A man, no matter how many surgeries he's had or female hormones injected is still a man. To allow a man into women's bathrooms subjects women to safety concerns due to the difference in muscle mass alone.
8
I like the massive response by the defenders of the ordinance in these comments. The same as in comments on recent remarks by the Director of the FBI.
1
This is what you get when you sell yourself short to the government. Rather than distinguish between gay, lesbian and transgender as separate preferences we have created a subculture centered around simply not being traditionally straight. Rather than create tailor made issues we have created a blanket controversy.
8
The opposition to HERO picked a convenient bogeyman in claiming that the ordinance endangered women and children by protecting transgendered individuals as a class. They defeated the ordinance using fear of the unknown or unfamiliar.
Those of us who voted for the ordinance are just as disgusted and heartbroken as everyone else voicing their disappointment. Except that the opposition might be neighbors or former friends. Our city is embarrassed today...
Those of us who voted for the ordinance are just as disgusted and heartbroken as everyone else voicing their disappointment. Except that the opposition might be neighbors or former friends. Our city is embarrassed today...
7
The US is becoming more and more a fascist country, a country of the paranoid and enslaved. But then what do I care? I got out off police state US a long time ago.
1
Recovering Texan: My name says it all. As a fifth generation, native Texan, I took my PhD, skills, and income potential and moved to flourish in a more enlightened place. I go back only to see relatives and friends and visit my alma mater only.
6
New to this and the larger topic. I'm making sure I steer away from far right press, and at times only read left or LLGBT publications, so as to give the benefit of any doubt I may have. What I've learned so far: The LGBT community is no less vitriolic than those outside their community. They understandably want to appeal to the masses for measures (our vote) to ensure equality out of one side of their mouth, while out of the other side of their mouth they say some pretty nasty stuff about straight people. Trannies are trying to put a square peg in a round hole. They may not be the gender they were labeled at birth, but they are not the gender they identify with either. Another thing that straights and T's will not agree on is lifestyle responsibility. A little under 1% of the US population has HIV/Aids. A compilation of studies of Transgenders found that between 11%-25% have HIV/Aids. Why is the T's community arguing about overturning toilet and change room norms when they haven't got the respect and understanding of their community in general?
11
You're calling people trannies and then wondering why they aren't more respectful? Do you even understand the words you are writing?
5
"They may not be the gender they were labeled at birth, but they are not the gender they identify with either."
Are you so arrogant to believe that it's your determination to make?
Are you so arrogant to believe that it's your determination to make?
3
Either we have unisex bathrooms and locker rooms or we separate ourselves based on physical attributes. Everything else is confusing.
8
This is how democracy works. The people have spoken and voted to keep men out of women's spaces. This is an issue that effects 0.3% of the population and not the other 99.7%. Bathrooms have always been divided on the basis of sex not "gender identity" so why are the majority being asked to adjust to a confused minority?Those who are confused can use the gender neutral bathroom or if not available "hold it" until they get home.It's not any more complicated then that.
13
This is not how democracy works. You do not have a vote to determine if certain people get to be equally protected under the law. How would you feel if we had a ballot measure tomorrow to determine if Lindy from Cleveland deserves to be fairly treated in employment, housing, and public accommodation? Would it be democracy if you lost that vote?
11
People living by today's politically correct rules will be considered barbarians by future progressives. And no one knows which way the pendulum will swing next. Ones personal morals shouldn't be determined by what activists, academics and contemporary media say is right and wrong. Thoughtful people aren't sheeple.
5
Cory Booker was asked a few years ago about Chris Christie's proposal to put marriage equality on the ballot for a referendum in New Jersey. Here's his response: "...we should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote subject to the sentiments of the day. No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and sentiments of the majority. This is a fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for. And I get very concerned that we have created a second class citizenship in our state. That's what we have in America right now. We have two classes of citizens. Jackie Robinson said that the right of every American to first class citizenship is the most important issue of our time. Thank God Jackie Robinson---there wasn't a popular vote whether he could join...be a professional baseball player. And so to me, this is INFURIATING...that we are still in the 21st century and we haven't created equality under the law."
Houston, I think we have a problem. And its name is injustice.
Houston, I think we have a problem. And its name is injustice.
14
The right to use the wrong bathroom is not a civil right.
17
The NYT and so many of its commentators miss the big picture here. The country is finally pushing back against a level of Political Correctness that has become extreme and repugnant. Not to mention loopy, condescending and beyond any claim of reason.
For that reason, I am delighted that Houston voters have made this decision.
Most US citizens realize that Houston is NOT condoning discrimination against gays. Maybe even most gays realize this.
But it's a push back against the weird and extreme selfishness of a microscopically small segment of humanity who place their utterly oddball proclivities ahead of any consideration for their neighbors' concerns.
Good for Houston. Academia next.
For that reason, I am delighted that Houston voters have made this decision.
Most US citizens realize that Houston is NOT condoning discrimination against gays. Maybe even most gays realize this.
But it's a push back against the weird and extreme selfishness of a microscopically small segment of humanity who place their utterly oddball proclivities ahead of any consideration for their neighbors' concerns.
Good for Houston. Academia next.
23
"...prohibited bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services for 15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity."
Yet again, an uniformed minority mob uses the tools of our constitutional republic to disenfranchise citizens far greater in number than the numbers of those who actually cast votes in yesterday's election. So in raw number of votes: 181,000 voters decided the fate of 796,000 voters in a city of 2.2 million. If a vote of similar numbers involved spending my tax money or deciding whether or not a piece of land should be a park, perhaps that's OK. But deciding where I live. eat or work based on who am, is not OK.
Yet again, an uniformed minority mob uses the tools of our constitutional republic to disenfranchise citizens far greater in number than the numbers of those who actually cast votes in yesterday's election. So in raw number of votes: 181,000 voters decided the fate of 796,000 voters in a city of 2.2 million. If a vote of similar numbers involved spending my tax money or deciding whether or not a piece of land should be a park, perhaps that's OK. But deciding where I live. eat or work based on who am, is not OK.
3
nope - it was part of an earlier version of the law, and after it was removed the extremist mayor was out there saying it didn't matter that transes weren't included in the law, that they would be covered anyway.
2
What are you complaining about? Is it the fact that too many people you hope would have voted your way were too lazy to go out and vote? Were people on your side physically prevented from getting to their polling places? No? Then accept that your side failed to produce enough votes to achieve the results you desired. By the way, calling people "an uniformed minority mob" because they don't do what you want makes you look intolerant.
7
katieatl- explain to me how opposing a law that tells me I can't do or have something others have because I don't share their sexual preference, their religious tenets or even their political agenda makes me "intolerant?" What you claim I am might be true on a flat earth, not the one we have.
3
The trouble with politically correct values is they are a moving target. What modern day people find acceptable and unacceptable changes over time and not always in a good way. In my youth if I had claimed to be a female and undressed in a women's locker room I would have been arrested. Who's to say what activists and media will tell us is acceptable next. Women being topless? Sex in public? Pedophilia. Different cultures at different times have different values. And one mans progress is another mans sinking into depravity. If there is a God one should follow Gods morals. At least that is consistent.
By today's "progressive" standards anyone living before 1960 is just a bad bad person. It seems a little arrogant and shallow to me.
By today's "progressive" standards anyone living before 1960 is just a bad bad person. It seems a little arrogant and shallow to me.
9
The social conservative obsession with other peoples' bathroom habits reveals quite a bit about the state of political discourse in this nation. Deliberately infantile and regressive.
6
ridiculous. it has nothing to do with be "obsessed" with people's bathroom habits and everything to do with keeping men out of women's bathrooms and vice versa.
11
"The social conservative obsession with other peoples' bathroom habits reveals quite a bit about the state of political discourse in this nation."
Possibly not so much the bathroom issue as long as there are private stall, but much more about the locker room, shower issue at schools or gyms.
Possibly not so much the bathroom issue as long as there are private stall, but much more about the locker room, shower issue at schools or gyms.
8
Again you espouse deliberately ignorant analysis. Transgendered people, properly documented, are legally entitled to the rights and privileges of the gender they determine themselves to be, in states that make such allowances. These are not 'men', and the refrain of your constant refusal to accept that sex does not equal gender is tiresome and bigoted.
5
Houston isn't an example of the conservative south. Houston is 75% minority. In the 2010 census non Hispanic whites totaled 25.6% of the population. The estimate today is that has dropped to around 24% of the population. A political pundit on TV said that exit polling showed that blacks had voted 2 to 1 against the ordinance, and they had voted in larger than usual numbers because of strong black mayoral candidates one of which is in the run offs
11
I don't know the answers to who uses what washroom, so I have always used the stall in a public washroom to carry out my task. This way, I have never worried about who is in there, too. I can't imagine so much of this issue is revolving around things like washrooms when it's pretty obvious that the majority of people in Houston are simply bothered by the differentness of transgender, gay or lesbian folk, likely because they think God regards these human beings as being evil.
Why can't the people who opposed the anti-bias law and repealed it just tell the truth? "We're God fearing, they aren't and they DO NOT DESERVE equal rights with us under any circumstance."
At least then the cards would be out on the table, instead of using the lame washroom excuse to run cover for actual, true, honest-to-God discrimination that these folks want to be legalized.
Houston, BTW, is only the tip of the iceberg. This is why the Constitution was actually written. It was never meant to protect the "majority" thinking. It was clearly written to prevent the majority from expunging others who they don't like from the planet.
These "God fearing" folk need to fear God. Wait until they pass on. Then, they'll see what I mean.
Why can't the people who opposed the anti-bias law and repealed it just tell the truth? "We're God fearing, they aren't and they DO NOT DESERVE equal rights with us under any circumstance."
At least then the cards would be out on the table, instead of using the lame washroom excuse to run cover for actual, true, honest-to-God discrimination that these folks want to be legalized.
Houston, BTW, is only the tip of the iceberg. This is why the Constitution was actually written. It was never meant to protect the "majority" thinking. It was clearly written to prevent the majority from expunging others who they don't like from the planet.
These "God fearing" folk need to fear God. Wait until they pass on. Then, they'll see what I mean.
2
It's got nothing to do with God and everything to do with not wanting to share a bathroom with a person of the opposite sex. But you anti-Christian biogots just go on wallowing in your ignorance.
7
Houston is an awesome city. It is no where near this "God-fearing" wasteland you think of it as. The mayor is openly gay, and we elected her to 3 terms. Where is that happening in a major metro city in Utah? I would bet you that most people in Houston are 100 times as accepting and open to all kinds of people than you, or any of the other members of the über-liberal keyboard warriors bund.
10
The problem is you're assuming a man who thinks he's a woman has the right to use the women's room. I don't believe there's anything about this in the Constitution!
And it has nothing to do with God-fearing folk.
I remember being at a rock concert a few decades ago and a woman went into the men's room and was laughing at all the men. The next day there was a big sign with big letters saying no women in the men's room. I'd rather not have women in the men's room.
And it has nothing to do with God-fearing folk.
I remember being at a rock concert a few decades ago and a woman went into the men's room and was laughing at all the men. The next day there was a big sign with big letters saying no women in the men's room. I'd rather not have women in the men's room.
6
Why is anyone surprised at this? Texas is and always has been, small minded and mean spirited when it comes to accepting any kind of social change that involves a point of view that is different from Mom, the flag, and apple pie.
When my daughter was doing business there, she was always being pleaded with to attend her colleagues’ churches on Sunday. This did not prevent them, she said, from trying to be less than honest with you on Monday. (I’m trying to put it politely here.)
When my daughter was doing business there, she was always being pleaded with to attend her colleagues’ churches on Sunday. This did not prevent them, she said, from trying to be less than honest with you on Monday. (I’m trying to put it politely here.)
1
The LGBT population and all those who care about them ought to boycott Houston avoiding going there, living there, shopping there, doing any business with anyone there, attending anything there, just forget Houston exists.
2
Interesting comments about the LGB cause being hijacked by the T's. I've seen the acronym LGBTQQI, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and interest.
The cause is about to become even more diluted.
The cause is about to become even more diluted.
14
Preventing males from using the women's toilets (and visa versa) is BIAS? Infringing on womens' right to privacy in order to accommodate mentally ill people is discriminatory? What are our priorities, here?
20
Does it surprise anyone that bigotry and racism is alive and, not just well but flourishing in Texas? Throw in every state along the southern rim of the United(?) States from the Atlantic seaboard to the eastern California state line and the scope of the problem is more than a little worrying.
3
there is no bigotry in men using men's bathrooms and women using women's bathrooms. progressives are losing their minds.
12
Get some of your facts about Houston first:
https://wallethub.com/edu/most-diverse-cities/12690/
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/the-14-most-ethnically-diverse-cities-...
https://wallethub.com/edu/most-diverse-cities/12690/
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/the-14-most-ethnically-diverse-cities-...
4
So the Lt. Governor is worried about women being attacked by men? I think his energy would be better spent working on problems like domestic abuse and gun violence than denying citizens access to public washrooms. I could be wrong, but it seems the "grandmoms [...] and daughters" he claims to be protecting have more to fear from Republican policy than from someone in the process of gender transformation.
6
On the contrary, when women lose their legal definition, they lose any protections they have as a class.
8
When we protect the least among us we are doing God's work, so says Christianity. Yet we live in a world where there is ignorance and violent language directed at transgendered people. It is a shame that so many people who seek to live up to Jesus' mandates, made this vote without first walking a mile alongside a person who is transgendered. If they had just listened to their story. I am sure it would have changed their vote and it would have allowed them to live out the beatitudes more fully.
6
I'm sick and tired of the regressive, racist, homophobic, gun-crazed, hate-filled south. If those states really hate the federal government so much, and truly feel that the rest of the country is "socialist" and "liberal" and trying to take their guns away, then let them go be their own country. Anyone who feels more at home with the southern, right-wing world view can then move there. I wouldn't miss any of them one bit. Maybe it is time to have two countries.
6
How does one have constructive dialogue in the face of the hysteria exhibited in owl's comment? While portraying him or herself as über tolerant, he/she indicates that anyone who doesn't share his/her views should move to the South. That's the new liberalism: agree with me or be called names and forced from your home
15
Houston is 43 percent Hispanic, 25 percent white and 23 percent black. It votes heavily Democrat.
8
Doesn't matter what side you're on. It's better for everyone if we can disagree rationally. Thank you katieatl.
7
I don't believe that sexual orientation is necessarily innate, even though some people may have had a different prenatal experience. I think there are a lot of people who might readjust their leanings under circumstances.
I knew a college freshman, age 17, who had his first homosexual experience while very high and in the apartment of a 30 year old man from the university lab where he interned. Before that he had had seemingly good relationships with girls his own age and never seemed interested in same sex sex. Somehow his life fell apart and he ended up dead in his 20s. I don't know exactly how that happened but he was good looking, smart, son of a college professor.
I knew a college freshman, age 17, who had his first homosexual experience while very high and in the apartment of a 30 year old man from the university lab where he interned. Before that he had had seemingly good relationships with girls his own age and never seemed interested in same sex sex. Somehow his life fell apart and he ended up dead in his 20s. I don't know exactly how that happened but he was good looking, smart, son of a college professor.
3
Sexual orientation has nothing to do with gender identity. That is why so many in the LGBT community would love to drop the "T."
5
Dropping the T would definitely be helpful to those of us trying to figure out this whole group of people.
4
The anti-LGBT folks might've found a wedge message which worked for them this time, but they can't block the progress of human rights forever. I think the good people of Houston will vote differently next time, once they have time to reflect on the tactics used to pass this measure, and the resulting backlash against this vote by the rest of the country (especially if they wind up losing their bid to host the Super Bowl)
4
Please... There is zero chance the nfl will yank the super bowl.
2
The pro-HERO folks in Houston outspent their opponents 3-to-1 and lost. "Wealthy investors" in Ohio dropped $25 million to push Issue 3 and they lost. It seems to me that, contrary to liberal orthodoxy, money doesn't buy elections.
15
They should just have unisex bathrooms, as many European countries do. All of the facilities for relieving yourself are in stalls with doors. The wash basins are shared in the common area. Problem solved. Next.
9
I have read a lot of bizarre statements on this comments board. I have lived in Houston for over thirty years, having moved from the East Coast (NY). Houston is a wonderful place, with great museums, opera, ballet, restaurants, and parks. The population is very diverse, and the social relations here are open, welcoming, and friendly. We have had an openly lesbian mayor here for years, and her election and reelections have been by large numbers. Houston is not an anti-gay city. This particular ordinance opened specific questions of the implications of gender definition that some voters found unsettling, it was rejected. Other rights in Houston protecting religion, gender, and race equality, etc., are already on the books at the city, state, and federal level.
Last year alone, 156,000 people moved to Houston, the greatest influx and growth by far of any American city, and growth has averaged 125,000 every year for the last decade. We also have a large population of foreign residents, including foreign students and a good number of the political refugees in America. People are voting with their feet, and not posting little things online that cost them nothing and that show no real knowledge or interest in Houston as a city.
Last year alone, 156,000 people moved to Houston, the greatest influx and growth by far of any American city, and growth has averaged 125,000 every year for the last decade. We also have a large population of foreign residents, including foreign students and a good number of the political refugees in America. People are voting with their feet, and not posting little things online that cost them nothing and that show no real knowledge or interest in Houston as a city.
23
How nice. I am sure Houston is wonderful if you are not gay or don't care about gay people or are actively anti-gay, as a sizable portion of its residents apparently are. Birds of a feather etc. I guess we should be grateful that the good citizens of Houston are making their anti-gay beliefs known, so as to protect any more naive, trusting gay people from moving there.
2
Houston just voted to strip gay and transgender residents of equal civil rights protection. On what planet is that nothing but "anti-gay"? Do you even know what you voted for?
While enforcement had been suspended pending litigation, it was nevertheless illegal yesterday to fire a person for being gay or evict a person for being transgender. Now it is legal to fire or evict or deny service to LGBT people. Talk up how wonderful you're city is all you want, but your wonderful city just voted for the right to discriminate against LGBT people. That isn't very wonderful.
While enforcement had been suspended pending litigation, it was nevertheless illegal yesterday to fire a person for being gay or evict a person for being transgender. Now it is legal to fire or evict or deny service to LGBT people. Talk up how wonderful you're city is all you want, but your wonderful city just voted for the right to discriminate against LGBT people. That isn't very wonderful.
5
We're talking about men in the women's room for crying out loud. We're talking bathrooms and locker rooms. No one is denying anyone's "right to use a public bathroom." Please, let's have some perspective. The problem is discrimination in housing, jobs and such.
Hey, maybe we should outlaw ladies' night at the bars. Why should they get a break on the price. We're all equal, right? And discounts for senior citizens. We can get rid of that, too. Yes, make everyone equal!
Hey, maybe we should outlaw ladies' night at the bars. Why should they get a break on the price. We're all equal, right? And discounts for senior citizens. We can get rid of that, too. Yes, make everyone equal!
5
I see a huge and irreconcilable conflict in the transgender/queer movement and the gay movement.
To the first, the transgender movement, sexuality and gender are social constructs, but the entire gay movement was built its foundation the fact that sexuality is rooted in biology and cannot be affected by society- one is born with it.
So, something is going on...
To the first, the transgender movement, sexuality and gender are social constructs, but the entire gay movement was built its foundation the fact that sexuality is rooted in biology and cannot be affected by society- one is born with it.
So, something is going on...
14
There is little doubt that gender dysphoria is rooted in embryonic brain development. It's no more of a choice than homosexuality or lesbianism. However, the fact remains that restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms are traditionally segregated by biological sex. Homosexual males are allowed in men's restrooms but not women's restrooms because they are biological males. Males diagnosed with gender dysphoria are not allowed in women's restroom for the same reason; they are biologically male, not female. Lesbian women are allowed in women's restrooms because they are biological female, but women who suffer from gender dysphoria are not allowed in men's restrooms because they are biologically female, not male.
8
Once again there was a small voter turnout. This wasn't the majority of the people voting, just the loudest. It always amazes me how few people vote, shameful.
6
theres a lot to be said for mandatory voting
4
They are patiently waiting for normalcy to present on the ballot.
5
So true. I think there were more people at the resurrected Houston Shipley's Donuts than at any of the polling places in Houston.
2
Why do we even have segregated rest rooms? We don't have separate rest rooms for "white" and "colored." It's outrageous that in this day and age we have segregation by sex. And don't tell me we can't have "mixing" between the sexes. That's what they said about mixing between the races. There should be no official recognition of sex as a demographic distinction, not in rest rooms, not in jobs, not in the military, not in sports. "Gender" (sex) is just a social construct.
So because you personally don't see the logic the rest of us normal people have to live under your twisted regime? Sorry.
23
Sex is an immutable characteristic and a biological fact.
5
Sex is not a social construct. It is a biological reality. The reproductive categories of male and female (sex) is how babies are made. Sex is also how women (females) have been and continue to be oppressed the world over for thousands of years. Segregation by sex is for the safety of females against male predation and violence, still the biggest social ill of all time.
8
Voting to take away people's rights. That's pretty disgraceful. How about we put Houstonians' rights to a vote?
2
You should not have the right to dress up as a woman and use a woman's bathroom. Sorry.
21
@ Tpierre Your 'opinion' is deliberately uninformed and bigoted. I find your fascination with other folks' bathroom habits insightful.
5
maty it's got nothing to do with me. Just because you think you're morally superior to every other person who thinks differenty than you, doesn't make you right. People are either objectively male or female. You can play dress-up, but that doesn't in fact make you what you are pretending to be.
7
A lot of people are saying bathrooms were not included in Houston's HERO ordinance, and it is true that there was no single passage spcifically allowing transvestites to use the restroom of their choice. However, Paragraph 2 of the ordinance specifically included gender identity, and paragraph 5 included "public accommodations." Jared Woodfill and his colleagues didn't make a huge, Trump style, leap in inferring that it would allow men dressed as women to use the ladies room. It's really not hard, if you read the ordinance, to see where that's coming from.
