LGBT activists in Houston are hoping to take another step for equality. A November 3 referendum would add non discrimination protection for the LGBT community but, as is often the case, the issue has been very divisive for the Texas city.
The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) is being opposed by the conservative Campaign for Houston, which many have accused of resorting to fear mongering tactics in order to drive away support for equal protection.
Campaign for Houston released a video starring former MLB player Lance Berkman on their YouTube channel on Nov.28 in which he says:
“My wife and I have four daughters. Proposition One would allow troubled men, who claim to be women, to enter women’s bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms. It’s better to prevent this danger by closing women’s restrooms to men rather than waiting for a crime to happen. Join me to stop the violation of privacy and discrimination against women.”
This ad is largely characteristic of Campaign for Houston’s tactics but it isn’t backed up by any facts. As MediaMatters reported:
“Asked whether Nevada’s 2011 gender identity law had fueled a rise in sex crimes, Las Vegas Police Department spokesman Jesse Roybal told Media Matters, ‘the answer would be no.’ After the department’s lieutenant for sexual assault ran a check of crimes since 2011, Roybal told Media Matters that the department had not ‘had any incidents involving transgender suspects.'”
Despite lacking evidence to back their claims, the opponents of LGBT equality still pose a threat to the passage of the ordinance. A recent poll conducted by KHOU, a local Houston news station, found that 37 percent of those polled were against the bill, with 43 percent supporting it. This leaves a worrying 18 percent undecided.
This fight follows the U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage across the country as well as the Indiana Religious Freedom Bill, which was called a thinly veiled attempt to discriminate against the LGBT community. The controversy the Indiana law provoked caused the discriminatory language to be largely stripped from the bill.
That’s perhaps the best sign of hope for proponents of equality.
Equality has always been a slow march. Whether it’s black civil rights in the 1960’s, women’s suffrage in the early 20th century or the continuing fight for LGBT rights today. The desire for equality encompasses the best in people; hope, love, the acceptance of change.
No one sums up the unstoppable march of progress like Charlie Chaplin in his 1940’s film, The Great Dictator:
“To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”
Featured image by Ivan Abrego via Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License
