Houstonians Failed To Get The HERO They Deserve
The eyes of the nation were upon Texas when transphobic fear-mongering overcame common sense.
This election day, I am reminded of why it is often so hard to be proud of my hometown.
Houston, the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor has done so three consecutive times without much controversy. So when a common sense civil rights statute came up for a referendum vote, the rest of the nation did not expect that city’s location in a red Southern state to deter its passage. Yet two-thirds of Houstonians who went to the polls voted no on Proposition 1, referred to by its supporters as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (or HERO).
HERO would have expanded on federal anti-discrimination statutes to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes, explicitly preventing discrimination “in city employment, city services, city contracting practices, housing, public accommodations, and private employment” based on these two new criteria in addition to historically established classes.
A 2015 understanding of equal rights, even in a staunchly red state like Texas would have us believe that this proposition affirms what we already know to be true and right — that non-heterosexual, non-gender-conforming people deserve to be protected against discrimination, and that such protection is incredibly necessary at a time when state and local authorities (not just Kim Davis) are routinely abusing their power to deny these people access to equal marriage, the only federal-level protection that even touches upon sexual orientation or gender identity. However, Tuesday’s results show that our moral direction is one that is easily confounded by transphobia, fear-mongering and reductive language appealing to a sense of “comfort.”
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Anti-HERO organization Campaign for Houston boiled the ordinance down to one incredibly misleading statement: “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms.” That slogan was plastered on signs and co-opted into attack ads funded by Houstonian and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s campaign.
Never mind that civil rights are not up to a popular vote, contingent upon the “comfort” of the majority. Or that cross-dressing men (who aren’t actually transgender) creeping on women in public restrooms isn’t an actual problem.
In Mayor Annise Parker’s words, “That just doesn’t happen.”
One of Campaign for Houston’s own TV attack ads refers to an instance of a transgender woman and convicted sex offender Paul Ray Witherspoon being cited for disorderly conduct in a Dallas hospital bathroom. The ad subsequently referred to Witherspoon as a “man dressed like a woman.”
It reduced the rigorous evaluation process and lifestyle changes mandated by mental health professionals as part of transitioning into Witherspoon simply “feeling that he is now a woman,” as if he could just as easily change his mind in five minutes. And it of course, fails to mention that all Witherspoon did was use the restroom, and that the ticket was later dismissed. The charge, which stemmed entirely from another woman being “frightened” of Witherspoon’s presence is an ugly example of transphobia — and Houston voters, by a large margin fell for it.
There is simply no evidence that men masquerade as women to enter gender-segregated facilities with predatory intent, or that transgender people enter such facilities with the goal of inflicting harm (instead of you know, just using the restroom). You’d see it in the news if it was true. It hasn’t happened in cities that have passed similar anti-discrimination statutes, and Houston specifically has long had a law that bans entering a restroom of the opposite sex with malicious intent. In the worst case scenario, a door isn’t going to stop someone from preying on you.
Houstonians, particuarly millennials want very much to believe that our city is a bipartisan environment committed to progressive values, that it is Texas’s next liberal oasis. But online conversations like this one, revealingly titled “Men Can Soon Go Into Women’s Restrooms” show that we are being overly optimistic.
Tuesday’s defeat is representative of the visceral ignorance and discomfort surrounding transgender people that persists among many Americans despite the past decade’s tremendous gains in homosexuality acceptance. The piecemeal, “state’s rights” approach to broadening civil rights following legalization of same-sex marriage is clearly not working. HERO forced Houston to show its true colors, and non gender-conforming Houstonians will suffer as a result. While this debacle remains a mainline news item, supporters of civil rights expansions must take this opportunity to compel a national conversation. Geography and nebulous notions of “comfort” will continue to determine who has more equal rights than others in the meantime.
Opinion Editor Ashley Yang is clearly a disillusioned Texan. Reach her here, or follow her on Twitter.