.
I really do hope they rework the ordinance, include a passage specifically prohibiting men from using women's restrooms (even if it is elsewhere in City code and State Law, it doesn't hurt to mention it here), and perhaps add sexual assault victims to the list of protected groups in Paragraph 2 - when anyone asks, thank Mr. Woodfill for bringing it up. ;-)
.
If they do this, I am convinced HERO will pass. They will have removed the ordinance's opponents' biggest weapon. They'll be left sputtering "bbbbut it's just a rehash of existing laws, and amd, we do t wanna!" Losing tactics.
.
I really do hope they rework the ordinance, include a passage specifically prohibiting men from using women's restrooms (even if it is elsewhere in City code and State Law, it doesn't hurt to mention it here), and perhaps add sexual assault victims to the list of protected groups in Paragraph 2 - when anyone asks, thank Mr. Woodfill for bringing it up. ;-)
.
If they do this, I am convinced HERO will pass. They will have removed the ordinance's opponents' biggest weapon. They'll be left sputtering "bbbbut it's just a rehash of existing laws, and amd, we do t wanna!" Losing tactics.
6
The original draft of the HERO ordinance stated that “It shall be unlawful for any place of public accommodation or any employee or agent thereof to deny any person entry to any restroom, shower room, or similar facility if that facility is consistent with and appropriate to that person’s expression of gender identity.” This section was removed before the ordinance was passed by the Houston City Council, but Mayor Parker sent a tweet that called into question the significance of the change: “To my trans sisters/brothers: you’re still fully protected in Equal Rights Ordinance. We’re simply removing language that singled you out.” So there is no doubt that the ordinance would have been used to prosecute businesses, schools, and colleges that attempted to segregate restroom facilities by biological sex. Title IX, which protects female students from discrimination, contains a clause that states nothing within the statue prohibits colleges from "maintaining separate living facilities for the different sexes.” Similar language should have been included in the HERO ordinance stating that it would not prohibit the segregation of restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms by biological sex.
11
I've been to a gay bar in Tennessee where there were transgender people and went to the bathroom and one of them walked in, did her thing in a stall and we talked at the sink while washing our hands. The first time did take me by surprise, but afterwards I thought; this would not bother me if it happened after several instances. There was no lewd behavior, she was just another woman using the bathroom which had nothing to do with me and neither do her choices in her lifestyle. People need to get over this and grow up.
6
That "woman" was a man, in a dress. He was not a woman.
9
I live in a conservative city in Western Michigan that yesterday voted for a mayor whose religious faith will not permit her to support an equal rights ordinance to protect citizens identifying as LGBT. The incumbent mayor who does support equal rights lost by roughly 100 votes. Though disappointed, I was not surprised because I have spoken with a fair number of people who consider LGBT's as making a choice to go, quite literally, the devil's way. Around here, some people actually say, "It's either Jesus or the devil."
As an additional data point on the city's conservative bent, I will mention that my polling place is actually in a church hall that has a number of clearly Christian inspirational messages written on the walls surrounding the voting booths. Our city apparently never got the memo on separation of church and state. Indeed, church and state often seem like conjoined twins where I live.
As an additional data point on the city's conservative bent, I will mention that my polling place is actually in a church hall that has a number of clearly Christian inspirational messages written on the walls surrounding the voting booths. Our city apparently never got the memo on separation of church and state. Indeed, church and state often seem like conjoined twins where I live.
3
You must feel so put upon. It was Christians and Deists that came up with the separation of church and state. Most of the freedoms you enjoy came about through Christian thinking. Look at Islam! People living under that religion are forced to follow a legalistic rule book that is totally oppressive. Count your blessings!
2
Maybe this should be taken at face value for what it is - a vote against multi gender restrooms. Multi gender WCs can work. For example, office buildings in Europe frequently have WCs that are single user and kept clean. However, the US most commonly has large multi user restrooms with little privacy. And where small restaurants have multi gender restrooms, they're a mess. On a recent night out, I used one - my remark was yuck, much dirtier than usual. My male companion said - no, much cleaner than usual. Enough said.
11
Even if everyone was blind, and neutered, and we had mandatory unisex bathrooms -- the reason for not wanting men is simple. They are filthy in their bathroom habits. A men's room is disgusting. Ask any woman who has had to clean one up.
5
The "right" wing and the church are doing everything they can to promote prejudice and intolerance. The Trans community makes up 0.2% of the population. I bet these people have never even seen let alone met a Trans person yet...they are coming for you and you little dog too!!!
Put up or shut up NFL. Find a new host city.
This is about denying equal rights to gays and lesbians. It has little to do Trans people or bathrooms. It's a red herring.
Put up or shut up NFL. Find a new host city.
This is about denying equal rights to gays and lesbians. It has little to do Trans people or bathrooms. It's a red herring.
3
0% chance the NFL will cancel a superbowl because transes can't use sex-inappropriate bathrooms.
15
Stop conflating trans with gays and lesbians. They are nothing alike, and don't even have the same interests. 80% of gender-questioning children grow up to be gay and lesbians, and the trans community is telling them "no, you are straight, just with the wrong body. Oh and sterilize yourself with GnRH agonists/estrogen cocktail so you can't change your mind later."
Who is homophobic in this scenario? Please.
Who is homophobic in this scenario? Please.
9
That is not a view held by 99.999% of the transgender community. Hyperbole doesn't advance the conversation.
1
I'm shocked that the "No Men in Women's Bathrooms" tactic actually created such a frenzy. If a man really intended to commit sexual assault in a women's bathroom, he would probably do so regardless of any regulations regarding who can and can't enter the bathroom. That's a separate issue that has NOTHING to do with transgender people.
6
The LGBT community is a diverse community not a monolith. I think too much was bunched up into one ball in the initiative. This allowed the same uneducated and the informational addled Tea Party types to "get it twisted"..yet again. No surprises there.
Gay and Lesbian issues are different than those who are transgender. I'm gay, and my best friend from years ago is Lesbian. We've had conversations about the topic of transsexuals. We both don't understand it or relate. What we can relate to is the discriminatory aspects of being different. Myself and my friend both reckoned that as people don't understand us, we don't understand them.
With that in mind, I think there needs to be a new sensibility about all matters dealing with the LGBT community. I'll never know what it's like to be turned down for a job or housing because I'm transgender. In fact, I think people don't mind gay people "bringing up the neighborhood". I empathize with the transgender community struggles....but gay and lesbian struggles are a given shade of the "rainbow". (I've never worn a rainbow, nor do I have a rainbow flag).
it was a mistake putting everyone under the same umbrella and I don't believe the ensuing vote would serve even as an accurate poll on equal rights for gay and lesbians vs. transgender people. There is a difference and I can attest that as a gay man, I do not fully understand the transexual experience. I do understand a well meaning ordinance but flawed in execution.
Gay and Lesbian issues are different than those who are transgender. I'm gay, and my best friend from years ago is Lesbian. We've had conversations about the topic of transsexuals. We both don't understand it or relate. What we can relate to is the discriminatory aspects of being different. Myself and my friend both reckoned that as people don't understand us, we don't understand them.
With that in mind, I think there needs to be a new sensibility about all matters dealing with the LGBT community. I'll never know what it's like to be turned down for a job or housing because I'm transgender. In fact, I think people don't mind gay people "bringing up the neighborhood". I empathize with the transgender community struggles....but gay and lesbian struggles are a given shade of the "rainbow". (I've never worn a rainbow, nor do I have a rainbow flag).
it was a mistake putting everyone under the same umbrella and I don't believe the ensuing vote would serve even as an accurate poll on equal rights for gay and lesbians vs. transgender people. There is a difference and I can attest that as a gay man, I do not fully understand the transexual experience. I do understand a well meaning ordinance but flawed in execution.
3
Everyone deserves respect and equal treatment under the law.
3
Who would be surprised - its texas after all - one of the states that should have never been allowed back into the union.
5
For all of you sheeple calling Houstonians bigots, how quickly you forget that we are the largest city to elect an openly gay mayor... And reelected her twice! Houston is also the same city who elected the Obamination in 2008. We have an extremely diverse population and the people have spoken. Now go back to your tiny little cities and leave us alone
18
The people voted to strip civil rights protections from a minority group. If you're proud of that, then your values are so warped that I'm at a loss for words.
1
The reason this is an issue is that we have gendered bathrooms at all. There is no reason for it, aside from the infantile thought that people's naked bodies and functions are "impure/immoral/icky."
To those who think there will be sexual assault issues, I'll point you to India and many muslim countries where sexes are kept *more* separate than in our country, and there are way WAY more sexual assaults in those cultures than in ours.
It's time to GROW UP.
To those who think there will be sexual assault issues, I'll point you to India and many muslim countries where sexes are kept *more* separate than in our country, and there are way WAY more sexual assaults in those cultures than in ours.
It's time to GROW UP.
3
Grow up? Is it grown up to tell women that fake breasts and a dress makes you a woman? That women have "lady brain" so when men feel they have "lady brain" too (whatever that means) they get to invade women's spaces and identities? You seriously think that sounds sane and mature?
Your problem is that you think progressives all think the same way about everything. They don't. Some of us (and yes I am fiercely progressive) actually think chipping away at women's identities is extremely dangerous.
And if you think men are so safe, why are you upset that transwomen have to use the bathroom with them? I mean, someone could beat up a transwomen outside the bathroom too. Or are you admitting that a bathroom is a particularly vulnerable place?
You can't have it both ways.
Your problem is that you think progressives all think the same way about everything. They don't. Some of us (and yes I am fiercely progressive) actually think chipping away at women's identities is extremely dangerous.
And if you think men are so safe, why are you upset that transwomen have to use the bathroom with them? I mean, someone could beat up a transwomen outside the bathroom too. Or are you admitting that a bathroom is a particularly vulnerable place?
You can't have it both ways.
5
When are we going to stop demonizing the 90% of Americans who are not homosexual? Equal and legal rights are a good idea for everyone. But the media's continual assault on people of Faith who built this country was bound to create a reaction against "mainstreaming" cultural imperatives that are an affront to the religious beliefs of most Americans. So now are you comfortable sending your pre teen son on an camping trip with the Boy Scouts led by a homosexual leader? This trend of jamming an alternative lifestyle down the throats of the vast majority of Americans will only lead to more "stealth" discrimination. Three cheers for the people of Houston.
12
try like 98%
12
This country was founded on the basis of freedom of religion, freedom from the government's imposition of religion, and freedom from majority trampling of minority rights. Read the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights!
1
The erosion of our Boy Scouts of America by this process will not prevail. There are reformists waiting and a cleansing may occur once Bill Gates decides he has done enough damage to the premier youth organization. "A scout is reverent."
2
Though I am all for Gay and Lesbian rights, I am tired of it in my face. I have no problem with someone else's sexual preference as I am sure they don't care about mine. They should have the right as every American has to live their life they way they want and with all the benefits the rest of us have legally.
Some of us however, do take offense to seeing their sexual way of life now becoming more and more prevalent within the media and entertainment. Perhaps my heterosexual way of life offends them. Kind of like being forced to stare into a light bulb. Though I do approve of equal rights for everyone, I am growing weary of this issue and truly wish it was settled. The more the media flaunts this issue and beats it to death, the more you may loose what ever supporters you may have. I apologize if my opinion offends, it is not my intent.
Some of us however, do take offense to seeing their sexual way of life now becoming more and more prevalent within the media and entertainment. Perhaps my heterosexual way of life offends them. Kind of like being forced to stare into a light bulb. Though I do approve of equal rights for everyone, I am growing weary of this issue and truly wish it was settled. The more the media flaunts this issue and beats it to death, the more you may loose what ever supporters you may have. I apologize if my opinion offends, it is not my intent.
13
Why apologize? Do you feel guilty for being sexually normal?
I believe in "live and let live". But gays won't let a cake vender have a business if it doesn't agree with their religious dogma. It's gays who won't "let live" not straights!
I believe in "live and let live". But gays won't let a cake vender have a business if it doesn't agree with their religious dogma. It's gays who won't "let live" not straights!
3
Does everyone in Texas go through a genitalia check at the public bathroom door? How on earth do you know whether the person in the stall next to you has the "right" genitalia -- and, moreover, why on earth would you care?!
4
I personally don't want to live in a society that lies to mentally disturbed transgendered people and indulges their fantasies. Just on the basis of objective truth, that men are men and women are women, I support what the voters did.
14
Of course not. You'd rather live in a society that lies to YOU and indulges the notion that you live in a free, equal and accommodating fantasy, and that you shall remain free from anything that offends your sensibilities. Good luck with that.
1
Please, do tell me how you are going to discover this "objective truth"?
1
Why are some of us choosing to assign bathrooms by gender identity instead of physical/anatomical appearance? It makes no sense. Whichever sex you take the physical appearance of is the bathroom you use. It's not about you as an individual, it's about everyone collectively. PC culture looks at things from the wrong perspective. They try to please everyone individually and the net result is everyone ends up miserable and every situation is made untenable.
As far as the referendum, it sounds like, in many respects, a necessary comprehensive equal rights ordinance got overturned over a wedge issue. If that's the case, shame on all of them. One for including it, the other for shooting down everything else over it if that's what happened. The bathroom issue is completely absurd.
As far as the referendum, it sounds like, in many respects, a necessary comprehensive equal rights ordinance got overturned over a wedge issue. If that's the case, shame on all of them. One for including it, the other for shooting down everything else over it if that's what happened. The bathroom issue is completely absurd.
1
You've almost certainly shared a public restroom with a trans man at some point in your life. He peed, likely with a vagina (reassignment surgery among trans men is pretty uncommon), then washed his hands and left. It didn't make you miserable, and the situation wasn't untenable. But plenty of people here seem to think he should be forced to go into the women's room, despite an obvious masculine appearance including a bearded face, and not expect any sort of conflict.
3
There are two Houstons. The one of progress, trust, and a deep celebration of individuality, and one that's reactive and fearful--bigoted and deeply divided by haves and have nots.
Sadly the wrong Houston showed up in numbers at the polls tonight.
Sadly the wrong Houston showed up in numbers at the polls tonight.
2
What this really says is " No women in men's boardrooms". So ladies, if you would be so kind, get yourselves an apron and a frying pan and return to the kitchen where you belong. It is very upsetting to see ladies in pantsuits pretending to be men in Texas.
1
Wait, seriously? Not allowing men in women's restrooms is the same as sending women back into the kitchen barefoot and pregnant? Progressives are losing their minds.
19
TPierre Changstien:
No, they just keep recycling the same old arguments regardless of the situation. No one is better at it than Hillary Clinton, who turned Bernie Sander's comment on gun advocates shouting into a "sexist" comment.
No, they just keep recycling the same old arguments regardless of the situation. No one is better at it than Hillary Clinton, who turned Bernie Sander's comment on gun advocates shouting into a "sexist" comment.
11
Common sense prevails in Houston as liberals all of America have hissy fits.
13
It is wasn't for the provision that would permit men masquerading as women to use women's facilities this might have won.
8
I can just hear the sound of thousands of "can you please cancel my reservation." Let's see where this clear vote of bigotry gets you, Houston.
2
Yeah, Houston is so homophobic with their lesbian mayor and stuff.
Wake up. This is about the T hijacking LGB, women, and other minorities. No other group tries to gain rights by taking others' rights away.
Wake up. This is about the T hijacking LGB, women, and other minorities. No other group tries to gain rights by taking others' rights away.
7
Nobody should be discriminated against for any reason.
But making people with male genitalia (we used to call these people men) use the men's room and people with women's genitalia (we used to call these people women) use the women's room is not discrimination.
But making people with male genitalia (we used to call these people men) use the men's room and people with women's genitalia (we used to call these people women) use the women's room is not discrimination.
16
Liberals wake up! Houston has shown that political correctness has been thrown "down the toilet". Ohioans were thoroughly disgusted that the marijuana trade would be controlled by 10 mega democrat donors. There's hope for our country yet!
9
I always found it odd that in every home in America, bathrooms are for both sexes, yet as soon as they leave their front door. the same thing becomes a fight to the death political issue that separation must be absolute.
1
Kevin, do you group complete strangers in the same category as family? Yes, at home amongst family and friends we share the same intimate spaces such as bathrooms. However, even at home my boys and girls don't bathe, shower and get changed together after toddlerhood.
14
Kevin does this supposed contradiction really confuse you?
12
Why do you find that odd? Once children are toilet trained and can bathe themselves they do that privately. I also have never seen any member of my family bathe, shower or use the toilet with the door open.These things are always done privately and certainly not in the presence of parents or siblings of the opposite sex.
4
It is a disgrace the law failed; our LGBT brother and sisters need our support. However, it's not that hard to see why the "bathroom" clause bothers people. To be crude, if a man identifies as a woman, she should have the man parts removed.
2
Not approving equal rights for all because of transgender bathroom use is like not freeing the slaves because some may urinate in the streets. Have we lost all perspective?
1
This is what happens when 73.1% of eligible voters do not vote.
Gay rights were suppressed in Houston by only 1 in 6 of eligible voters voting against the anti-discrimination ordinance.
Gay rights were suppressed in Houston by only 1 in 6 of eligible voters voting against the anti-discrimination ordinance.
5
Don't believe everything you read. More people were just mad about Mayor "Do Nothing" Parker and her myopic focus on the cause of gender self identifiers in the face of failing infrastructure, inadequate police protection, and seemingly ever rising taxes. Most people here are way more pissed off at her for not doing her job effectively over the last 6 years than bigoted. Once the air clears and after this Mayor leaves office early next year, you'll see our fine city council enact a "T-minus" equal rights ordinance with unanimous support.
6
This had nothing to do with gay rights. Transadvocacy has nothing to do with gay rights.
9
Typical hair-on-fire GOP rhetoric. Make up lies, say them often and loud and people believe them. I mean, come on, men dressed as women coming into a bathroom to harm children? First of all, how many mothers allow their children to go into bathrooms alone?
3
Missing from this article were the actual results of the voting in Houston. Was it not in the range of 62% vs. 38%?
5
Read the second paragraph.
Elsewhere in the Times, we read about how the radical Obama administration is telling school districts that males have a right to shower with females simply by declaring that they are "transgender". In a world with that kind of topsy-turvy morality and values, thank God Houston defeated the Men in Women's Bathrooms ordinance. When the radical left and the homosexual lobby push their agenda too far, there will be backlash, and deservedly so. God loves his homosexual children, but does not call upon us to approve of their behavior.
16
I've even see how conservatives now want to give women the old transvaginal ultrasound treatment "for their own good", arrest women who have miscarried, jailed them, and want medical records of women who donated fetal tissue, including getting their names and address. what is the world coming to.
3
This is all pretty simple. In local politics, people care about fixing the potholes, they care about safety, good schools, and making sure the trash is picked up on time. This stuff just isn't on anyone's top 10 list, except for the far left identity politics types. Mayor de Blasio may want to take note.
13
Spot on. This was much less a referendum on equal rights than it was on a Mayor whose myopic focus on the singular cause of gender self identifiers largely blinded her to the public's growing frustration with crumbling infrastructure, rising taxes, and a police force increasingly unable to adequately protect the citizenry. People here are just tired of her six years of talking about things while the quality of our neighborhoods continues to decline.
14
Civil Rights shouldn't be put up to a vote. If the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been voted on by the American people, it would have lost. Federal legislation needs to be enacted.
4
There is no civil right for men dressed as women to use women's bathrooms.
15
If this provision was rejected by 61% of Houston voters, it isn't just the social conservatives opposing this. The rejection of this bill was very broad based: if, at the height of the LGBT movement, its supporters could not muster more than 39% to support such legislation then this may not have been the right bill.
9
Not all LGB people support Ts being included in the same group. The Ts and the national LGBT "leaders" need to acknowledge this.
Not surprised this failed, not at all
Not surprised this failed, not at all
13
Momus you are spot on. When lesbians are called "homophobic" for not wanting to date transwomen, you know there is a major problem.
5
The chickens are coming home to roost for the progressive left. It is ironic to say the least that after years of alarmist rape rhetoric, that same hysteria has been used to kill an equal rights law.
8
Time to boycott Houston for any business conventions, vacations, etc., for voting for bigotry and intolerance stemming as always from ignorance.
3
Should we be worrying about the inevitable refugee crisis here in New England as LGBT migrants flee the South and flood our borders? No, of course not. Please come North, we welcome you!
3
The measure lost overwhelmingly 61 to 39.
8
The city will lose tourism because men can't use women's bathrooms?
Ha!
Ha!
5
I've never had much of a desire to go to Houston (or anywhere in Texas for that matter), but your comment just made me think maybe I ought to schedule a trip in support!
1
In rejecting the anti discrimination ordinance,voters in Houston may be sending a message to the rest of the nation, and it is one that, if you r a conservative Republican, is a positive one. Likewise for the ex sheriff in SF who was elected on an anti sanctuary city plank: "Estamos hasta la corinna con el pensamiento unico!(We r fed up with political correctness)!" The hypocrisy promoted by many self designated victims' groups is that once they were in the catbird seat, they exhibited the same degree of intolerance towards others that they claimed they had been subject to.
11
It sounds like both sides both in Houston and around the country are reacting excessively to all this. Opponents rail about the safety of bathrooms and the advocates see a city full of hate. Simmer down. Talk civilly to each other. We can all get along.
3
I don't know if would have made any difference, but the Department of Education did the HERO cause no favors by coming out with their crazy Illinois locker room decision just days before the vote in Houston. Did anybody in DC ever think about waiting a couple more days?
