry social conservatives lashing out, primarily because of Obergefell. It's an off-year election, which is their time to shine (because nothing motivates politically like bigoted hatred and rage). Houston will get some bad PR, you'll see the NFL threaten to pull the Super Bowl, and all of a sudden the city will have found a loophole that lets the ordinance go back into effect.

[mollusk]

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

 

No.

 

Creepy people going into bathrooms to do creepy things is against the law, period, regardless of the creep's gender and whether it matches the bathroom or not.  No city ordinance is going to change that, nor did HERO even try to.

 

I'm just disgusted and ashamed by this whole danged thing, and furious at the panderers who were knowingly throwing out lies just because they don't like being outside of the Leave it to Beaver world that never really existed in the first place.

[KinkaidAlum]

Poor Lance Berkman feels attacked by Mayor Parker. 

 

Hey, I applaud you for standing up for your beliefs, but you launched the attack by appearing in a commercial that will make you go down in history as a complete dumba$$. 

[Dakota79]

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." MLK

You either believe in equal rights for all or you do not. You cannot cherrypick who has rights and attack the most vulnerable among us. The transgender community made an easy target because they are completely misunderstood and make up such a small segment of our society that their voices are invisible but their threat was made real.

It makes me sick to see that "Christianity" was behind the defeat. Jesus didn't spend his time on Earth attacking the weakest and demonizing the misunderstood. He walked with them as a brother and friend.

It's no wonder organized religion is on the downturn. Who wants to go where you are judged every Sunday?

I'd rather just be nice to everome for the sake of making the world better. Really, shouldn't everyone?

[jgriff]

 

 

Creepy people going into bathrooms to do creepy things is against the law, period, regardless of the creep's gender and whether it matches the bathroom or not.  No city ordinance is going to change that, nor did HERO even try to.

 

 

That's not what I asked.

[gmac]

So Dakota, what I read you saying is that everything is ok, be nice to people no matter what you think of them or their actions. Is that an accurate summation?

 

If so, that's fine. I don't know if you're being honest if you say that's how you act, but it's a noble goal.

[Dakota79]

So Dakota, what I read you saying is that everything is ok, be nice to people no matter what you think of them or their actions. Is that an accurate summation?

If so, that's fine. I don't know if you're being honest if you say that's how you act, but it's a noble goal.

It how I roll! I tell my kids and I myself "try" to make my interaction with people the best part of their day. Do I mess up? Yep. But I try.

That's why I don't get all the "hate" that goes round. Seems like a lot of baggage to hate people for their differences. But that's just me

[IronTiger]

Can we have the HERO-related stuff split off in a Way Off Topic thread?

[BigFootsSocks]

I'd argue that things like equal rights for all Houstonians would contribute to a successful city, so I can see how this not-passing makes some companies rethink whether they want to do business in our city.