10
I remember a typically long line for the ladies' room during intermission at the Met one evening, and the gentlemen who escorted his wife to the men's room because she apparently was desperate. No one raised a fuss; some even applauded. Who cares what bathroom you use; the plumbing doesn't know the difference.
4
Only in America: millions spent to kill a bill that has nothing to do with bathrooms and everything to do with respect, fair treatment and the spirit of our Constitution.
Houston, you have a problem.
Houston, you have a problem.
5
Fair to the the transes, unfair to everyone else.
15
How is it respectful or fair to violate women's privacy and safety for the sake of male feelings and delusions? Or will it always be the rights of women and girls that get trampled on for the sake of men?
21
You have a very twisted view of "fair." Or is fairness for men all that matters?
5
Try as we may we can't seem to find a substitute for stupidity. Perhaps there' s hope though that our less clever citizens are merely in transition and will reach tolerance and understanding in the next several decades.
The voters are making clear that fear mongering and bent media are alive and well and functioning. There was no sound reason to defeat the ordinance but it lost just the same.
More interesting was the loss of the Ohio effort to legalize marijuana. As an out-of-stater, I see it as a defeat of the effort’s wealthy sponsors who stood to make "millions" by capturing the property rights where the marijuana could be grown.
I personally don't care if a person wants to smoke pot, it is a choice after all, but its growth would have been in the control of the wealthy, just another example of might has right against which a challenge was raised and won.
More interesting was the loss of the Ohio effort to legalize marijuana. As an out-of-stater, I see it as a defeat of the effort’s wealthy sponsors who stood to make "millions" by capturing the property rights where the marijuana could be grown.
I personally don't care if a person wants to smoke pot, it is a choice after all, but its growth would have been in the control of the wealthy, just another example of might has right against which a challenge was raised and won.
1
I live in Ohio; a bill that simply legalized medical marijuana (for the genuinely ill only) would have passed in a landslide.
3
It is not a disaster that local communities reflect the preferences of their citizens. We are not talking about violating basic here rights here, it is a question of finding the right balance and communities should be able to do that within the bounds created by our Constitution.
2
HERO opponents claimed that women would be raped by disturbed men if the ordinance passed. The day of the election a 12 year girl was raped in the bathroom of a CVS in Houston. Defeating HERO did not prevent this rape nor would passing the ordinance lead to rapes. Crazed fear mongering by bigots in Texas is what the defeat of this ordinance was about.
1
Houston has large Hispanic and African-American populations that are socially conservative. For all the critics tossing words like "bigotry" and "hate" keep in mind that many who voted against the referendum belong in this group in the most diverse city in America.
15
Progressives who are dismayed by Tea Party and Republican victories need to take stock: this was a silly ordinance, symbolic but hollow, and to invest time, energy, and money to fight a battle like this shows a fundamental lack of good common sense. Democrats and progressives need to focus on substance, not symbolism—stop the moaning and wailing and do something useful. Voters will notice.
6
It is hard to believe that "transgender" has been glommed in with the right to have private, consensual relationships. Transgender folks believe in some cases (Caitlin) they can state they are changing their sex, wear different clothes and force the government to classify them as the opposite sex. In other cases, people with what appear to be serious mental health issues modify their bodies. While they have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies and dress as they want, they believe the also have the right to force others to say they are normal and accept them. But in a country that was founded on the principle of open and free speech that will never fly.
19
In reading the comments there seems to be a lot on both sides that focus on the aspect of people that are transgender using various restrooms. I like the comment that one person made about the fact that there are transgender people using restrooms all of the time (though I do think the high school locker room decision is on a completely different level). For me, my concern is not that those in the transgender community will make me feel uncomfortable or that they will cause any harm. My concern is about all of the crazy people (that are not transgender) out there that will take advantage of this and find a way to cause harm to others.
I may be completely wrong, but I would guess that there are more people out there that would use it as a means to cause harm to others than the number of people in the transgender community that would use it for its intended purpose.
I may be completely wrong, but I would guess that there are more people out there that would use it as a means to cause harm to others than the number of people in the transgender community that would use it for its intended purpose.
6
I may be completely wrong, but I would guess that there are more people out there that would use it as a means to cause harm to others than the number of people in the transgender community that would use it for its intended purpose.
This has a great deal to do with the backlash and there have already been problems with gender neutral bathrooms and voyeurism on the part of non trans men.
This has a great deal to do with the backlash and there have already been problems with gender neutral bathrooms and voyeurism on the part of non trans men.
3
This is just wrong. What an abuse of needed law. These religous conservatives seem to really forget the basic tenant of theirs and most religions: Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you. How unfortunate that most have forgotten this in the name of religous conservativism.
Sanity returns to Houston.
How long before the leftists on the SC overturn this?
How long before the leftists on the SC overturn this?
11
Houston rejects human rights?
The least my family and I can do is reject Houston.
Henceforth, Houston, I will support nothing that enriches and empowers the bigotry that this callous, self-righteous act represents.
The least my family and I can do is reject Houston.
Henceforth, Houston, I will support nothing that enriches and empowers the bigotry that this callous, self-righteous act represents.
There is no human right for men dressed up as women to use the women's bathhroom.
13
Supporters said the ordinance was similar to those approved in 200 other cities and prohibited bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services for 15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity.
So this isn't passed in its entirety and yet the focus is on transgender.
Remember the other 14 other protected classes. Grandmother may have a transgender free BR but be unable to find housing or employment.
So this isn't passed in its entirety and yet the focus is on transgender.
Remember the other 14 other protected classes. Grandmother may have a transgender free BR but be unable to find housing or employment.
Thank you Houston!
I may be a member of the LGB part of the equation but I find the T part to be offensive, derogatory to women, abusive to women, and downright nasty and disgusting to women. Being a woman and seeing what these people are doing to women and the very definition of female is enough to turn me against my own community for enabling this behavior to continue.
Even more disgusting is a LGB community will to sacrifice women and girls and real females for this trans farce.
Yes, I will willingly give up my own rights to stop this insanity and attack on females/girls/women.
They may wear womens clothing and profess to be women but they act and treat real women like the dirt beneath their feet aka they act like the men they are.
The lesbian leadersip in this country has allowed the trans agenda to decimate the very meaning of lesbian, the culture of lesbianism, our traditions, and our very womanhood.
It is disgusting what they are allowing to happen to their own people. Seeing they wont stop it or protect their own, then let the voters do it for them.
I may be a member of the LGB part of the equation but I find the T part to be offensive, derogatory to women, abusive to women, and downright nasty and disgusting to women. Being a woman and seeing what these people are doing to women and the very definition of female is enough to turn me against my own community for enabling this behavior to continue.
Even more disgusting is a LGB community will to sacrifice women and girls and real females for this trans farce.
Yes, I will willingly give up my own rights to stop this insanity and attack on females/girls/women.
They may wear womens clothing and profess to be women but they act and treat real women like the dirt beneath their feet aka they act like the men they are.
The lesbian leadersip in this country has allowed the trans agenda to decimate the very meaning of lesbian, the culture of lesbianism, our traditions, and our very womanhood.
It is disgusting what they are allowing to happen to their own people. Seeing they wont stop it or protect their own, then let the voters do it for them.
17
You said it all so well. The "L" part of LGBT was stomped on long ago in this mess. This is exactly the problem that most of middle America is not aware of and that popular liberal media suppresses: Trans activists are nasty to women. Do some googling and see what they're about.
9
Transsexuals are almost always heterosexual men in drag and what they really want is for women, gay and straight, to be forced by law to indulge their sexual fetish, because male sexual happiness must always be paramount.
Allowing males dressed as women to freely enter women's bathrooms and locker rooms is more misogyny. Women of all sexualities must stand united against this.
Allowing males dressed as women to freely enter women's bathrooms and locker rooms is more misogyny. Women of all sexualities must stand united against this.
4
Believe me, no man would ever "choose" to use a woman's bathroom. Women queued up during any intermission, anywhere, always longingly eye the nonexistent line at the men's. Admit it, some of us ladies have dashed into the men's room when desperation trumped assured embarrassment. Transgendered human beings should be able to use whichever bathroom they need. The perversion of the right-wing evangelicals knows no limit. They are the ones who need separate and unequal public restrooms. How about outhouses at the far end of parking lots.
2
I take it you've never heard of Autogynephilia?
"Autogynephilia" is a medically and scientifically discredited concept.
1
This is a great example of why the GOP loves them ill-informed, gullible and naive, those simple minds can be easily cowed by the most outrageous claims.
The Ohio marijuana bill is a bellwether of nothing, even marijuana legalization supporters voted against it as it was Crony Capitalism at its finest creating a monopoly designed to line the pockets of the investors who bankrolled it.
The Ohio marijuana bill is a bellwether of nothing, even marijuana legalization supporters voted against it as it was Crony Capitalism at its finest creating a monopoly designed to line the pockets of the investors who bankrolled it.
1
As a gay man of 63, I watched this decision with interest. My suspicions have been corroborated. This was a backlash to marriage equality. The bigots among Houston voters sent the message they will not accept LGBT civil rights. It was an "I'll show you!" moment. So, now same sex couples can get married in Houston, but can be fired from their job the next day. What a regressive, disappointing result. I thank my lucky stars every day I live in Massachusetts.
1
Calm down, Rob. The worthy parts of this bill will live on.,
6
You asked for it, when you and SCOTUS worked to destroy MY traditional marriage (and that of countless millions of other Americans).
Turnabout is fair play.
Turnabout is fair play.
2
The so called *equality* issues are issues that give special privileges and advantages to those possessing one or another minority characteristics creating favored, special groups that the majority must sacrifice for. *Equality* today means give me more rights than anyone else has. Don't hire me? Watch me sue you.
Three times Houston elected Ms Parker, an open and highly vocal lesbian, as mayor and now, because they reject her attempts to force her cultural and social preferences on them, they are labeled *intolerant*.
I am left handed, but I don't demand that society change its accepted practices and orientation to make my life easier. Nor do I demand that language be censored because I might be offended by negative references to *the left*. Its time for other minorities to become less self absorbed and more tolerant.
Good for Houston! Good for Ohio! Let's hope this infusion of backbone is catching.
Three times Houston elected Ms Parker, an open and highly vocal lesbian, as mayor and now, because they reject her attempts to force her cultural and social preferences on them, they are labeled *intolerant*.
I am left handed, but I don't demand that society change its accepted practices and orientation to make my life easier. Nor do I demand that language be censored because I might be offended by negative references to *the left*. Its time for other minorities to become less self absorbed and more tolerant.
Good for Houston! Good for Ohio! Let's hope this infusion of backbone is catching.
17
I support LGBT rights and I have volunteered at Homeless Shelter in TEXAS and one had policy to allow people to use facilities based on how the person identified. It was the MEN who were complaining to me that a woman was using the shower. Many Transgender people are homeless or suffering economic discrimination. When Prop 8 was on the Ballot in California there were ads that said kindergarten kids would be taught to be gay. All this separation is really just an illusion.
Interesting that their is no mention of the magnitude of the rejection. The vote was 61 to 39. That's pretty overwhelming. Sounds like the City Council that originally passed the ordinance was out of touch with the people. The people and democracy have spoken.
11
And on the day of the election, a man, dressed as a man, allegedly lured a girl into a restroom at a pharmacy and raped her: http://abc13.com/news/police-say-man-had-sex-with-12-year-old-girl-in-re...
I'm sorry the ordinance didn't remain on the books. Now the EEOC needs to make its presence felt by instructing the Houston transgender community on how to make federal complaints inasmuch as the EEOC says trans people are covered by Title VII
I'm sorry the ordinance didn't remain on the books. Now the EEOC needs to make its presence felt by instructing the Houston transgender community on how to make federal complaints inasmuch as the EEOC says trans people are covered by Title VII
I live a mile outside of city limits and Houston has been good to me. Still, this is one more thing that pains me that originated around here. The others? Enron, the savings and loan debacle, Santa Fe ISD v. Doe, the Bush family, Tom DeLay, and others. But there are also the good things, like the open-armed acceptance Mayor Bill White gave to a quarter of a million refugees from New Orleans after Katrina. Living here is a lot like living with a crazy uncle, capable of doing great evils without the blink of an eye, and then doing something fine and generous. This campaign of hate and fear was not Houston's brightest day. I weep. But life goes on.
1
Is Houston really so rife with potential rapists that the citizens believe a law like this would unleash these evil-doers? If this is true, the poor "helpless" women and children will need more protection than NOT having this law provides them.
In an ideal world, Houston would say "We don't need a law like this because no one in Houston discriminates. We treat everyone equally." Ha!
In an ideal world, Houston would say "We don't need a law like this because no one in Houston discriminates. We treat everyone equally." Ha!
There's no reason why women need to accept even non-rapist men into their bathrooms.
13
I don't believe this was the "most closely watched" election in the country. It's Texas, for heaven's sake. At leat New Jerseyans had the good sense to oust a bunch of Christie supporters. But this doesn't grab the headlines. To all the good, decent people living in Texas, I apologize, but it's the most backward, nasty place in the country and for all their religious zealotry, theirs is a punitive, violent form of Christianity. Let them secede. They keep saying they want to, so go! I really think people on both sides would be much happier.
2
Houstonians were simply being practical when they voted as they did. Rather than thinking about "equal rights" they thought of their mothers, sisters, and, especially, daughters in a gym or school locker room having to get undressed and shower in the presence of anatomical males claiming to be females. That is simply not what many if not most girls/women in the heartland of America are comfortable with and THEIR rights should count too.
I remember a diverse group of middle aged and senior women going ballistic on me a few years ago when I, a woman, tried to lead my toddler daughter through (not to stay, just to pass through) the "quiet" (i.e. no kids) YMCA locker room because it opened up to the pool and we were running late for swim class. Those women rose up as one and forced us out of the locker room because no child should even walk through the "quiet" locker room. I can only imagine those same women reacting to an anatomical male getting naked in front of them as he/she changes, showers, etc. This is less about bathrooms and more about locker rooms.
I remember a diverse group of middle aged and senior women going ballistic on me a few years ago when I, a woman, tried to lead my toddler daughter through (not to stay, just to pass through) the "quiet" (i.e. no kids) YMCA locker room because it opened up to the pool and we were running late for swim class. Those women rose up as one and forced us out of the locker room because no child should even walk through the "quiet" locker room. I can only imagine those same women reacting to an anatomical male getting naked in front of them as he/she changes, showers, etc. This is less about bathrooms and more about locker rooms.
8
The mayor and city council of Houston passed this bill last year. A petition was put together by the citizens to place it as a referendum on the next ballot. As is often the case in Houston, the politicians disallowed it on shaky grounds. The Texas Supreme Court over turned this and the election was allowed. And you see the results.
And now you know the rest of the story.
And now you know the rest of the story.
1
Equal rights under the law was repealed because of unfounded, irrational, and juvenile fears about toilets, all of it whipped up by folks - many of whom claim to be Christian - who prefer a status quo that allows bias.
I am a native Houstonian and I'm deeply ashamed that for the second time in 30 years. these fear mongers have withheld equal rights from their fellow Houstonians.
I am not Houston Proud.
I am a native Houstonian and I'm deeply ashamed that for the second time in 30 years. these fear mongers have withheld equal rights from their fellow Houstonians.
I am not Houston Proud.
2
Ahh the Christian boogeyman... you progressives are so tolerant in the way you demonise people.
6
It's ignorance and it's a backlash from the right to marry. But I would strongly encourage anyone who is moving here to rethink their decision. If your job requires it, then there is nothing you can do about it. That's my situation. I'm here because, unfortunately, my company is headquartered here. But I look forward to the day, the one immediately following retirement, when I cross the border on my way to somewhere else, never to return. I've had enough.
Fear is the tool that many Republicans use to get to a society where the privileged will not lose their position. They totally believe that there is no room in America for anyone except those who believe as they do. Tow the line or get to the back of the line. That's the mantra.
I worked the polls in Houston yesterday and was surprised by the split personality that exists here. I saw several people who came out only to support Prop1 and lots of diverse voters. Attitudes are quickly changing here, and even before last summer's SCOTUS ruling a majority of Houstonians favored gay marriage and a legal path to illegal immigrants (according to a RiceU study).
Yet many people across the spectrum still thought this law was about bathroom protection (which it's not since it was watered down from the original ordinance). The many layers of the flawed bathroom stalker argument have been put forth (full disclosure: I went to a university with co-ed bathrooms and we all made it out alive), but the deeper issue is that change has come too quickly for some. Given the opportunity to voice displeasure at all the "liberal" policies that have been "forced" upon them recently, they came out in droves. (Never mind that it shouldn't have been put to a vote in the first place; it was the wrong ordinance for the wrong year)
We didn't do a good enough job of getting the other 75% of moderate people to the polls - probably because they didn't think they were actually losing anything. Perhaps it's time to "scare" them into action, otherwise Nov 2016 is going to look pretty scary.
Yet many people across the spectrum still thought this law was about bathroom protection (which it's not since it was watered down from the original ordinance). The many layers of the flawed bathroom stalker argument have been put forth (full disclosure: I went to a university with co-ed bathrooms and we all made it out alive), but the deeper issue is that change has come too quickly for some. Given the opportunity to voice displeasure at all the "liberal" policies that have been "forced" upon them recently, they came out in droves. (Never mind that it shouldn't have been put to a vote in the first place; it was the wrong ordinance for the wrong year)
We didn't do a good enough job of getting the other 75% of moderate people to the polls - probably because they didn't think they were actually losing anything. Perhaps it's time to "scare" them into action, otherwise Nov 2016 is going to look pretty scary.
1
Houston residents' objection to the HERO ordinance isn't based on fear of sexual assault alone. Most women simply object to sharing restroom facilities with men and many men object to sharing restrooms with women. The original draft of the HERO ordinance stated that “It shall be unlawful for any place of public accommodation or any employee or agent thereof to deny any person entry to any restroom, shower room, or similar facility if that facility is consistent with and appropriate to that person’s expression of gender identity.” This section was removed before the ordinance was passed by the Houston City Council, but Mayor Parker sent a tweet that called into question the significance of the change: “To my trans sisters/brothers: you’re still fully protected in Equal Rights Ordinance. We’re simply removing language that singled you out.” So there is no doubt that the ordinance would have been used to prosecute businesses, schools, and colleges that attempted to segregate restroom facilities by biological sex. Title IX, which protects female students from discrimination, contains a clause that states nothing within the statue prohibits colleges from "maintaining separate living facilities for the different sexes.” Similar language should have been included in the HERO ordinance stating that it would not prohibit the segregation of restrooms by biological sex.
6
Closely watched by whom? The 2%? I believe there are enough anti-discrimination measures in place, we should probably focus on other issues, like the woeful economy and the pathetic foreign policy, or what passes for a foreign policy.
5
White Christian Hate, Bigotry and Ignorance has been so deeply inter woven into the fabric of Texas and it's history for so long. Their history books are full of lies and distortions because the truth would reveal the true ugliness in the hearts and minds of it's residents past and present. First the Mexicans fell under white brutality, then the African Americans, then the Muslims (the boy with the clock, a racist incident if there ever was one) and the LGBT who the kind "Christian" citizens have never stopped killing, beating or harassing with little impunity. And of course the freeness of guns to keep "folks" down and terrified. Can't forget that. I don't expect much change for the future of that State which is very depressing.
5
Christian hate? Do you think Muslims approve of admitting men women's restrooms, locker rooms and showers?
10
The blame for the defeat of the anti Discrimination ordinance does not belong only to those that voted against it, but must be shared with Mental health Professionals for sitting on a fence when it comes to sexual gender preferences. They must in unison proclaim that 99% of Gay men & woman, As well with transgender individuals, their preferences are genetically caused & not perverted.This means taking on the ignorant bigoted side of powerful religious groups, but it must be done.before these American Tax Payers will have equal rights.
2
There is no association with being gay and being transgender. Being gay isn't being upset with reality and trying to change it.
And why should the medical community claim something that is not supported by any science? Just because it would make you feel better?
The research that has come out has shown that 80% of transgender children grow up to be gay, so pushing them into the transgender mold reeks of gay conversion therapy to me. Transgender and gay are not just not related, they are antithetical.
And why should the medical community claim something that is not supported by any science? Just because it would make you feel better?
The research that has come out has shown that 80% of transgender children grow up to be gay, so pushing them into the transgender mold reeks of gay conversion therapy to me. Transgender and gay are not just not related, they are antithetical.
10
This seems to have been just a bridge too far. If the ordinance is amended to take bathrooms and locker rooms out of it, there will be no problem. Non-trans people have rights too. I don't see why a person who believes they are a woman, in defiance of biology, should never be discriminated against in housing or employment. I just don't want to see male anatomy in my gym locker room, whatever the excuse this person has for being there.
6
Susan,
If you have children keep them in Parochial Schools. There are colleges that permit Men & Women to share the same bathrooms. It seems adults are aware of the human anatomy, & being naked is no longer a taboo, Boobs are in & modesty be damed, thank God.I would agree with you that there are Men & Women who give nudity a bad name, however,time moves on & we are all slaves to fashion.Get a life,it's exciting to be alive.
If you have children keep them in Parochial Schools. There are colleges that permit Men & Women to share the same bathrooms. It seems adults are aware of the human anatomy, & being naked is no longer a taboo, Boobs are in & modesty be damed, thank God.I would agree with you that there are Men & Women who give nudity a bad name, however,time moves on & we are all slaves to fashion.Get a life,it's exciting to be alive.
1
Common Sense Won! People are not going to support an idea that gives one person to dictate to everyone what is or is not a man/woman. The fact is, this could have gone the other way if there was a clause stating that use of facilities would be protected for those who have undergone gender transformative surgery that removes the physical aspects of the gender they do not associate with. Otherwise, its rule by the whim of one person, a concept that should alarm anyone who supports democracy or the rights that are inherent within a democratic system. Sorry progressives you are on the wrong side of history in this case.
7
Most of the comments here refer to men using the women's bathroom, yet bathrooms aren't mentioned in the law. Shows how effective those against the anti-discrimination law were. Their propaganda defined the issue. Reality, truth don't stand a chance against fear mongering and bigotry.
1
There is no fear mongering involved. Girls and women know from a young age that males are dangerous and pose a threat to their safety and that why is female-only spaces such as rest rooms and fitting rooms exist. Nice to know you don't care about the safety or privacy of females though!
7
It isn't a law, thanks to the people of Houston. And it was mentioned in the first draft of the law, and when it was taken out, the mayor tweeted that it made no difference and that the trans folk would still have the same rights as if it explicitly said it.
4
The investors of the movement to legalize pot in Ohio were just a little too greedy. It looks like it failed more for the monopoly provision than the merits of whether medicinal and recreational use should be legalized. The Ohio electorate was smart to reject it and then pass a law prohibiting such monopoly provisions. So now in Ohio wealthy investors can't use the law to restrict trade and competition. This is democracy at work.
1
What did you expect? It is Texas after all.
It was cruel to of Ohio marijuana advocates to place medical marijuana in the same referendum measure as recreational marijuana. Voters who object to recreational marijuana might have voted in favor of medical marijuana.
2
YESTERDAY on these comment boards I wrote about ballot box backlash when political correctness runs amuk in this country as with the Feds and the transgender "bathroom issue". I warned that if the left continued to push the left side of the envelope by cramming PC liberalism down the collective American gullet there would be ballot box consequences, I must say that it usually takes more than 24 hours for me to be proved right, but not here. Liberals moan (often on these very comment boards) about people "voting contrary to their own interest". Go ahead and continue to push the left side of the envelope and the progressive prize may well be a Republican in the White House in 2016.
13
Texans and other Americans often use the state as a metaphor for superlatives when identifying certain traits they admire. How about "Texas Stupid" to describe this election outcome, its half wit voters and the Republicans who rule the state.
2
Actually there was an October 26 article in the Post on that very thing. The phrase "that is totally Texas!" is used by Norwegians to describe anything that is crazy.
citation:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/26/how-texas-...
citation:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/26/how-texas-...
The Houston electorate has just been played, like an old banjo.
2
I have been so proud of the Mayor of Houston and so many of my fellow residents over the past few years for their judiciousness, openness and acceptance of diverse groups in our social makeup. This election is a sad setback, driven by hateful, spiteful and just plain ignorant right-wing fascist-idealized bigots. Their sophomoric approach in opposing a fair resolution is mind-numbingly juvenile - as others here have commented, they allow and promote discrimination but howl the loudest when they perceive it happening to them. A sad day in Houston, but Mayor Parker can hold her head high for being an excellent mayor as well as a dedicated and principled individual.
4
Read your comment again in a week and see if you can understand why the electorate, which twice voted and openly gay women mayor, are sick of you.
13
@mkm: I have to ask if you did not understand my comment, in support of Mayor Parker? It is difficult to tell with your grammatical errors in your response.
Based on the comments here and on the article about the Kentucky gubernatorial election, it's pretty obvious "right-wing fascist-idealized bigots" have no monopoly on "hateful, spiteful and just plain [ignorance]". Your comment being a case in point.
2
I believe it is amazing to see the fast gains made by the LGBT communities in the United States but like the religious sects they pushed it too far for the common tolerance to approve. It's like the Hobby Lobby business where they got one thing, then they got a fancy Christian group behind them paying the bill and pushing for even more strenuous spreading of their gospel ideas but then they got stopped flat. This country still goes mostly down the middle and maybe a lot of people felt that this was too far over the edge. It took 100 years for women to get the vote.
3
The Anchorage assembly passed an equal rights ordinance this fall, after repeated attempts beginning in 1976. There's a strong possibility it will be challenged by voter referendum. Sad. Houston, we have a problem.
A person who is born a man is a man and a person who is born a woman is a woman. All the operations, hand wringing and wishing in the world won't change that. If a man chooses to call himself a woman that is a mental health issue not a civil rights issue.
16
What else could be expected from the armpit / the Calcutta of the U.S.? I sign each and every online petition that I can find to create a single sovereign nation for the state of TX. Between outcomes of their voters such as gay rights and the highest rate of use of death penalty, clearly the state's citizens are out of sink with the rest of the nation. Would Mexico consider an annexation for us?
1
Time to separate the T from the LGB. The T is comprised of people with a bona fide mental disorder. The LGB are just normal people who aren't heterosexual. The folks in the T camp are holding back progress for the LGB folks.
14
There's already a Q that has nothing to do with James Bond. I see a PBD coming soon. More alphabet to follow.
1
Having known several people from Houston, my take is that it is cosmopolitan and socially progressive. I think what is going on in this case is another example of people "voting on feelings" rather than taking the time to give it some rational thought. If they had, they would realize that even current law does not dissuade anyone intent on harming our wives and grandmothers. So there is no additional risk to them from a law intended to prevent discrimination.
Conservatives are expert at framing issues in a negative way to engender troubling "feelings". They know that most people are not inclined to devote much real thought to issues before voting. This is a real flaw in our culture, and most conservative success at the poles is due to that flaw.
Conservatives are expert at framing issues in a negative way to engender troubling "feelings". They know that most people are not inclined to devote much real thought to issues before voting. This is a real flaw in our culture, and most conservative success at the poles is due to that flaw.
1
I worked for a French bank in NY and made several trips to Paris where I worked in their offices for weeks at a time. Men and Women shared the same bathroom where their were separate closed door stalls for privacy. No harm no foul. Americans are way too inhibited and paranoid.
This was much less a referendum on equal rights than it was on a Mayor whose myopic focus on the singular cause of gender self identifiers largely blinded her to the public's growing frustration with crumbling infrastructure, rising taxes, and a police force increasingly unable to adequately protect the citizenry. People here are just tired of her six years of talking about things while the reality in our neighborhoods continues to decline.
8
Houston's mayor is a three-term lesbian. Hurrah for the voters for reining in her terrorizing of the First Amendment via her subpoenas aimed at sermons.
5
If you have male plumbing you belong in the men bathroom or in a unisex one. And before I am accused of being a religious zealot because I reside in the beautiful State of Texas(I lived 33 years in the NE between NY and PA) that I am not. I am an independent voter with no political affiliation and utterly opposed to religion for it is but a human construction.
8
What makes this ordinance outrageous for the majority is that we'd never know someone transgender is using the restroom if they're passing as that gender. I mean, unless you walk into the women's restroom waving your arms around saying, "Look at me! I'm transgender!" how would anyone guess? Or are you a woman in your head, but still presenting physically as a male? Yeah, then don't offend everyone by waltzing into the women's restroom, I would guess you're looking for a confrontation. Use some common sense.
This is very similar to the lawsuit with the bakery that refused to do a cake for a gay wedding. All the bakers needed to do was say, "Ooohh sorry, we're really booked and won't be able to accommodate your date", rather than making a big deal out of refusing to do it because the couple is gay.
This is a whole bunch of wasted taxpayer money for people on both sides of the issue who want to make a stand on principle, instead of just acting reasonable and getting on with things.
This is very similar to the lawsuit with the bakery that refused to do a cake for a gay wedding. All the bakers needed to do was say, "Ooohh sorry, we're really booked and won't be able to accommodate your date", rather than making a big deal out of refusing to do it because the couple is gay.
This is a whole bunch of wasted taxpayer money for people on both sides of the issue who want to make a stand on principle, instead of just acting reasonable and getting on with things.
2
For everyone who argues that harassing women in the bathroom is already illegal - do you support gun control?
The idea behind gun control (at least the argument that I support) is that when we wait for people to commit an atrocity before calling it a crime, we invite more atrocities. Stop them from getting guns in the first place, don't just arrest after they kill someone.
Same principle here. I want a chance to stop a potential molester before he enters the bathroom, not just after the damage has already been done (and no, I don't think actual trans people are any more likely to commit sex crimes than other people; but I've seen enough of the shady side of cis-men to think there's more than a few who would take advantage in our inability to be certain of someone else's gender identification).
The idea behind gun control (at least the argument that I support) is that when we wait for people to commit an atrocity before calling it a crime, we invite more atrocities. Stop them from getting guns in the first place, don't just arrest after they kill someone.
Same principle here. I want a chance to stop a potential molester before he enters the bathroom, not just after the damage has already been done (and no, I don't think actual trans people are any more likely to commit sex crimes than other people; but I've seen enough of the shady side of cis-men to think there's more than a few who would take advantage in our inability to be certain of someone else's gender identification).
6
It sounds like this ordinance covered a lot of ground: it "prohibited bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services for 15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity." Did this wide swath really get whittled down to who goes into which bathroom?
Let's approach this rationally. If this ordinance been introduced in 200 other cities, then we must already have ample data to know if the *predators entering bathrooms* theory has any credibility. So where's the evidence? It sure sounds like textbook fear-mongering to me.
Let's approach this rationally. If this ordinance been introduced in 200 other cities, then we must already have ample data to know if the *predators entering bathrooms* theory has any credibility. So where's the evidence? It sure sounds like textbook fear-mongering to me.
1
Since when are civil rights subject to popular vote? Smells like the return of Jim Crow to me.
5
The comments about the Houston ordinance are an interesting one, and in many ways hypocritical. One of the primary reasons stated for the opposition to the ordinance was that affected their "rights" to not feel uncomfortable in public washrooms or that it went against their religious rights.
So: what about guns in public places? If those make some feel uncomfortable, should they not be allowed to vote against such policies? What precedents begin to be developed? How do we, as nation, begin to rank the different rights granted by the Constitution?
So: what about guns in public places? If those make some feel uncomfortable, should they not be allowed to vote against such policies? What precedents begin to be developed? How do we, as nation, begin to rank the different rights granted by the Constitution?
Texas is still Texas. And sometimes the essential rightness of a cause is not enough. You have to sculpt legislation that will pass. The bathrooms issue might have been expected to find traction and should have been trimmed at the get-go.
3
There's nothing "right" about indulging mental delusions of people who need help.
6
I live in Houston and am embarrassed by the outcome on this ordinance. The opposition resorted to fear mongering and it reminds me of the defeat of the ERA. The ordinance was a simple one providing equal rights and said nothing about bathrooms. Like the defeat of the ERA which only wanted equal pay for equal jobs and said nothing about women in the military, the opponents of this ordinance used fear to achieve their objectives.
These opponents do not have women's protection on their agenda--especially if you look at voting records like Dan Patrick's.
These opponents do not have women's protection on their agenda--especially if you look at voting records like Dan Patrick's.
1
So, why is it an issue to be in a bathroom with people of any gender? Most people, or everybody, shares bathrooms with opposite gendered folks at home.
You go to the bathroom, use it, and leave, period. Does anybody spend an hour or thirty minutes there, or even fifteen minutes?
After all we already live our lives outside the bathrooms with anybody, why is it a big deal, it's not as if we sit on same toilet bowls at the same time?
Does America have a bathroom problem? hahah!!
You go to the bathroom, use it, and leave, period. Does anybody spend an hour or thirty minutes there, or even fifteen minutes?
After all we already live our lives outside the bathrooms with anybody, why is it a big deal, it's not as if we sit on same toilet bowls at the same time?
Does America have a bathroom problem? hahah!!
Really? you are equating a family member to a stranger?
6
"Transgender rights haven't caught up the gay-equality - the mistake made here was in trying to combine them and get both through. They are separate issues, with different protagonists and antagonists, different concerns and different core rights. It isn't a setback for gay rights per se, but a flawed referendum meeting with defeat." --namecsc from Pennsylvania
I agree with this. I live in Houston and am gay. This measure was doomed as soon as transgendered was included. It was noble and brave and right of Mayor Parker to be so inclusive, but I knew the moment this became a referendum, it would not pass. It's not right, no. But it is still a political reality here. The all or nothing approach to civil rights in Houston still gets you NOTHING--at least when decided by voters emboldened out of there usual Houston civility by misinformation and religious righteousness.
I agree with this. I live in Houston and am gay. This measure was doomed as soon as transgendered was included. It was noble and brave and right of Mayor Parker to be so inclusive, but I knew the moment this became a referendum, it would not pass. It's not right, no. But it is still a political reality here. The all or nothing approach to civil rights in Houston still gets you NOTHING--at least when decided by voters emboldened out of there usual Houston civility by misinformation and religious righteousness.
6
What a sad state of society when goodness needs to be legislated. Sadder still is discovering those behind these “legislative goodness” initiatives usually have self-serving motivations. In the end, it's mostly about distracting us from the broader issues we need to be concerned with most.
As is usual, Americans go crazy over issues that have to do with urinating and defecating. If sex, real sex, were the issue here it would blow the roof off. But people have to go when nature calls, they really do. There is no, absolutely no threat of predation by trans people in regard to using a bathroom. I've used public restrooms out here on the Left Coast for years with all kinds of people, trans, gay, men, women, children, grandpas, and grandmas. Perhaps we need coed bathrooms. I'm sure we can agree that we're grownup enough not to get our panties in a twist over such a natural act as having to use the bathroom (actually restroom is the better word here, and conveys so much more, no?) There is, however, a threat to public sanity by conservative preachers and their followers. I shouldn't expect any revolution in thinking on this one, eh?
2
For those who don't know, Houston is a Democratic stronghold. Before everyone starts blaming those evil Republicans, consider that this referendum was passed by the same voting populace - including the working-class minorities - that led to Houston becoming the largest city in America with an openly gay mayor.
7
Way to go Houston! But eventually you will be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. In the meantime, let's hope conventions and corporations vote with their feet.
2
Democracy is when the majority votes in your favor, tyranny is when the majority votes against it.
2
Sometimes I feel like a nut... sometimes I don't. That, however doesn't give me the "right" to use the bathroom du jour that suits my "feelings".
7
Houston, San Francisco, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio
Elections have consequences. The above are the consequences.
Next year? More of the same.
Elections have consequences. The above are the consequences.
Next year? More of the same.
1
Unfortunately, you can't legislate or vote over the majority of people's true feelings. This is a setback. In the future, the tide will turn and rights for everyone will be ensured.
Am I missing something, or is WHAT the ordinance ACTUALLY says missing from the article?
1
Mens Rooms are for use by males. Ladies Rooms are for use by females.
What is "unfair" about that? It has everything to do with our culture, standards and the rights of 99.9% of America's population.
What is "unfair" about that? It has everything to do with our culture, standards and the rights of 99.9% of America's population.
6
So, "men claiming to be women" can no longer use the ladies room. I guess this means men claiming to women dressed as women will now be forced to use the men's room. Is this what Texas men want, to share a bathroom with transvestites and transsexuals in female attire?
2
With love and all due respect to all human beings, sinners and saints alike, many religious people draw the line at homosexuality. (in the Jewish Code of Law male homosexuality is forbidden; female homosexuality is not forbidden.)
Homosexuals in a democracy are entitled to do what they want with each other, with mutual consent, and there is not argument here about that. However religious people have a right to say to their children: "this is sinful. This is bad in the eyes of the Lord. "
We love the human, even if he sins, undestanding we are but flesh & blood, but we will not give our Good Housekeeping seal of approval this type of action. This is the belief of hundreds of millions of people who do not hate the gay person..
To FORCE people to abandon those beliefs, and to FORCE religious people for example to rent their apartment and live next door to someone who practices homosexuality is taking away their rights.
Houston spoke, reflecting perhaps a silent majority, but for sure a sizable minority of people.
Homosexuals in a democracy are entitled to do what they want with each other, with mutual consent, and there is not argument here about that. However religious people have a right to say to their children: "this is sinful. This is bad in the eyes of the Lord. "
We love the human, even if he sins, undestanding we are but flesh & blood, but we will not give our Good Housekeeping seal of approval this type of action. This is the belief of hundreds of millions of people who do not hate the gay person..
To FORCE people to abandon those beliefs, and to FORCE religious people for example to rent their apartment and live next door to someone who practices homosexuality is taking away their rights.
Houston spoke, reflecting perhaps a silent majority, but for sure a sizable minority of people.
2
Here's a thought (for better or worse).
99 and 9/10 percent of the time, most people enter and leave restrooms fully clothed. I don't remember ever seeing anyone unclothed in a public bathroom.
It is highly likely that some transgender but pre-op females have used men's rooms, and that the reverse is also true.
Is there any record anywhere of anyone, of any gender being harmed in those instances. All we see, and all we are supposed to see, inside public bathrooms and outside as well are clothed people. There are no genitalia police checking at the bathroom door. Why is this an issue anyway?
99 and 9/10 percent of the time, most people enter and leave restrooms fully clothed. I don't remember ever seeing anyone unclothed in a public bathroom.
It is highly likely that some transgender but pre-op females have used men's rooms, and that the reverse is also true.
Is there any record anywhere of anyone, of any gender being harmed in those instances. All we see, and all we are supposed to see, inside public bathrooms and outside as well are clothed people. There are no genitalia police checking at the bathroom door. Why is this an issue anyway?
3
If it's all so safe and dandy, why are transgender people scared to use the men's room?
7
Sounds like opponents are really concerned about superficial looks, as opposed to gender. They are upset about the potential of "men who don't look like women" entering the women's restroom. Can I assume that thin, effeminate men who really look like women aren't a problem? Because who would really know? What about really masculine looking women? Where do they go?
“It was about protecting our grandmoms, and our mothers and our wives and our sisters and our daughters and our granddaughters,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, told cheering opponents." As the old saying goes, "You can't make this stuff up!"
1
To use the tired and false, (notice I didn't say LIE which it is),that this was unnecessary because there were "other" laws,is totally misleading and you know it.I now live in the mid Midwest and I think you're using a lot of assumptions when you say that only the east or west coast lives in an IRA tower you are the person living in an ivory tower . So I'm guessing you only want rides for some and not others how unAmerican.
Houston's outgoing mayor is a term-limited gay woman. No one here gave a hoot that she's gay so this isn't the hotbed of ignorant bigots that the swells on the east/west coasts will flatter themselves saying it is. Far from it, actually. <br/><br/>Although I voted for the ordinance in the hope of avoiding this sort of story, the ordinance probably isn't legally necessary. It's just a symbol, sort of like opposition to the Keystone pipeline and fracing, that allows progressives to congratulate themselves on their good intentions and flog their conceits. I suspect that the defeat was less about the possibility of whizzing next to a transgender person than it was about flipping off the smarter- and more-virtuous-than-thou utopians that will now hit this bait like carp on a bread ball.
11
It's only not necessary if you believe that no one would ever fire or evict or deny service to an LGBT person solely on the basis of that person being LGBT. Forgive me if I don't share your optimism regarding the tolerance and open mindedness of Houstonians.
The bottom line is that yesterday LGBT people enjoyed equal civil rights protection in Houston. Today they do not. That's wrong, and it was fear mongering that did it.
The bottom line is that yesterday LGBT people enjoyed equal civil rights protection in Houston. Today they do not. That's wrong, and it was fear mongering that did it.
3
It seems that the no people hit another kind of bait like your proverbial carp as well, hmm?
Take out the anti-woman component and this ordinance would have passed handily.
You cannot gain "equality" by taking away the rights of another marginalized group. There is nothing progressive about that.
And I am disappointed that the supporters of that ordinance cared so deeply about taking away privacy rights for women that they were willing to sacrifice all of the important equal opportunity mandates in that ordinance.
You cannot gain "equality" by taking away the rights of another marginalized group. There is nothing progressive about that.
And I am disappointed that the supporters of that ordinance cared so deeply about taking away privacy rights for women that they were willing to sacrifice all of the important equal opportunity mandates in that ordinance.
11
"anti-woman component"???
Do you blame rape on the victim because of the way she dressed?
Do you blame rape on the victim because of the way she dressed?
Walter,
What on earth are you talking about?
What on earth are you talking about?
3
Hooray for Houston !
13
If you have male genitals you are a male. If you have female genitals you are a female. So use the appropriate bathroom. Sexual orientation should not determine which bathroom you use. This is really not the issue in Houston. It is clear that many people do not want to protect the civil rights of the LGBT community. Moreover, the debate reveals the absolute ignorance and stupidity of the American electorate. People can be convinced of the most ridiculous things if enough time, money and energy is spent. Is there really some crisis in public bathroom use? Are transgender people around the country really using the wrong bathrooms? This entire issue strikes me as just plain silly.
9
Wow, the puritanism of these comments! First of all, transgender m to fs are not rapists. They feel themselves to be women. Second of all, so a girl sees male genitalia. Is she going to feel assaulted just from the sight? Any teenage girl can find all the genitalia she wants on the internet. And the way people are writing, it's as if teenage girls have no agency of their own, they are automatically victimized by the presence of a female with male genitals, which is how a transwoman sees herself, and how many of her peers see her. Transwomen are not trying to get access to female bodies for sex. They are people who feel female but are born biologically male. This is pure sex panic, moral hysteria, and discrimination. And here's the thing: our children are growing up without these prejudices. Or at least they are outside of Texas.
5
It is not liberal to accuse women of being "puritanical" for wanting women-only bathrooms. It is not liberal to gaslight women and tell them they are wrong for being upset when a male exposes himself to her. It is not liberal to disregard the safety of one group in favor of another.
The problem I see is that certain extremists are not interested in providing transgender people a safe place to use the bathroom. If they were they would advocate for a gender neutral option. The problem I see is that some people will not stop until women capitulate to an ideology that stereotypes and compromises women. It is not liberal to be deeply sexist.
The problem I see is that certain extremists are not interested in providing transgender people a safe place to use the bathroom. If they were they would advocate for a gender neutral option. The problem I see is that some people will not stop until women capitulate to an ideology that stereotypes and compromises women. It is not liberal to be deeply sexist.
8
No on the contrary it's not pure paranoia. It's not pure anything except maybe pure stridency on your part. It's a muddy issue, with many women commenters here protesting that they'd have to sacrifice their privacy for a woman-gendered biological male. Transphobes may be distasteful, but your assertion that trans-people are saints is equally ignorant. Trans people are people like any other. My friends 21yr old m to f pre-op trans "daughter" is accused by a genderqueer woman of raping her. Having said all that, I suspect the overriding concern of those voters who thought better of it, is that any cis man might go into the F restroom unchallenged. Among the commenters here are mature trans ppl who recognize this is complex and demur from the strident pov you've taken.
4
Are you kidding? My teenage daughter doesn't want other females to see her naked and she doesn't went to see their naked bodies, either. She is quite emphatic about that and I have heard similar things from her friends and their mothers. Going out of her changing room at a store I have to squeeze through the smallest possible opening [as she cringes] in order to ensure that no one sees in. So, yes, it's a very big deal that teenage girls [or any other females] might be forced to encounter male genitalia in a female province such as the female locker room/gym showers. Just because you have an agenda and would like to ignore the discomfort [and sometimes genuine fear and intimidation] that that agenda's natural consequences produces, doesn't make the discomfort, fear and intimidation magically go away.
8
which would have given investors in the legalization campaign exclusive access to Ohio’s first commercial grow sites.
Why that privilege is for mega corps. Watch it happen.
Why that privilege is for mega corps. Watch it happen.
The result of the vote clearly demonstrates not everybody agrees with The Five Ayatollahs of Political Correctness and their overbearing, incorrect and erroneous decision on gay marriage. SCOTUS is human and can make mistakes. When they do they are usually very big ones. Note the totally illegal and improper Dred Scott decision which was later overturned by legislative action. SCOTUS cannot dictate morals and require me as a citizen to accept a social contract I and many others consider unnatural, abnormal and immoral. SCOTUS cannot play God and impose some type of "secular religion of equality" on sincere people of faith in America against their will. That would be improper and illegal no matter how "trendy" we get. Or what the Supreme Court decides.
Again there are many honest people of faith who are very concerned because they see their long standing traditions and social mores demolished to give special treatment to a small select group with a lot of money and political influence who can't mind their own business but want me to accept something I and many others consider wrong.
That is not fair nor is it legal. One person's "equality" is another person's morality. Why are your "rights" more important than mine? But I guess that in the New Gaymerica what rights you get depend on how politically correct you are and the more "victimized" you are the more rights you deserve. I really don't think it works that way. At least not in America where I live.
Again there are many honest people of faith who are very concerned because they see their long standing traditions and social mores demolished to give special treatment to a small select group with a lot of money and political influence who can't mind their own business but want me to accept something I and many others consider wrong.
That is not fair nor is it legal. One person's "equality" is another person's morality. Why are your "rights" more important than mine? But I guess that in the New Gaymerica what rights you get depend on how politically correct you are and the more "victimized" you are the more rights you deserve. I really don't think it works that way. At least not in America where I live.
8
SCOTUS not only can, but is actually mandated to "impose some type of secular religion of equality". It's called the United States constitution.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
No state shall (...) deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
"Protection of the laws" would obviously include the right to not be "victimized". If you think that your rights are being attacked by denying you the right to victimize others, not even Scalia will help.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
No state shall (...) deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
"Protection of the laws" would obviously include the right to not be "victimized". If you think that your rights are being attacked by denying you the right to victimize others, not even Scalia will help.
could some kind soul provide a link to the outbreak of rapes by men dressed in women's clothing in the bathrooms or anywhere.?
5
Lawrence, you do realize that the ordinance did not restrict entry into women's rooms to people in dresses, right? There is no one at the door asking for the psychological breakdown of the men tromping in there. Any man in the bathroom has to be allowed.
Do you really need evidence that males assault females on a regular basis?
Do you really need evidence that males assault females on a regular basis?
4
What is more important, the feeling of security and safety of a transgender student or the feeling of security and safety of say a teenage school girl? Both right? Then why cant Transgender student be satisfied with their own gender neutral bathroom or even teachers? Why? because it is about forced there view on those who have a very different point of view.... It Takes two to make a Culture War.
16
I live in Houston and, yes, the scare tactic that was used was the "bathroom" issue. Even though, Houston, overall, is a left leaning city, most of the population live in the burbs, which are overrun with conservatives and the religious right. The churches were heavily involved in the anti HERO campaign and showed no flexibility in their agenda when it came to the bill. I can honestly say there are a few good people in Texas but the political environment is absolutely crazy. For that very reason, I will be returning to NYC in four months. NY may not be perfect but people just don't seem to be as concerned with others private personal behavior as they seem to in the South.
3
I am glad this ordinance passed. I knew that there were men in Houston who were cross-dressers. I just did not know how many. Now, that they have settled this matter I can bring my wife, sisters, mothers and daughters to your great city. It was one of the things that kept me up at night.
It is really a shame though. I do not know what to do with that dress I bought for my trip there next year.
But hey, what is to stop me right?
It is really a shame though. I do not know what to do with that dress I bought for my trip there next year.
But hey, what is to stop me right?
1
I dislike writing my views on this matter, knowing full well that like religion and politics it's joined the never-ending battle of arguments which never clarifies and ends in futility and stalemate. I feel that we humans have become so neurotic and imbalanced that too many pressures engendered by sexual matters, political and social matters, feuding religious beliefs which still erupt into warfare just drag us down however much we move forward technologically and in the spreading of knowledge so easily now, electronically. Drugs cause mental health problems which distort balanced thinking, homosexuals are, to me, unhealthy and unnatural. The Feminist movement is an unbalanced one, and actually destructive - except in the feminine world - and where is the fairness in that? Such selfishness is self-defeating in the long run. Any answers leading to a quick fix? Not the slightest chance. To mention a slant on all this which would be hilarious if there weren't such an overwhelming evidence to back-up their existence - space entities, which we call Aliens, never try to land here and attempt friendship. Let's just imagine for a spell that they do exist, and yet avoid us. Why?. Because they know us, they dislike us and distrust us. Looking at our human world dispassionately, could you blame them?
4
If only we could relieve ourselves of our egos, think of others before ourselves, we could escape the never-ending battle of arguments you speak of. It is so unfortunate that politics, religion, and all the rest of the dominant social forces at work today do nothing but build ego, separate us rather then bring us together. End result: insufferable arrogance, domination, and judgement.
1
It's too bad that, when confronted with issues that arise from our changing technologies and sensitivities, the discussions turn so shrill.
So-called 'rights' that trample traditions have the burden of convincing the majority. It's an uneven, often messy process. Yet, the more each side extends understanding to the other, the more likely it will be that the resolutions, when they occur, will be solid.
Forever, if you had a penis you were considered a male. And in our culture that distinction has been a very important one and, perhaps, for important reasons.
If you have a penis but consider yourself female, does that necessitate your need to use my daughters shower room? Do your feelings trump mine? What is your argument? Does it matter to you that your 'needs' make me very uncomfortable? Is my compromise offering without value?
If you overreach, many will over react. It's the way of change.
So-called 'rights' that trample traditions have the burden of convincing the majority. It's an uneven, often messy process. Yet, the more each side extends understanding to the other, the more likely it will be that the resolutions, when they occur, will be solid.
Forever, if you had a penis you were considered a male. And in our culture that distinction has been a very important one and, perhaps, for important reasons.
If you have a penis but consider yourself female, does that necessitate your need to use my daughters shower room? Do your feelings trump mine? What is your argument? Does it matter to you that your 'needs' make me very uncomfortable? Is my compromise offering without value?
If you overreach, many will over react. It's the way of change.
11
And it doesn't even accurately reflect Houston! The Houston I know, which elected a female mayor 33 years ago, an African American mayor 17 years ago, and an openly lesbian mayor six years ago simply failed to come out and vote. Dismal turnout caused this outcome, and many of my Houston friends are now complaining about HERO's failure when they themselves did not even vote!
All of the people calling for "boycott" of Houston or canceling trips here are foolish.
The HERO ordinance should have remained in affect as passed by our city council without the dimwit governor and state intervening. Basic rights should never be put on a ballot.
All of the people calling for "boycott" of Houston or canceling trips here are foolish.
The HERO ordinance should have remained in affect as passed by our city council without the dimwit governor and state intervening. Basic rights should never be put on a ballot.
5
Whites make up only 50% of Houston's population, the ordinance was defeated by a 2-1 margin. Seems there were a lot of minorities voting against the ordinance.
19
One cannot extrapolate based on the percentage of whites in the general population in Houston. Rather, one would have to look at the percentage of those who actually voted...
it's Texas, one need say no more.
3
Ohioans did not reject marijuana legalization. It rejected a constitutional amendment setting up a monopoly. It was not like Colorado, we didn't want to make it legal and keep the cartel. This was on the ballot:
"Issue 3
Grants a monopoly for the commercial production and sale of marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes
Proposed Constitutional Amendment
Proposed by Initiative Petition
To add Section 12 of Article XV of the Constitution of the State of Ohio.
A majority yes vote is necessary for the amendment to pass."
"Issue 3
Grants a monopoly for the commercial production and sale of marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes
Proposed Constitutional Amendment
Proposed by Initiative Petition
To add Section 12 of Article XV of the Constitution of the State of Ohio.
A majority yes vote is necessary for the amendment to pass."
4
DANGER The claims that there have not been incidents of sexual predation with transgender persons permitted to use bathrooms of the opposite gender is supported by research. If it proves to be dangerous then the regulation can be changed. Since the probability of new danger arising from a new regulation is very low, the fear seems to be irrational.
Even if that were true, who is going to stand at the door asking all the men how they "identify?" Kind of burdensome, no? So really, we know that letting in men (and more importantly, prohibiting women from kicking sketchy men out) is the de facto end result of the ordinance as it is written.
But it is not true anyway. Transwomen commit crimes, including crimes against women, at the same rate as any other men.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885%20
This isn't bigotry. I don't know a single woman who does not support a gender neutral option.
But it is not true anyway. Transwomen commit crimes, including crimes against women, at the same rate as any other men.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885%20
This isn't bigotry. I don't know a single woman who does not support a gender neutral option.
4
The people have spoken & the cultural liberals on the coasts don't like it. Keep moving further to the Left Dems, I'm sure everything will work out great for you all in '16.
16
Burqas for all. Problem solved.
2
I just wish the freaking DC Metro (the subway) had bathrooms of any kind!
4
They do - just have to ask an employee and they will unlock it for you.
A penis does not belong in a female bathroom. Nor does a vagina belong in a male bathroom. Transgender people need to complete their transgendering so that they re a complete man or woman. It'll solve the problem of which restroom to use.;
13
The rationale for having this law seems to have been, transgender people feel uncomfortable using the restroom for their assigned gender.
Transgender people do have at least one restroom they can use (the one for their assigned gender), plus often the private restrooms. So it isn't a matter of necessity, but one of preference. The voters of Texas decided that transgender preferences don't outweigh everyone else's. What's the big deal?
Transgender people do have at least one restroom they can use (the one for their assigned gender), plus often the private restrooms. So it isn't a matter of necessity, but one of preference. The voters of Texas decided that transgender preferences don't outweigh everyone else's. What's the big deal?
18
I have the impression the measure had no practical significance but was totally symbolic. So if you ask people to approve of you you should not act like a crybaby if they won't.
10
The vote was 61 to 39.
6
The country can only handle so many changes at one time AND as a woman, I don't want to share a bathroom with a male Pre-op....because MEN have plenty of advantages as it is.
At least allow women our own bathrooms, please! Jennner gets a Glamour award because he is a "better woman than a real woman"? Get over this stuff.
At least allow women our own bathrooms, please! Jennner gets a Glamour award because he is a "better woman than a real woman"? Get over this stuff.
26
Even to me the notion of women with male genitalia seems incongruous. I always believed SRS should be the litmus test and crossline between the sexes.
6
Now who's using scare tactics . . .
"Ms. Parker and her supporters said Houston would lose tourism and convention business if the city had to repeal the ordinance and became known for intolerance, just as a backlash in Indiana over a religious-objections law led to convention cancellations and boycotts before that law was changed. Supporters worried that a repeal of the Houston ordinance could also jeopardize its selection as host city for the Super Bowl in 2017."
"Ms. Parker and her supporters said Houston would lose tourism and convention business if the city had to repeal the ordinance and became known for intolerance, just as a backlash in Indiana over a religious-objections law led to convention cancellations and boycotts before that law was changed. Supporters worried that a repeal of the Houston ordinance could also jeopardize its selection as host city for the Super Bowl in 2017."
4
gotta love it when all the NY types say they will boycott Texas per their moral superiority. How's the ethics training on Wall Street going these days?
11
Wait, how about this solution: male, female, lgbt bathrooms. What's one more room?? Just designate 2 bathrooms in the Astrodome as lgbt. Or 2 as "all welcome." That's equality, right?...or is it?? Separate but equal?? Oh my, it is all so confusing!!! I'm exhausted!
3
If you have male equipment, use the boy's room. If you have female equipment, use the girl's room. If you have male equipment, but "feel" you are female, you should still use the boy's room. For Heaven's sake, it's a BATHROOM, not a lifestyle statement. So there.
19
Historical decision that the liberal component of the S. Ct. will overturn based on their personal (not legal) agenda. This is absurd, a man can use a women's room and vice versa?? You have got to be kidding me. If a man urinates on the sidewalk, that's crime, but a man openly and visually urinating in the women's bathroom, why that's a constitutional liberty protected by the right of privacy? Utterly absurd!!
10
Gee, no women's restroom I have ever seen has any facility for "openly and visually urinating." What on earth are you imagining?
1
At its core, this is about hate fueled by a fundamentalist sect of Chrstianity. "Religious freedom" only extends up to the point that it doesn't keep others from enjoying basic human rights like housing or going to the bathroom in public places. Your interpretation of your sacred text isn't shared by all. Is it any wonder why the number of people identifying as "Christian" are dropping like a rock? These so called Christians certainly don't speak for me. And I am Christian.
2
All this vitriol because people want to keep men out of women's bathrooms? Strange set of priorities you progressives have.
19
Please read up on what it means to be transgender before forming an opinion...
1
nymom,
It is not progressive to demand that all women accept the ideology that womanhood is nothing more than an idea. Women who have been discriminated against since the beginning of time didn't have the option of hopping out of their physical realities to stop it. Women who have their right to an abortion taken away don't get to just "identify" with not being pregnant anymore. Women face real problems because they are women, not because they identify as women. Women are defined by their physical realities.
Pretending that women's physical realities are meaningless is about as conservative as it gets. And insisting that everyone buy into that conservative idea is downright bizarre.
It is not progressive to demand that all women accept the ideology that womanhood is nothing more than an idea. Women who have been discriminated against since the beginning of time didn't have the option of hopping out of their physical realities to stop it. Women who have their right to an abortion taken away don't get to just "identify" with not being pregnant anymore. Women face real problems because they are women, not because they identify as women. Women are defined by their physical realities.
Pretending that women's physical realities are meaningless is about as conservative as it gets. And insisting that everyone buy into that conservative idea is downright bizarre.
5
Boycott Houston. Boycott all of Texas, for that matter, for a lot of reasons: the hateful ignorance of the recent voters, yes, the disgraceful state-sanctioned death penalty killings, spawning of the Bushes, ad nauseating nauseam.
4
Colorado went through this years ago with Focus on the Family trying to whip up the locals against its own gay citizenry. Their head at the time, James Dobson, even went to Washington to study "hard-core gay porn" which oddly never seemed to interest anyone but him and a few of his fellow scare-mongers who had a strange amount of energy for their "studies". These fear issues are going to be around until people call their bluff and cooler heads prevail. In our case the Colorado Constitution ruled it unconstitutional to discriminate, but the Trojan Horse issue used at the time was to try to legally discriminate. It won't win out in Houston either.
1
First Houston elects an openly gay mayor. Now they reject this gay ordinance. Rather than assume they have returned to their Neanderthal roots, maybe the problem is the ordinance itself. The decision by the Obama administration that girls at an Ohio high school must share their locker room, without restrictions or even a curtain, with a guy who claims to be transgender, might have influenced this vote. Can anyone honestly state that this Houston ordinance would not force women to share public bathrooms with men? Thank you President Obama.
17
My daughter has considered the possibility of having to move to TX for her significant other's job. I've counseled against- and just sent her this article. I wouldn't spend one tourist dollar in this state- and certainly wouldn't live there. If this can happen in one of their major cities, what must it be like to live in the sticks?? This is one of many trends out of the crazy state- revisionist textbooks that downplay slavery and teach creationism; the 'open carry' laws that arm every 'have something to prove' idiot in any setting. I believe I've made my point- as a teacher, she's made it clear she wouldn't work in TX. I guess we could all withhold our tourist dollars- but frankly, having been there many times on business, I doubt tourism is much of a revenue-generator.
3
Your daughter would probably be happy that Texas isn't welcoming males into female-only spaces - the only space she gets free from males and the risk of male violence...
16
Cool...
Elizabeth, what on earth makes you think that a man bent upon violence against women would be stopped by repealing an anti-discrimination ordinance?
In the news here in Massachusetts is the case of a teacher raped and murdered in a women's restroom, allegedly by a male student. No one has suggested that this crime could have been prevented by some ordinance or the lack of one.
In the news here in Massachusetts is the case of a teacher raped and murdered in a women's restroom, allegedly by a male student. No one has suggested that this crime could have been prevented by some ordinance or the lack of one.
1
Americans value their privacy and freedom. Why don't we get busy building unisex single person units for changing, showering and toileting all across this great land? All y'all, please be neat and wipe the seat; a lady may use the room after you.
4
It's not hate to want bathrooms/locker rooms that are single gender usage. It's incredible that this is even a thing. Privacy and modesty are real concerns for apparently more people than supporters of this measure realized.
20
I have news for you: many transgender people are already using women's restrooms. You just don't know they are trans. And I still can't figure out why anyone would care?
1
So we are not supposed to care about women's feelings but we are supposed to care about men's? Men get the right to avoid men, but women are not afforded that right? Why on earth is a gender neutral option not enough for you? Why do YOU care so much that women submit?
5
Whew! with all the reports of bathroom molestation flooding the news, looks like they dodged a bullet.
3
Yes heterosexuals have rights also. So tired of being called a bigot a racist... this vote shows that even with all of Hollywood money, and the lefts money the majority of people still have common values and common sense.
17
The reason this law was rejected is simple, it went too far and was too broad. There was too much included for people to take in at once. If the part about transgenders having free access to either restroom was removed, the law would have passed. So lets not just blame this on discrimination against gays and lesbians.
17
I voted against the proposal simply because the proposal failed to explain itself clearly. Using a name to arouse population is a dumb move. What is this proposal got to do with "HERO", the name of the proposal? For a ordinary citizen, I know what a hero is, and definitely this proposal is not a hero.
6
I'm not surprised that opponents appealed to people's biases and used unfounded fears to defeat this ordinance. Republicans have used those tactics to great effect. I'm just saddened that it continues to work.
3
Proud of my fellow Houston Voters. We don't need this ordinance. We didn't want it. Mayor Parker made this a personal campaign and spent millions on what should have been spent on our poor roads. Mayor Parker's hypocrisy is what killed this ordinance as well. She made a huge mistake infringing on the 1st Amendment Rights of local Clergy (typical tyrannical liberal stuff) We have $3billion in unfunded liabilities...this is the dumbest thing to spend time and money on. We have real challenges in Houston. This was just a distraction.
17
As if women need more people in line at their public restrooms. Please, don't we get shortchanged as it is?? These men want to take the few spots we have? Go away and pee in the bushes.
15
If your put urinals in women's restroom, transgender women would not have to wait in line.
2
But men want stuff. They want your stuff. You are just a woman. So give them your stuff.
Oh and if you don't? You must be a bigot. Nice campaign.
Oh and if you don't? You must be a bigot. Nice campaign.
5
Houston is an unsafe place to visit or to send your children as students. Meeting and event planners should scratch the city off their lists of potential sites for conventions for the health and safety of participants.
3
While many of us voted for this proposal it is not surprising it failed. For those of you who do not live in Houston the mayor in her third and final term had gotten too far out on her skies by pushing this amendment over doing something about the terrible traffic, drainage issues and crime. She was seen as a one issue mayor and neglected the first rule of local politics which is to take care of issues deemed critical to those who work and commute daily. In another year this would pass if properly worded.
6
When will we understand that individual and minority rights are not subject to "majority rule"?
6
Ohio stood up and said no to a legalized oligarchy, a huge liberal pain point, and we're worried about a Houston gender initiative? Keep to the substantive issues.
While I have met the Tafts (who invested) through professional organizations and both are well known locally (one is a musician), realize it's the typical silver-spoon George W Bush-type scenario (Phillips Academy to Yale to Family Firm); overall, it is a huge blow to those in power who wish to use capital as a ways of creating a market and locking others out.
If a boy wants to go into a girls bathroom, this issue is no substantive as much as locking up a multi-billion dollar market.
While I have met the Tafts (who invested) through professional organizations and both are well known locally (one is a musician), realize it's the typical silver-spoon George W Bush-type scenario (Phillips Academy to Yale to Family Firm); overall, it is a huge blow to those in power who wish to use capital as a ways of creating a market and locking others out.
If a boy wants to go into a girls bathroom, this issue is no substantive as much as locking up a multi-billion dollar market.
The marijuana legalization referendum turned out not to be about marijuana. The issue was inserting into the state constitution a clause creating a cartel of 10 businesses to own all marijuana growing and selling in the state. The defeat of the issue was about shutting down this business model. In fact, a second referendum prohibiting existence of such a cartel also passed. So we still don't know whether Ohio wants marijuana to be legal. All we know is we don't want state-protected private businesses owning the marijuana market.
6
That's right. Have an ordinance that makes it illegal for a transgendered person to enter a woman's bathroom. Is this going to stop a non-transgendered male from going in the bathroom?
3
I find it interesting that an open-minded publication like The New York Times doesn't publish my comments when I refer to so-called "transgender" people as people who "masquerade" as members of the opposite gender, which is what they are doing.
Your gender is determined not by your look or what you think, but by your organs, your genes, your chromosomes, your DNA. Change your appearance all you want, mess with your organs to your heart's content, you remain what you were born. Any high school kid with a microscope and a cheek cell sample can easily figure out your true gender.
Your gender is determined not by your look or what you think, but by your organs, your genes, your chromosomes, your DNA. Change your appearance all you want, mess with your organs to your heart's content, you remain what you were born. Any high school kid with a microscope and a cheek cell sample can easily figure out your true gender.
13
What's really disturbing on this entire LGBT issue is how it is affecting young, elementary and high school students. It is appalling that the parents of these young people who call themselves transgenders actually endorse and are supportive of their claim!!! How can a 12 to 17 year old child claim they are transgender when in all probability they really have no clue as to why? Is this the new "in" thing?
10
The suicide rate amongst transgender youth is sky high. 41% of people who are transgender have attempted suicide.
It is ignorance such as yours which is contributing to it. NO, it is not an 'in' thing.
Egads.
It is ignorance such as yours which is contributing to it. NO, it is not an 'in' thing.
Egads.
3
Like in quite a few other articles, this one seems to suggest we assume the right of the transgendered person to use a given bathroom instead of the one corresponding to the person's biological sex. I've seen that "right" asserted many times, but I've never read an argument in favor of it (whether a good or bad argument). I deeply want to respect transgendered people's dignity, to be kind and to accept them on equal footing to my own. But I don't see why their feelings outweigh the feelings of the vast majority of people who use a given bathroom. Might it not be the case that the cisgendered people are being discriminated against when a transgendered person uses their sex's bathroom?
13
The basic problem with progressives is that they effectively want to ELEVATE the rights of LGBT people above the rights of others.
1
Supporters said the ordinance was similar to those approved in 200 other cities and prohibited bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services for 15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity.
-------------------------------
There is no justification at all for using gender identity as a protected class.
-------------------------------
There is no justification at all for using gender identity as a protected class.
4
HUD has amended the federal guidelines on housing and bank lending; the feds have NOT amended Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964. However, states and local municipalities can and whichever is the most stringent applies.
The fear of men being allowed in women's bathrooms is not irrational. Wasn't it just yesterday that the federal Department of Education ordered Illinois to allow boys into the girls shower if they "identify" as girls? When the federal government issues these insane pronouncements, expect some pushback, some common sense.
Proponents outspent the opponents by 3 to 1, but common sense prevailed. I suspect that federal order to Illinois did more for the opponents than any of their ad spending.
The ERA was killed because opponents thought it would require unisex toilets. Turns out the opponents were right after all.
Proponents outspent the opponents by 3 to 1, but common sense prevailed. I suspect that federal order to Illinois did more for the opponents than any of their ad spending.
The ERA was killed because opponents thought it would require unisex toilets. Turns out the opponents were right after all.
9
There was a successful boycott of Colorado after a similar anti-gay proposition was passed in the early 90's. Conventions were moved. Some corporations let it be known that they would not open facilities there. Just sayin'
2
Progressives may have jumped the shark with the subjective gender-identity protection movement, which is confounding the sensibilities of even well-established, reliable liberals. For conservatives, it's political manna from heaven.
11
Texas shows, once again, why it needs to secede from the rest of the world.
3
"The issue was one of a handful of high-profile initiatives across the nation up for a vote on Tuesday, some of which had similar culture-war undertones"
As always, too much too soon. Change takes time and in-your-face change rarely succeeds at the ballot.
Those in favor of such initiatives always hand their opponents ammunition to bolster a wider political agenda.
As always, too much too soon. Change takes time and in-your-face change rarely succeeds at the ballot.
Those in favor of such initiatives always hand their opponents ammunition to bolster a wider political agenda.
I live in Houston, and believe me when I say we have one of the most diverse cities in the nation, especially in Texas. We have some of the best food, some of the best art, and the best tourist sites we have to offer.
Yet, you wouldn't know it, because of this ordinance that failed to pass. We shouldn't have to put equal rights on a ballot in this day and age. No one's asking to share restrooms -which is not even in the ordinance- it's saying that since we are one of the diverse cities in the nation, we must protect our citizens from discrimination.
I also feel that the majority of the younger voters did not make any effort to get their vote in. Every time I am at the voting booth, I find myself amongst a group of senior citizens at the booths as well. I feel as if I am the youngest there, and I'm almost 35. That should not be the case.
You can't make any change from reading the issues on your phone or computer if you don't get out there and learn the issues, and make the effort.
Yet, you wouldn't know it, because of this ordinance that failed to pass. We shouldn't have to put equal rights on a ballot in this day and age. No one's asking to share restrooms -which is not even in the ordinance- it's saying that since we are one of the diverse cities in the nation, we must protect our citizens from discrimination.
I also feel that the majority of the younger voters did not make any effort to get their vote in. Every time I am at the voting booth, I find myself amongst a group of senior citizens at the booths as well. I feel as if I am the youngest there, and I'm almost 35. That should not be the case.
You can't make any change from reading the issues on your phone or computer if you don't get out there and learn the issues, and make the effort.
10
Voter turnout was 26.95 which proves the point of Republcians, when voter turnout is low, Republcians and their polices win. A big chunk of those voters are bigots. Voter turnout in KY was about 30.7% also. With these low voter turnouts, Democrats and the polices they support, lose. KY folks will now lose their insurance because the Republican governor says he will repeal it.
7
I thought there had been a real case (I forget where) of a woman being assaulted by a transgender person in a women's bathroom. My recollection is that it was not a sexual assault. The biological woman questioned the other person's right to be there and h/she assaulted her with physical violence. I say "h/she", not "she", because the assailant had the muscles of a male (whatever other parts may or may not have been). Is this fear-mongering? I'm never quite clear about the semantics of "mongering" in that oft-repeated phrase. There is such a thing as legitimate fear.
5
I think there's a very simple solution to this problem.<br /><br />Since the whole argument is about disagreement between gender identity and a right to use a restroom, then everybody should be totally satisfied if we just exclude restrooms at all from the question of gender identity. Just replace the "Men" and "Women" signs on the restrooms' doors with signs "For People with Penises" and "For People with Vaginas".
8
Or simply build unisex bathrooms.
I'm guessing the ordinance was repealed because at this moment people are enraged about the rulings that allow people with male bodies to use women's bathrooms and people with female bodies to you men's bathrooms, without any regard for the rights of ordinary people who vehemently oppose these rulings. And as one who is generally liberal, I fear that this issue alone could easily change enough votes to tip the next presidential election to the GOP.
7
sure glad civil rights for minority groups are up for popular vote
1
As a native Houstonian, this is much more than embarrassing. So much for your "Christian" ethos, Houston. This is precisely why 90% of churches are shrinking. Matthew 7:21-23
4
Your headline is completely off-base. Any man with common sense and decency will vote to not allow women in the bathroom with them and to allow men in the bathroom with their wives and daughters. SMH!
4
The entire sexual predators in women's bathroom scare is reminiscent of California's gay marriage ban ads a few years ago. Gay marriage opponents managed to drum up the votes arguing legalized gay marriage will result in schools teaching gay propaganda and turning your kids gay.
Similar scare tactics here.
Similar scare tactics here.
2
We had the same in Colorado. Advocates should look at these old cases- they have been around a looooong time.
1
Transgender issues have absolutely nothing to do with gay rights. Gay rights aren't taking rights away from anyone. Moreover, if you want to talk about anti-gay, you might want to look at the 80% of children who identify as the opposite sex who end up just being gay. These days those children are told they are really straight but the opposite sex. Sounds like gay conversion therapy to me.
2
Almost every time one group demands rights, it is always at the expense of someone else's rights. In the city of Houston, they took a vote and some voters felt that some rights were superior to others.
3
I am sure this means little but I was a parole agent for the California Department of Corrections for 23 years. In that time I dealt with hundreds of rapists. I had to read their case file, interview them, monitor their progress. I had to read psych evaluations which are invaluable And I can tell you this
Anyone who dismisses the possibility of a rape or some type assault taking place is a fool. Most rapists are pattern rapists They develop a pathology and stick to it because that is what they are comfortable with And the mistake people make is to assume The attack has to take place there They will not commit an act in a highly trafficked venue unless there are few women there. They could use the locker room as a means of developing possible targets. Rapes are not spur of the moment for the most part. Most rapists will plan their rapes, pick a target, understand habits and patterns and determine the best time and place. They want isolated areas so they can maintain control and complete the attack
I really think most of you have no idea how a rapists minds work After 23 years of dealing with them, attending seminars, spending countless hours talking to psych.'s I have a pretty good idea If you want an invaluable resource get "Inside the Criminal Mind" by Stuart Samanow That will really teach anyone a great deal and give them a very broad understanding Frankly you will see things other people will not see It's that good
Anyone who dismisses the possibility of a rape or some type assault taking place is a fool. Most rapists are pattern rapists They develop a pathology and stick to it because that is what they are comfortable with And the mistake people make is to assume The attack has to take place there They will not commit an act in a highly trafficked venue unless there are few women there. They could use the locker room as a means of developing possible targets. Rapes are not spur of the moment for the most part. Most rapists will plan their rapes, pick a target, understand habits and patterns and determine the best time and place. They want isolated areas so they can maintain control and complete the attack
I really think most of you have no idea how a rapists minds work After 23 years of dealing with them, attending seminars, spending countless hours talking to psych.'s I have a pretty good idea If you want an invaluable resource get "Inside the Criminal Mind" by Stuart Samanow That will really teach anyone a great deal and give them a very broad understanding Frankly you will see things other people will not see It's that good
5
YESTERDAY on these comment boards I wrote about ballot box backlash when political correctness runs amuk in this country as with the Feds and the transgender "bathroom issue". I warned that if the left continued to push the left side of the envelope by cramming PC liberalism down the collective American gullet there would be ballot box consequences, I must say that it usually takes more than 24 hours for me to be proved right, but not here. Liberals moan (often on these very comment boards) about people "voting contrary to their own interest". Go ahead and continue to push the left side of the envelope and the progressive prize may well be a Republican in the White House in 2016.
8
Scary thought especially if it were to be a republican from Texas: aka Ted Cruz
if a transgender male to female enters a women's room and uses a private stall, in all probability, no one would even know. No harm done. No issue here.
If that same person had the appearance of a woman - clothing, hair, makeup, etc., there would be a lot more discord created in a men's room.
However accommodation in a high school locker room or shower room presents a totally different situation. Same for a public gym.
Let's have a little measure of common sense on both sides
If that same person had the appearance of a woman - clothing, hair, makeup, etc., there would be a lot more discord created in a men's room.
However accommodation in a high school locker room or shower room presents a totally different situation. Same for a public gym.
Let's have a little measure of common sense on both sides
6
Few transgender women look like women and few transgender men look like women.
2
Social conservatives LOL , (lots of social conservatives on the streets of Houston)don't blame them, in polls a majority of African americans have little sympathy for the rights of homosexuals and LGBT
2
People are tired of false and exaggerated accusarions of increasingly obscure discrimination and demands that government fund cohorts of activists and invent new departments to make-work, invent lawsuits, and impose their personal preferences on others with the weight of law. This sort of abuse of government is what was voted down this week. The mayor should turn her attention to issues that matter for everyone, not just her privileged peer group and coffee clatch. That is the message too. And these threats she's issuing -- to undermine the city's competitiveness for hosting events because she didn't didn't get her way -- tear the mask off her actual loyalities and affirms critics' suspicions that behind this entire campaign was a thuggish threat: give me the powers I want or I will label you a homophobe and destroy you. Hopefully voters will remember her real attitude towards them andher real ambitions and behavior when they head to the ballot box next time. Rule by threat smacks of some very ugly stuff.
5
Bathrooms were much of the argument against the equal rights amendment. It appears to be a pretty effective scare tactic.
I am a bit reminded of objections to black folks using 'white' drinking fountains or bathrooms. The bigots and racists, haters and narrow-minded are locked into their fixed concepts of what human beings are. If we are different, we are to be jammed into the closet and forced to go with the flow--or excluded.
I am transgendered. When I am dressed as a woman, I will use a unisex facility if available. But if I will not feel right about going in the men's' room . Women's restrooms are all privacy stalls, and I'm not going in there on a sight-seeing mission--I just need to urinate.
Houston seems awfully small this morning.
I am transgendered. When I am dressed as a woman, I will use a unisex facility if available. But if I will not feel right about going in the men's' room . Women's restrooms are all privacy stalls, and I'm not going in there on a sight-seeing mission--I just need to urinate.
Houston seems awfully small this morning.
3
"When I am dressed as a woman". In other words, you're a man! Use the men's room! Women and girls have a right to their own spaces for reasons of safety and modesty. Your right to play dress up does not trump the rights of women and girls to safety, privacy, and modesty.
6
"When I am dressed as a woman"...I thought we're all being told that transgendered means you're living as a woman. Because in your head, you are a woman. Sounds like this is a game of dress-up for you. Germaine Greer is correct - putting on a dress does not make you a woman. Please do not insult the rest of us, that our "womanhood" is derived from an outward appearance.
5
It is incredibly offensive to equate women's privacy rights with racial discrimination. It's also just flat out false, but a common tactic to try and shame women into compliance.
I know plenty of transwomen who respect women's desire for privacy and are pretty embarrassed with the snarling, sexist campaign going on to bully women into giving it up. They advocate for 3rd option bathrooms.
I know plenty of transwomen who respect women's desire for privacy and are pretty embarrassed with the snarling, sexist campaign going on to bully women into giving it up. They advocate for 3rd option bathrooms.
4
Many people will jump to support the rejected Houston ordinance on purely ideological grounds, but I do think there is a significant burden of proof that discrimination is currently being practiced, and that such a law is practically needed.
I don't know Houston, and perhaps transgendered people are prohibited from water fountains and bathrooms there, or kicked out of stores and restaurants, as black people used to be, in which case the law is definitely appropriate. But since most people are not even aware of it when a transgendered person is in the room, it's hard to see how such a system of discrimination could exist.
Personally, I think the only reason to kick someone out of your store is disruptive behavior, and I think everyone needs to poop etc, so I don't support that kind of discrimination, but I also don't think states should pass laws just to showcase their ideological allegiances.
I don't know Houston, and perhaps transgendered people are prohibited from water fountains and bathrooms there, or kicked out of stores and restaurants, as black people used to be, in which case the law is definitely appropriate. But since most people are not even aware of it when a transgendered person is in the room, it's hard to see how such a system of discrimination could exist.
Personally, I think the only reason to kick someone out of your store is disruptive behavior, and I think everyone needs to poop etc, so I don't support that kind of discrimination, but I also don't think states should pass laws just to showcase their ideological allegiances.
Living in Houston, it's very sad to have to continually face ignorance and bigotry. Unfortunately, it's more a product of the political process. The Democrats don't show up for non-general elections whereas the Republicans always do. This was simply a case of the conservative Republicans showing up and the Democrats not. When we went to the polls today, they were virtually empty. Next year, the Democrats will do better but the Republicans know that they will make up for any losses by winning in the other three 'off years'.
5
I'm not a woman, but before advocating "protection of our mothers, wives, and daughters," would it not make sense to ask what THEY think or do they NEED protection? This is a sad day for democracy.
Mild-Mannered Economist: And Texas is the state which wants to protect its women from making the mistake of having an abortion after rape/incest/life of mother situation. Sure they were only thinking of their little helpless females!! And I agree it is a sad day for democracy.
Why is it so important that transgender men go into woman's lockerrooms or bathrooms. There are stalls in the men's room to use as well.
What is the actual point?
What is the actual point?
3
It is quite clear there needs to be three types of public restrooms.
There is a men's restroom with the picture of a man on it.
There is a women's restroom with a picture of a woman on it.
There is a third restroom for all of those folks whose constitutions are too delicate to be asked to understand basic biology. This restroom has a special little snowflake on it.
There is a men's restroom with the picture of a man on it.
There is a women's restroom with a picture of a woman on it.
There is a third restroom for all of those folks whose constitutions are too delicate to be asked to understand basic biology. This restroom has a special little snowflake on it.
6
One would have hoped that an article reporting on the defeat of this proposition would mention the actual vote: it was defeated by an overwhelming margin of 61% to 39%.
I guess that result didn't fit The Narrative.
I guess that result didn't fit The Narrative.
5
It's in the second paragraph!
1
I'm sure the LGBT vehemently disagrees with me; however I believe that gender is defined by my chromosomal makeup (XX for female; XY for male) and that what gender I "identify" myself to be does not change what gender I am. "Caitlyn" Jenner will always be a male, no matter what hormones he takes or what cosmetic surgery he undergoes. As such, "gender identity" is a fraud being perpetrated upon us that is similar to the fraudulent contention that God created sex and marriage to be shared between same sex humans. Look at the tragedies that misapplied sexuality has brought us - increased HIV infection rates in men having sex with men; STDs in those who do not practice monogamy (as in marriage) with their opposite sex partner, and the inability of those who practice same sex relationships to conceive a child. As such, I believe that the people of Houston rightly stated that there should be boundaries in sexuality and that the same-sex and gender confusion agenda being promoted by the New York Times and its editors is WRONG!
5
What do you expect a day after the Education Department told a school district to allow a supposed transgender child unrestricted access to the girls' locker room? The self-righteous, self-centered, and moralistic preaching is even starting to get me - about as liberal in theses matters as they come. Further accusations that I don't understand the what being transgender is and if I don't agree with them t I must not be concerned for the children, further rub me the wrong way. I am concerned for the children, all of them, but there as some things that have to be worked out.
6
If you want to get an idea as to what is going on in the minds of those who voted against the anti-discrimination ordinance, go to the Houston Chronicle website and read the comments of those who voted to repeal the ordinance. I cannot repeat what they said here as it would be a violation of the New York Times posting guidelines.
2
Interesting that the Governor of Texas Dan Patrick, in his remarks, blames liberals and Hillary Clinton for advancing an anti-discrimination ordinance. And he goes on to say that both Democrats and Republicans voted against this ordinance. I wonder how many transgender Republicans, and there must be some, voted against this bill. How many gay Republicans, and there are surely some, voted against this ordinance.
3
Who is in more danger?
1- a woman in a public bathroom when a transgender person who identifies as female sits down in the stall next to them; or 2- a transgender woman who is forced to use a Texas men's room, because she hasn't completed reassignment surgery, and still has a penis.
Still, LGBT activists and other progressives should heed this little setback for what it is: a reminder that changing people's attitudes takes time, and the reactionaries aren't giving up. If you push too hard, it can be counterproductive.
1- a woman in a public bathroom when a transgender person who identifies as female sits down in the stall next to them; or 2- a transgender woman who is forced to use a Texas men's room, because she hasn't completed reassignment surgery, and still has a penis.
Still, LGBT activists and other progressives should heed this little setback for what it is: a reminder that changing people's attitudes takes time, and the reactionaries aren't giving up. If you push too hard, it can be counterproductive.
2
Again I ask: who is going to stand at the entrance of the women's room and ensure that the men entering it identify as female? Pretending that women are scared of the bogeyman is just gaslighting women. Women have every right to want male-free bathrooms.
If you actually cared about transgender safety, you would support gender neutral options that keep respect for women intact. That is not what this movement does, however. Why is it so important to force women to submit when a sane compromise exists? The only conclusion I can make is that the movement wants women to accept the ideology that womanhood is defined by "feelings" and will not stop until they agree.
If you actually cared about transgender safety, you would support gender neutral options that keep respect for women intact. That is not what this movement does, however. Why is it so important to force women to submit when a sane compromise exists? The only conclusion I can make is that the movement wants women to accept the ideology that womanhood is defined by "feelings" and will not stop until they agree.
3
And what about lesbians trying to sneak into the men's room.
All this stuff sounds like a new version of the laws and regulations which governed blacks in this country. Remember when the races had to be segregated to ensure purity of the white race?
Or is it more similar to the 2,000 year perspective of Jews by some?
Or maybe I got this mixed up with the immigrant issue?
No, maybe it has to do with treatment of Islamic and Arabs?
Sometimes it is difficult to follow all the hatred in this Land of Liberty. Justice for All, etc.
Or is it just me having this problem of deciding to hate?
Ever wonder what happened to Jesus' call to love one another?
Nah! That has to be a lie.
All this stuff sounds like a new version of the laws and regulations which governed blacks in this country. Remember when the races had to be segregated to ensure purity of the white race?
Or is it more similar to the 2,000 year perspective of Jews by some?
Or maybe I got this mixed up with the immigrant issue?
No, maybe it has to do with treatment of Islamic and Arabs?
Sometimes it is difficult to follow all the hatred in this Land of Liberty. Justice for All, etc.
Or is it just me having this problem of deciding to hate?
Ever wonder what happened to Jesus' call to love one another?
Nah! That has to be a lie.
1
Maybe now the Mayor of Houston can focus on fixing the humongous potholes on Houston's city streets.
5
Well thank goodness I've been to Houston. I won't feel bad about never going there again.
1
It would seem someone has some common sense in this nation
Bravo Houston. Bravo Texas.
Bravo Houston. Bravo Texas.
7
Who's in charge of the Democratic Party? I'd almost swear it must be a saboteur dead set on bailing out the Republican Party by handing over the 2016 election. Sex and guns... way to go.
5
Transgender ≠ gay. Transgender rights have nothing to do with gay rights. The "T" needs to be excised from LGB. And while we're at it stop the ever growing acronym - its up to a ridiculous LGBTQIA+ now.
9
I couldn't agree more. Especially since lesbians are being represented less and less by that alphabet soup.
4
The opponents of the the Houston anti-discrimination ordinance should thank the U.S. Department of Education for contributing to their victory in the referendum. The Department's battle with the Palatine, Illinois school district over a transgender student's access to the girls' locker room gave credibility to their arguments about the impact of the ordinance.
6
I think it is time for Texas to secede from the union.
2
Seccession? Over not letting men use women's bathrooms?
There is a level of insanity that permeates the progressive left in this country that needs to be acknowledged and confronted.
That said, what a wonderful country an independent texas would be.
There is a level of insanity that permeates the progressive left in this country that needs to be acknowledged and confronted.
That said, what a wonderful country an independent texas would be.
8
There were already codes that prevent any type of harassment or unwanted conduct in restrooms. The Proposition simply protected LGBT and other classes of people from discrimination. LGBT folks have NO federal protections against discrimination.
1
That is untrue, since many women see a man in their bathroom in the first place as harassment.
4
Perhaps what we need is a little more education on the "pre op" issue... what it means and why it is so important to the overall subject. My understanding is that many transgendered individuals choose not to go the final irreversible step of reassignment surgery. If this is true, and my understanding may be flawed, then I think people can genuinely argue that the individuals so inclined are not really willing to change. If they are not willing to complete the process why should society have to go the extra mile? I believe the conversation would be different if we were only talking about "post op" patients, as it is difficult to determine the difference between a "post op" patient and someone who enjoys cross dressing.
9
Since the times did not give the actual referendum result, it is:
(94 percent of precincts reporting)
Yes 39 percent
No 61 percent
(94 percent of precincts reporting)
Yes 39 percent
No 61 percent
3
In my experience, it's not the transsexuals amongst us we need to be worried about. Having single sex lavatories need do nothing to protect females, especially young females, against unwanted intrusions from males.
Here's an example of this. When my daughter was very young, she went into the lavatories marked female in the David Jones department store at Rundle Mall in Adelaide. An uneducated peasant woman from Calabria, visiting her daughter who worked in the store, couldn't be bothered to walk her hefty chunk of a twelve-year-old son to the male lavatories at the other end of the floor - so she made him go into the women's.
The young oaf promptly burst in the cubicle door on my daughter sitting on the loo who was very upset. When I remonstrated with her, the appalling mother thought it all a great joke and made this clear using the most revolting language, hand symbols and other gestures.
Here's an example of this. When my daughter was very young, she went into the lavatories marked female in the David Jones department store at Rundle Mall in Adelaide. An uneducated peasant woman from Calabria, visiting her daughter who worked in the store, couldn't be bothered to walk her hefty chunk of a twelve-year-old son to the male lavatories at the other end of the floor - so she made him go into the women's.
The young oaf promptly burst in the cubicle door on my daughter sitting on the loo who was very upset. When I remonstrated with her, the appalling mother thought it all a great joke and made this clear using the most revolting language, hand symbols and other gestures.
2
K R is correct. Visit San Antonio---avoid Houston. Don't use their airport as a stop-over. And try to avoid blaming this vote on non-Houston citizens, like the U.S. President, or the citizens of Houston who do have their head on straight. Concentrate on those muddle-headed but God loving pastors like Mr. Patrick and the many who think like him. But they sure showed the Mayor who's boss. They also showed the rest of the country just what bigotry looks like.
You must be kidding. All this vitriol because people want to keep men out of women's bathrooms?
7
It's funny, because I think forcing women to give up their rights is bigotry. It's actually not funny, because women now have confirmation of how passionately some people want them to submit. It's frightening.
4
I *was* going to visit Houston, see the museums, attend the opera, check out the dining scene. Give Texas a chance, as they say. Well, Houston--you blew it. I'm saving my money for a more welcoming city.
3
Does this also means those of you who can't find jobs where you live are going to stop moving to the Houston area at the rate of 1,000 people per week?
Texas has not exactly been in the forefront of women's rights, so it's just insulting to use "protection of women" as a rationale for limiting human rights.
6
True. Only when it serves some group politically, who absolutely would never lift a finger to make the lives of American women better.
2
I think what they meant was "protection of CHRISTIAN women"
What does it say about those who "champion" women's rights only to have them arguing that a man should be allowed into a women's shower room?
2
I'm reminded of a beach in France where nobody cared. Maybe we should approach things as they do and change our way of thinking. Also, food for thought: the sign outside the bathroom door could be a touch-screen where the person types in whatever they want before entering the room.
2
Pointing out the obvious – sexual predation - and entering a restroom, mens or women - with this intent - is already illegal. It was illegal 50 years ago, its illegal today, it will be illegal 50 years hence.
The argument that, "... about protecting women and girls from sexual predators." is to state (and vote for) what already exists. In this regard - Texans voted for... nothing.
The argument that, "... about protecting women and girls from sexual predators." is to state (and vote for) what already exists. In this regard - Texans voted for... nothing.
2
How about a woman's right to privacy. Does that count for anything.
6
And yet pointing out that using guns to commit crimes is already illegal hasn't dampened your enthusiasm for more gun control, has it?
Michael F: NO ONE believes that the Tea Party types care about "women's privacy" - they are the same ones who are gung ho about the idea of transvaginal probes mandated by the state by the antiabortion crowd.
This is fantasy "caring" about women's issues.
This is fantasy "caring" about women's issues.
1
The people of Houston are vicious, anti-gay bigots; that's why they elected a lesbian mayor three times running. It's what people like that do.
18
"Houston, we have a problem."
2
Until Election Day is a National holiday, the majority of people in this country will not be able to get to the ballot box and express the "will of the people".
2
Every other sizable Texas city has a similar ordinance. If there had been even one case of men using those ordinances to molest little girls in restrooms, we would have heard about it 24/7. The issue was a red herring, dreamed up by the anti-HERO forces, led by well-known anti-gay activists. The pro-HERO forces were out-organised and out-spent. Their ineptness was dismaying. However, the saddest thing is the aggressive anti-HERO activity by black church leaders - proof that suffering from discrimination doesn't inoculate people from gladly discriminating against others.
Readers might note that almost 27% of registered voters in Houston bothered to vote.
Readers might note that almost 27% of registered voters in Houston bothered to vote.
2
No other Texas city has an ordnance that permits men to use women's restrooms, locker rooms and showers or women to use men's restrooms, locker rooms and showers.
3
Congratulations to the 61% of Houston who acknowledge the undeclared hazards of unrestricted equal rights. As a member of an athletic club that appeals to all ages, I am noticing how the men's locker room has a defensive aire about it as we are now concerned about who is lusting after the men. These clubs shouldn't have to provide separate showers and dressing rooms for every individual because just because we don't know who is homo- or bi- sexual. I lived for a year in San Francisco and finally left because I was the hunted, propositioned weekly, stalked on busses and expected to feel normal in their social gatherings. Bathrooms, showers, tax evasion, temporary feigned relationships for ambitious reasons... where will this end? Lust in all directions becomes a hazardous sexual tolerance.
2
As a trans woman who uses public restroom, I cannot even put words to how offensive it is to be lumped in with sexual predators. The arguments deployed by opponents of this measure can be easily refuted simply by looking at the experience of other states and cities which have passed identical laws. But beyond that, and this is the thing which truly galls me, the opponents of the measure made gross appeals to ignorance on the level of the Salem Witch Trials.
Implying, without evidence, that an entire group of people is really just a bunch of sexual predators, and that their asserted sexual predations are sufficient reason to deny them civil rights protections is utterly appalling. 30 years from now, perhaps even 20 years from now, when the march of history has made its judgement, the people who voted against and campaigned against this measure will have something to truly be ashamed of.
I tend to think the Houston business community, which supported the measure, was right: I know at least one sought after software engineer who won't take a job in Houston due to lack of civil rights protection. Me.
Implying, without evidence, that an entire group of people is really just a bunch of sexual predators, and that their asserted sexual predations are sufficient reason to deny them civil rights protections is utterly appalling. 30 years from now, perhaps even 20 years from now, when the march of history has made its judgement, the people who voted against and campaigned against this measure will have something to truly be ashamed of.
I tend to think the Houston business community, which supported the measure, was right: I know at least one sought after software engineer who won't take a job in Houston due to lack of civil rights protection. Me.
8
As someone who has mixed feelings about the measure, I'd just like to say that I have no problem with trans women using my restrooms/locker rooms; but I'm not sure how such a broad law can distinguish between an actual trans woman and a cis-straight-male who just wants to use my locker room.
I'd fully support a trans woman at my job who consistently identified as a woman and wanted to use our bathroom; but this law would seem to say that my YMCA can't use reasonable discretion for locker room access, without fear of being sued by a cis male who claims a transgender identity only when locker rooms are involved.
I'd fully support a trans woman at my job who consistently identified as a woman and wanted to use our bathroom; but this law would seem to say that my YMCA can't use reasonable discretion for locker room access, without fear of being sued by a cis male who claims a transgender identity only when locker rooms are involved.
2
The New York Times has mischaracterized Houston resident's opposition to the HERO ordinance. Although some oppositional advertising focus on the fear of sexual assault, the reality is that most Houston women simply object to sharing restrooms with men out of a sense of modesty, even if the men's "gender identify" clashes with their biological sex. In men's restrooms, most men use the urinals rather than the toilet stalls. Many men feel uncomfortable urinating in front of women, even if the women's "gender identity" clashes with their biological sex.
4
This is literally the '"not all men" tactic at work here. You are offended that you being a male means that females will always be weary of you, rather than being outraged at why females have to be constantly on guard against male violence. Males make up the overwhelming majority of sexual predators, and perpetrators of violent crimes in general, and you having dysphoria does not make you any less male.
What's shameful is that people like you think it's perfectly okay to take away female's safety and privacy for the sake of male feelings. If you don't feel safe going into the male restroom, I can't say I blame you. Taking away my right to be in a female-only space away from males is not the solution. Instead of violating spaces where girls and women feel safe from male violence, create unisex solutions for people that don't wish to be in either female or male spaces.
You are not entitled to my female-only space simply because you don't "identify" with other males. Keep males out of female spaces.
What's shameful is that people like you think it's perfectly okay to take away female's safety and privacy for the sake of male feelings. If you don't feel safe going into the male restroom, I can't say I blame you. Taking away my right to be in a female-only space away from males is not the solution. Instead of violating spaces where girls and women feel safe from male violence, create unisex solutions for people that don't wish to be in either female or male spaces.
You are not entitled to my female-only space simply because you don't "identify" with other males. Keep males out of female spaces.
7
YESTERDAY on these comment boards I wrote about ballot box backlash when political correctness runs amuk in this country as with the Feds and the transgender "bathroom issue". I warned that if the left continued to push the left side of the envelope by cramming PC liberalism down the collective American gullet there would be ballot box consequences, I must say that it usually takes more than 24 hours for me to be proved right, but not here. Liberals moan (often on these very comment boards) about people "voting contrary to their own interest". Go ahead and continue to push the left side of the envelope and the progressive prize may well be a Republican in the White House in 2016.
15
I look at Houston, Kentucky, Virginia, San Francisco.
I see Hillary making a brave concession speech a bit over a year hence.
There's a reason why no Democrat has succeeded another in the White House by election since 1857.
I see Hillary making a brave concession speech a bit over a year hence.
There's a reason why no Democrat has succeeded another in the White House by election since 1857.
3
It would be a good thing for us all to be color blind. We don't need to know someones sexual orientation. However, I don't think we are yet to the point where we want to be blind to gender. Viva la difference. Therein lies the difficulty with addressing transgender rights. How do we protect rights but still hold to gender differences that still matter to most of us. Should we know the birth gender of the person we are dating or is that a matter of personal choice for people who identify differently. Bathrooms and locker rooms continue to come up. We have a way to go in working though these issues which seem more complex than other forms of discrimination. Mixing them together can lead to the results in Houston.
2
should gay men be banned from mens toilets
is a gay man more likely to harass a straight male in a mens toilet than a transitioned male to female is likely to harass a female in a ladies toilet ?
take a few minutes and ill get back to you
is a gay man more likely to harass a straight male in a mens toilet than a transitioned male to female is likely to harass a female in a ladies toilet ?
take a few minutes and ill get back to you
1
I've yet to see any men complaining about trans women or trans men using the men's bathrooms in public spaces. I've been in public bathrooms where women come into the men's room with their little boys; nobody bats an eye. I've been in men's bathrooms where obviously transgendered people come in. Nobody bats an eye.
At some point, yes, it's okay to say that women shouldn't be forced to have biologically male people using public women's restrooms.
At some point, yes, it's okay to say that women shouldn't be forced to have biologically male people using public women's restrooms.
1
Apples and oranges - men, gay or straight or bi - are biological males with corresponding genitalia. We are also not talking about a "transitioned male to female", i.e, one who has fully completed hormonal and surgical changes, but at issue was men or women who may have done nothing more than "identify" with a different gender. That's a very different matter.
2
I am horrified at the voters of Houston. I will not spend one penny in the state of Texas until there are equal rights for ALL!!
2
Take a deep breath. As a Texan I'm not happy about it either. But, only 27% of registered voters even voted. Given that 61% voted for it, that's ~160,000 people deciding the issue for an entire city of 2,000,000! That hardly seems like "the will of the people". As a side note regarding the article below- it's sad that 27% is considered a "high" turnout.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/election/local/article/Voter-tu...
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/election/local/article/Voter-tu...
1
I know election night is a frenzy, but the presentation of this story is not up to the Times' standards. In the Times' editors' minds, it's the "local initiatives omnibus" story, but nobody told the headline writer or the reporter. You read past the exclusively-Houston headline and four paragraphs of Houston content, then there's a mention of broader context before 12 paragraphs of Houston news cede to the other items. I would like the editors to take another look at this and point out how they did (or didn't) present this story as what it was intended to be. Specifically, if readers were looking for the Ohio developments or an omnibus of local initiatives, how on earth would they know to keep digging for it here?
1
I applaud Texas, time for the states to take back control of their own states, a clear message needs to be heard by TGBT, you want to practice your ways then go to a friendly state like CA or NY.
6
"Practice your ways"??? You need to do some thinking.
Well Caitlan Jenner won't be visiting any time soon.
1
Whereas this is a very mixed-up world, and here in America, the Law judges everyone the same (supposedly), then the government must keep out of forcing us to have to associate with those we do not wish to associate with. No discrimination, just personal choice. THAT is our freedom.
2
You mistaken your personal right to do as you wish with another persons right to not be treated the way you wish.
In other words, your right to discriminate has no legal basis in greater society. In public you cannot discriminate based on the flavor of the month. You do whatever you want in your house, or your private club.
The government isn't forcing you to associate with anyone, unless, of course, you consider a visit to the restroom an "associative" experience.
In other words, your right to discriminate has no legal basis in greater society. In public you cannot discriminate based on the flavor of the month. You do whatever you want in your house, or your private club.
The government isn't forcing you to associate with anyone, unless, of course, you consider a visit to the restroom an "associative" experience.
Democracy is good, unless it doesn't produce outcomes we like, am I right? :/
The reality is that equality has always been a fiction- a fiction that sometimes has utility, but never a good in itself. Propositions like the HERO ordinance attempt to position equality as a good in itself, which most people, rightly, reject, because reality itself is not equal, and neither are the genders.
The reality is that equality has always been a fiction- a fiction that sometimes has utility, but never a good in itself. Propositions like the HERO ordinance attempt to position equality as a good in itself, which most people, rightly, reject, because reality itself is not equal, and neither are the genders.
7
It's a good development because it will help start to push the broader issue to the Supreme Court. Whatever vicissitudes may transpire along the way to the end result, it is only a matter of time before LGBT people have the same sorts of protections as other people who have been systematically persecuted and oppressed at times in our country, including women who sought the right to vote, African-Americans, people with heritage from south of the US border, Irish- and Italian-Americans -- ultimately, most of our citizens. This is the sort of development that will lead in the end to the recognition and protection of Constitutional rights for LGBT people nationwide, without regard for what parochial groups and localities may think about them.
Women do not have equal rights in this country, not by a long shot, and trans rights and women's rights cannot co-exist. That's the point.
2
Boycott Houston and Texas. No cash for bigots!
3
and no jobs for Yankees in Houston.
1
Saints: as my Texas grandmother would have told you: "Don't be Ugly".
1
Remember the furor over he Equal Rights Amendment? Quite rational people would say "I seriously object to having to share a bathroom with a man (or woman) !" The counter argument -- that most home bathrooms were used by both male and female members of the family -- made little progress. In the end the amendment got through in spite of the bathroom sharing issue.
No, Diana, the ERA failed to get ratified by enough states in time. It's not part of the constitution. And as we saw yesterday when the feds ordered Illinois to let boys into the girls shower, the fears of the opponents have proved well founded.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Rights_Amendment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Rights_Amendment
2
That's right, Edmund, I had forgotten the final outcome. I still feel that the whole thing is ridiculous. Topless beaches and so on are just fine in Europe and other civilized places. so what if boys and girls share a shower? Puritans are still in charge in our country, sad to say.
"No men in women's bathrooms" is excellent messaging and demonstrates how a clear and succinct slogan can capture the public's imagination and lead to a restoration of common sense values. "Make America Great Again" is equally powerful and it will be interesting to see if the more heavily flawed messenger of this slogan will be as successful.
2
Ridiculous. Unisex bathrooms are common in Europe. No one freaks out.
16
We're not Europeans.
2
So are toilets consisting only of a hole in the floor with two porcelain feet on each side.
6
Uhm, that was tried and offered. Unisex bathrooms as well as male and female. Offering unisex bathrooms as an option wasn't good enough for GLAD and whoever. But nice try.
3
The simple fact is that by allowing people in transition of their sexual identity to use whatever bathroom they choose, how does that prevent any other person from using whatever bathroom the feel like using....
If a government only grants are particular group certain privilege on an issue, the fact is that the ordinance then discriminates against everyone else.
Now the question becomes will the supporters of the so called anti-discrimination leave well enough alone, or will they continue on this nonsense to have the "people's legal voice" overturned by some judge?
If a government only grants are particular group certain privilege on an issue, the fact is that the ordinance then discriminates against everyone else.
Now the question becomes will the supporters of the so called anti-discrimination leave well enough alone, or will they continue on this nonsense to have the "people's legal voice" overturned by some judge?
3
Just a brilliant strategic political move for the Department of Education to drop their transgender high-school locker room order the day before broad anti-discrimination vote.
The Anti-Prop #1 crowd could not have wished for better timing or more tactically incompetent opponents.
The Anti-Prop #1 crowd could not have wished for better timing or more tactically incompetent opponents.
5
You know that third restroom for the handicapped and diaper changers which usually has one toilet and total privacy? That where so-called "transgender" people need to go.
8
The Gay Agenda
1. Be treated like everybody else.
There is no 2.
Like they say in Texas: "It's like a
1. Be treated like everybody else.
There is no 2.
Like they say in Texas: "It's like a
1
The zealotry of some LGBT activists pushing this issue reminds me of this quote:
The trouble is that, with all popular movements, the lunatic fringe so quickly ceases to be a fringe; the tail begins to wag the dog. For every woman or man who is quietly and sensibly using the idea to examine our assumptions, there are 20 rabble-rousers whose real motive is desire for power over others, no less rabble-rousers because they see themselves as anti-racists or feminists or whatever. – Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing
The trouble is that, with all popular movements, the lunatic fringe so quickly ceases to be a fringe; the tail begins to wag the dog. For every woman or man who is quietly and sensibly using the idea to examine our assumptions, there are 20 rabble-rousers whose real motive is desire for power over others, no less rabble-rousers because they see themselves as anti-racists or feminists or whatever. – Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing
9
I guess at this moment in the Conservative World, this is what a victory looks like. Eyeball Roll. Enjoy your victory. The rest of us think this is stupid- along with letting lunatics walk around with guns and not being stopped until they kill a bunch of people, which in the Real World counts as a real problem that has been highjacked by the folks who think in bumper stickers. It will change when we do.
2
I don't see it as a victory for conservatives, like the elections in San Francisco, Virginia and Kentucky were.
This was simply a victory for common sense.
This was simply a victory for common sense.
6
The larger picture is that an ordinance that allows opposite sexes to use a bathroom not designated for their organic sex invites "straight" sexual predators as well. This subject is not well thought out. This is larger than a gay rights issue. It invites so-called "straight" men (and women) to enter opposite sex bathrooms, which could propagate "straight" sexual abuse to the opposite sex. It's an invitation for abuse by "straight" sexual predators. I certainly don't have a problem with one's sexual predilections. But I do have a problem with opposite sex predators (read "straight") being able to enter an opposite sex bathroom. I think I could develop a bladder infection over this . . . As a straight woman, I don't want to enter a public bathroom and have some straight guy hit on me . . . Again, I don't think we've thought this through. It's a short-sighted political goal with serious implications way beyond gay rights. Thank you.
7
I love it when liberals generalize about an entire population.
7
He said, generalizing about an entire population.
3
I love it when people generalize about Liberals.
2
There's something slightly absurd about the bathroom business. Now that we've gotten used to the fact that a significant minority of the population is homosexual, what's the difference between allowing a homosexual to share a public bathroom with members of the same sex and allowing a heterosexual to share a bathroom with members of the opposite sex? As long as people behave decently, it seems we might as well stick with the old song lyric "you can't go to jail for what you're thinking".
3
I understand if people are afraid that heterosexual men will now have access to women and girls in locker rooms and spas. I'd be afraid too, or at the least, uncomfortable.
Does that make me intolerant? I don't think so. I don't think social progress is made when the needs of one group supersede those of another. I can only imagine the trauma of transgenders being forced to shower etc. in men's locker rooms and a solution needs to be found that will accord them respect and protection.
But does this ordinance give them that? It increases the chances of them being exposed to perverts. I think the solution must be one that protects everybody and doesn't create distress in another group. I don’t want to be in a situation where my rights and needs as a heterosexual woman are disappearing.
We don’t want a society where any group is punished for who they are. And nor do we want a society that in any way enables perverted heterosexuals. If one little girl or woman or transgender gets molested or raped because of the ordinance is that acceptable collateral damage?
Not if you’re the woman or transgender and/or if the little girl is your daughter, straight or transgender. It would be different if molestation or rape were a rare occurrence. But unfortunately it's not the case. This is a complex issue needing a complex solution.
Recognizing that doesn’t make one part of the conservative fear-mongering that is a thin veil for hatred and prejudice.
Does that make me intolerant? I don't think so. I don't think social progress is made when the needs of one group supersede those of another. I can only imagine the trauma of transgenders being forced to shower etc. in men's locker rooms and a solution needs to be found that will accord them respect and protection.
But does this ordinance give them that? It increases the chances of them being exposed to perverts. I think the solution must be one that protects everybody and doesn't create distress in another group. I don’t want to be in a situation where my rights and needs as a heterosexual woman are disappearing.
We don’t want a society where any group is punished for who they are. And nor do we want a society that in any way enables perverted heterosexuals. If one little girl or woman or transgender gets molested or raped because of the ordinance is that acceptable collateral damage?
Not if you’re the woman or transgender and/or if the little girl is your daughter, straight or transgender. It would be different if molestation or rape were a rare occurrence. But unfortunately it's not the case. This is a complex issue needing a complex solution.
Recognizing that doesn’t make one part of the conservative fear-mongering that is a thin veil for hatred and prejudice.
18
Your argument does not hold water. I've never heard of one instance of a transgender individual attacking a woman or child in a women's restroom, but I've heard of many instances of attacks - many brutal - on transgender individuals in men's restrooms. As a heterosexual woman, I can't understand - let alone share - your baseless fear.
Had the proponents of the measure been more measured in their approach they might have prevailed. Instead of making a simpler, clearer statement about LGBT rights it ballooned into a grouping of 15 protected classes and, even more so, also took on the highly contested issue of gender identity. They bit off more than they could chew or the public could swallow.
Being gay is not a choice. Truly being transgender is not a choice. Saying that you merely "identify" - an ill-defined term - with one or another or even a mix of genders, however, is a different animal altogether. At some point you can't use the government to get you everything you want in life.
Finally, while proponents decry the outcome the election with doleful "tyranny of the majority" nonsense, they feel no apparent discomfort in immediately proclaiming any opponent as a bad person, whether a religious zealot, a general bigot or the plain but oh so simple "stupid" or "well, what do you expect from Texas" nonsense. Sadly predictable and one additional reason that such measures often draw increased scrutiny - the you agree with us or your evil thinking is not the way we should proceed in a democratic society.
Being gay is not a choice. Truly being transgender is not a choice. Saying that you merely "identify" - an ill-defined term - with one or another or even a mix of genders, however, is a different animal altogether. At some point you can't use the government to get you everything you want in life.
Finally, while proponents decry the outcome the election with doleful "tyranny of the majority" nonsense, they feel no apparent discomfort in immediately proclaiming any opponent as a bad person, whether a religious zealot, a general bigot or the plain but oh so simple "stupid" or "well, what do you expect from Texas" nonsense. Sadly predictable and one additional reason that such measures often draw increased scrutiny - the you agree with us or your evil thinking is not the way we should proceed in a democratic society.
58
I don't like these people. I don't want them around my children. I'm scared they might threaten my safety. I find the thought of having to share private moments of my day with them disgusting.
Haven't we heard this before? If the mere fact that someone feels this way counted as a reason not to have a non-discrimination law, then all non-discrimination legislation would be similarly indicted.
Haven't we heard this before? If the mere fact that someone feels this way counted as a reason not to have a non-discrimination law, then all non-discrimination legislation would be similarly indicted.
13
i am old enough to remember 4 toilets and 2 water fountains
2
We sure have, from the parents of progressive and from progressives themselves when they try and create "safe" places on college campuses that exclude those who do not share their ideology. Don't believe me, look into housing restrictions on most of the the Seven Sisters campuses.
I think the headlines in Houston and Kentucky, two Democratic bastions, and in "purple" Virginia where McAuliffe will be dealing with a Republican legislature throughout his term of office, suggests strongly the headlines we will be seeing same time next year.
4
Men and boys using the women's bathroom? Oh the horror! What an offense to delicate, prissy Texan sensibilities!
I have often seen women use the men's bathroom rather than wait in interminably long lines at crowded venues such as concerts.
It seems to me the vast majority of the people in the bathroom are there to use the facilities. The vast majority are not there to peep on others (well, former Republican Senator Larry Craig excepted).
I have often seen women use the men's bathroom rather than wait in interminably long lines at crowded venues such as concerts.
It seems to me the vast majority of the people in the bathroom are there to use the facilities. The vast majority are not there to peep on others (well, former Republican Senator Larry Craig excepted).
3
"Houston, we have a problem."
1
Reality check one must wonder whats really behind gay movement ,hidden agenda always run the power in government. Think about it when Indians where killed off mostly males . Female an children indians where insimulated into religious culture we knew then of white man . Now we have differnet issue too mnay people who are poor. So what better way to control this polulation but to teach kids to be gay by saying its right in school early age. Call it to be insighted by ones culture ,gay music under tones present day music played on radio just the message young minds could be altered . Don't under estimate what our kids being exposed to by other young gay people in school
1
I have to say I am with the no vote until someone can clarify the difference between transgender and transsexual? So, for example, as a woman would I want to be in the same changing room with Carly Jenner or whatever her name is (the old Bruce Jenner)? Answer: Of course not because she has said that she wants to dress like a woman but still have sex with women. Not to be crude but that means she would be in a woman's locker room with her male stuff swinging around and potentially being attracted to other women. Common sense says we should have either a separate changing room or a designated area in both male and female changing rooms for transgender/transsexual people just in the way that we have a separate shower for the handicapped.
12
Let's face it. The Democrats in Houston made a strategic mistake in marketing this referendum, by putting "T" of LGBT on the ballot. Houston, which elected a gay mayor, clearly wouldn't mind someone's sexual orientation. But considering the Education Dept's recent movement to get transgender students to use girls restrooms and shower, the GOP did a good job picturing it as a "bathroom" referendum. The Democrats who wrote the ballot pushed 2/3 of Houstonians to the other side.
17
Of course, the advocates of repealing the anti-discrimination ordinance were Christians - the least Christ-like people out there. Practice what you preach, people!
Plenty has been said about Houston, and rightly so. Mississippi failed to pass 2 measures regarding public school funding including one to "provide for the establishment and support of effective free public schools without judicial enforcement". Lack of education leads to an uneducated electorate which leads to bigotry and__________ and _______ and etc. etc. Fill in the blanks because the list is exhaustive.
1
The worst mixed-metaphor sentence you've ever read?
“I don’t think it’s the straw that creates the imbalance where you don’t get a Super Bowl or lose a Super Bowl, but it’s definitely part of the equation when people make decisions,” Mr. Campo said.
“I don’t think it’s the straw that creates the imbalance where you don’t get a Super Bowl or lose a Super Bowl, but it’s definitely part of the equation when people make decisions,” Mr. Campo said.
3
Repealing the ordinance makes no sense, practically or logically. If rape is a person's intent, a rule prohibiting him from entering a woman's restroom isn't going to deter him. Then, a transgender man identifying as a woman would be more attracted to men and boys, not women and girls. Same for gay men. Therefore, the risk is greater for boys in the men's room than it is for girls in the women's room. If in fact there is a risk in any scenario. Realistically, the greater risk is for gay and transsexual men to be assaulted by bigoted straight men.
Weird...then why bother with sex segregated spaces like restrooms or fitting rooms at all? Oh wait, it's because female-only spaces do actually protect girls and women from violence.
4
We all know this referendum wasn't about bathrooms. It was about gay rights, specifically the Supreme Court decision on marriage. We can expect more of the same in the future, in fact we may see a wave of hostility against the gay community not unlike that of the Reagan 80s (after a period of growing visibility and acceptance of gays during the 70s). The conservatives have found a winning formula--the bathroom stalkers--not unlike the past formula of gay marriage ("What will they want next?! To GET MARRIED??") How all this will play out is to be seen. If a Republican president appoints the next two SC justices (enabling the conservatives to go after both marriage equality and abortion rights) it could get fascinatingly grotesque.
Is this an editorial or a report? The headline is certainly inflammatory, and wrong. It's not a "broad anti-discrimination measure" it's a special right's measure, which allows a very small class of people a free pass on sexual harassment.
18
Texas, you're like that prosecutor in Louisiana who is proud to have accounted for more than 1/3 of the prisoners on death row in that state. You remind us how despicable human nature can be and compel the rest of us - those of us living in the reality-based universe - to continue to support the fight for decency and dignity.
2
"Be careful what you wish for." If trans women and men were to start using the public restrooms corresponding to their assigned sexes at birth, the general public would freak out. Early in my transition, when I was still using men's facilities, I had some very strange experiences with men waiting for me to leave the restroom before feeling comfortable entering. All that stopped once I transitioned to using women's facilities. Perhaps the trans movement needs some days of action in which large numbers of trans people do exactly what our opponents say the want us to? Beware of unintended consequences!
2
Public votes on issues like this are always subject to superficial manipulation, as illustrated by the "No Men in Women's Bathrooms" campaign. Such easy manipulation also points to the lazy, superficial way in which many voters mark their ballots.
Sometimes we really need to defer to the courts for more thoughtful consideration if issues around civil rights, since the majority often never connects "thinking" and "voting".
Sometimes we really need to defer to the courts for more thoughtful consideration if issues around civil rights, since the majority often never connects "thinking" and "voting".
1
You know that your issue got highjacked when your population sounds like a Mark Twain or Flannery O'Connor story, all flags, Bibles, and lather about male predatory habits. Why this suspicion of male chicanery and deceit is not evidently a problem with gun issues in Texas is curious.
People in high lather about the sanctity of bathrooms are a menace- all anyone cares about is whether the seat is down. Maybe rip the bathroom signs down and make it about who is messy and who isn't instead of acting like this is some Patrick Henry moment. More like a War of the Worlds moment.
People in high lather about the sanctity of bathrooms are a menace- all anyone cares about is whether the seat is down. Maybe rip the bathroom signs down and make it about who is messy and who isn't instead of acting like this is some Patrick Henry moment. More like a War of the Worlds moment.
3
My impression, admittedly from afar, is that the proposed ordinance was a "bridge too far" for most residents of Houston. I don't see it as a rejection of the Mayor, or of gay rights. However, transgender rights strikes many, myself included, as a matter that will take time -- much more time -- for most people to understand and accept.
Strategically, then, putting together a proposal that entwined gay and transgender causes was clearly a mistake . . . an overreach.
Strategically, then, putting together a proposal that entwined gay and transgender causes was clearly a mistake . . . an overreach.
13
This is ordinance wasn't about prohibiting bias. Rather, it was about special treatment of one group at the expense of others.
It's comforting to know that Houston voters had the courage to stand up to special interests; in this case, those furiously promoted by the liberal media.
It's comforting to know that Houston voters had the courage to stand up to special interests; in this case, those furiously promoted by the liberal media.
4
We in Texas who opposed this measure do not consider this electoral outcome disgraceful. Contrary to the assumption of so many, a concept of a shared morality does exist and we are not about to ignore that in the interest of maximizing self-indulgence. And for the benefit of the great majority of NYT commentators (420 out of 458 replies), I have some news. We don't care what you think.
13
With all of Texas' talk of secession over the years, it's a shame they never did.
1
Texas is wrong as they were when they elected W Bush as Governor. No surprise!
2
"In Mississippi, voters did not adopt ballot initiatives that were focused on the state’s approach to funding public education. One of the measures would have compelled the state to “provide for the support of an adequate and efficient system of free public schools,” and it would have given Mississippi’s chancery courts the authority to enforce the standard."
This seems to be a much more important referendum than the Bathroom Initiative. Educational funding (or lack thereof) for an entire state's public schoolchildren will have a greater impact than what happened in Houston.
This seems to be a much more important referendum than the Bathroom Initiative. Educational funding (or lack thereof) for an entire state's public schoolchildren will have a greater impact than what happened in Houston.
2
Gender bathrooms are separated because of anatomical differences between male and female and the accompanying personality differences connected to each. This is all underscored by separate DNA. male and female. If a male identifies as a female, he may affect a female persona. If a male has surgery to change the anatomy to "appear" female and enhances the physical/persona of a female through hormone therapy, the DNA speaks the undeniable truth, "the dude looks like a lady", but he is still a dude.
10
Now H-Town will be known as Hate-Town.
2
Why not simplify it, make every bathroom a single one room one toilet room like in small stores. Every body gets one bathroom, no one feels left out except for the people who have to hold it in line! Problem solved.
Americans are becoming absurdly self-conscious about sex. Only MEN can use the men's room. Only WOMEN can use the women's room. What if you're uncertain which you are? The French have an easy way to resolve these mind-bending issues: One toilet for everyone! Even if you're in a sex-segregated French toilet, don't be surprised if a cleaner of the opposite (or apparently opposite) sex is working there. It's just not an issue -- and it shouldn't be.
1
If you're uncertain about which gender you are just look in your pants. That clears things up 99.99999999% of the time.
3
No where in this article did it mention transgendered women entering mens restrooms substantiating, yet again, the allegation of a conservative "war on women."
Further, where is the discussion and has consideration been given to the parents of young children who just may not deem it appropriate to have "that talk" with their child just yet? Societal pressure in the name of what is currently politically correct should not override the rights of how a parent chooses to raise their child.
Further, where is the discussion and has consideration been given to the parents of young children who just may not deem it appropriate to have "that talk" with their child just yet? Societal pressure in the name of what is currently politically correct should not override the rights of how a parent chooses to raise their child.
4
Do you think they will be showering in the mens' locker room?
I believe that "no men in women's bathrooms" kind of misses the point.
I think it's exactly the point.
Liberals on global warming: Science correctly explains what is going on. Global warming is not a belief, it is based on science. This is good to believe in science.
Liberals on transgender folks: Men with breast implants, femenizing cosmetic surgery and hormone treatments are to be legally considered actual women because the great Pumpkin says so.
Sorry, but you don't get to pick and choose when you believe in science based on your "progressive" political agenda.
Liberals on global warming: Science correctly explains what is going on. Global warming is not a belief, it is based on science. This is good to believe in science.
Liberals on transgender folks: Men with breast implants, femenizing cosmetic surgery and hormone treatments are to be legally considered actual women because the great Pumpkin says so.
Sorry, but you don't get to pick and choose when you believe in science based on your "progressive" political agenda.
9
How so? Women are at risk of violence as the hands of men, no matter how these men "identify." It's a shame women can't identify" out of their constant threat of violence at the hands of men...
7
We're tslking bathrooms here. The fable that this is the next American civil war shows liberals how far off the end of the map that they have fallen.
America will never be the fascist nirrvana that so many foolish college kids think it should be. What liberals really need to do ASAP is travel, to see howthe real world lives. You waste your time and ours peddling a centrally-planned state and ersatz pretending for ''rights.''
America will never be the fascist nirrvana that so many foolish college kids think it should be. What liberals really need to do ASAP is travel, to see howthe real world lives. You waste your time and ours peddling a centrally-planned state and ersatz pretending for ''rights.''
10
What is mildly amusing is that you would even consider this some issue where you need to make it some line in the sand. Get real. This has nothing to do with being conservative. Conservatives used to have real issues. This kind of deal is just stupid.
2
Steve Austin said: We're talking bathrooms here.... What liberals really need to do ASAP is travel, to see how the real world lives.
You mean travel to the many, many countries that provide separate facilities for females and males? The ones where a man in a female-only restroom will find himself attacked, arrested, fined, imprisoned? Those real-world nations?
Not every nation is France, and most restrooms in France are not unisex.
You mean travel to the many, many countries that provide separate facilities for females and males? The ones where a man in a female-only restroom will find himself attacked, arrested, fined, imprisoned? Those real-world nations?
Not every nation is France, and most restrooms in France are not unisex.
4
Why does our country seem to always find another demographic of people to "otherize"? Just as I was feeling hopeful about out emotional charity, understanding and common sense as the issue of gay marriages seemed to be close to universal solution, here we are again! Most this lashing out at transgender rights seems to be the spawn of ignorance and science denial, along with a good dash of "not in my back yard."
Several months ago I read an article that cited scientific information about the advances that have been made in delving into the mystery of X & Y chromosomes....with the potential outcome of someday bringing understanding of gay, transgender and heramphroditic variations in human gender development.
Yesterday I read over 1200 reader comments that vilified not only legislation regarding transgender anti-discrimination, but attacked the validity of persons locked into this confusing state. We really need to elevate our understanding, compassion and empathy before giving in to fear and separatism.
When tourists go to NYC, they very often return with images of the Statue of Liberty which symbolizes the anchor from which springs our national pride in the "home of the free and the brave". Seems many of us are really not so free...and many are not so brave.
Several months ago I read an article that cited scientific information about the advances that have been made in delving into the mystery of X & Y chromosomes....with the potential outcome of someday bringing understanding of gay, transgender and heramphroditic variations in human gender development.
Yesterday I read over 1200 reader comments that vilified not only legislation regarding transgender anti-discrimination, but attacked the validity of persons locked into this confusing state. We really need to elevate our understanding, compassion and empathy before giving in to fear and separatism.
When tourists go to NYC, they very often return with images of the Statue of Liberty which symbolizes the anchor from which springs our national pride in the "home of the free and the brave". Seems many of us are really not so free...and many are not so brave.
1
I am an African-American male, so I know discrimination and I am a bleeding heart liberal. However, allowing men in women's bathrooms is just wrong. Just because they're confused, doesn't mean the whole World needs to witness this confusion, especially little girls. I had to have the LBGT conversation with my 5-year old daughter because Bruce Jenner is plastered all over the TV every day. Allowing transgender people access to Unisex bathrooms that are typically single rooms that can be locked is not discrimination!!!
31
Sure is the pot calling the kettle black when those suggesting Houston would lose business by rejecting this protection are accused of fear tactics when the main message to vote it down relies on promulgating fear of transitioning men. I'll admit to having met only a few, and never really known, any men in transition, but the last thing they were is a threat to women.
2
No one has to promulgate fear, women are girls are already aware that they are at constant risk of violence at the hands of males. That's why the girls in the locker room refused to let a male into their female-only space/ Doesn't matter how these males "identify," they are a risk to females.
6
Opponents said the measure would allow men claiming to be women to enter women’s bathrooms and inflict harm, and that simple message — “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms” — was plastered on signs and emphasized in television and radio ads, turning the debate from one about equal rights to one about protecting women and girls from sexual predators.
----------------------------------------
Hit the nail on the head.
----------------------------------------
Hit the nail on the head.
3
This is an issue pertaining to the safety of girls and women. This isn't about equality, it's about keeping female-only spaces free of males for the sake of the privacy and safety of women and girls.
5
Discrimination is wrong, but it is often a fine line of perception. And now 15 protected classes? Where does it end? We are now expected by proponents of this type of legislation to legally accept people changing their "identity" to whatever they say it is. If I decide today I'm a female, then so be it, I am and the power of the state will be used to force you to accommodate me. Why not also say I can go to my employer and say I now want to identify as African American or Pacific Islander? It's my decision, my feelings and inner thoughts and how dare anyone question me - oh, and I want to be counted in for consideration as a member of that protected class next time there's a promotion in the offing.
We've always have people, however much in the shadows, who are truly transgender and deserve our consideration, but the dramatic increase seems to be due to something other than mere biology and birth. Young people are told now by activists that "gender" is fluid and totally unconnected to biology. Pick a name, pick a pronoun (the latest stupidity) and, voila, you're what you say you are. Okay I guess, until you now want to use the power of the state to force everyone else to accommodate your choice (with greedy lawyers eager to jump in the fray). Wrong.
This is not the "tyranny of the majority" as some are writing in here but common sense. This ever fungible identification legal machine is inane. Live how you please but it doesn't mean the world must change for you.
We've always have people, however much in the shadows, who are truly transgender and deserve our consideration, but the dramatic increase seems to be due to something other than mere biology and birth. Young people are told now by activists that "gender" is fluid and totally unconnected to biology. Pick a name, pick a pronoun (the latest stupidity) and, voila, you're what you say you are. Okay I guess, until you now want to use the power of the state to force everyone else to accommodate your choice (with greedy lawyers eager to jump in the fray). Wrong.
This is not the "tyranny of the majority" as some are writing in here but common sense. This ever fungible identification legal machine is inane. Live how you please but it doesn't mean the world must change for you.
13
The anti-discrimination ordinance’s proponents asserted that the ordinance "says nothing specifically about whether men can use women’s restrooms."
That's simply a misleading claim and the proponents know it. For example, Obama's U.S. Department of Education earlier this week targeted a public high school as violating anti-discrimination laws for not allowing "a transgender student who [is a male to] participate in [female] athletics [] and shower in the girls’ locker room." The federal anti-discrimination laws involved say absolutely nothing about whether a guy that self-idenfies as a female can use the women's restrooms or showers.
Had the proponents expressly limited Houston's anti-discrimination ordinance to outlawing discrimination in only gender-neutral circumstances and expressly foreclose its application to society's common sense arrangements for separate gender bathrooms and showers proponents of Houston's anti-discrimination ordinance probably would have won. Without that limiting language, Houston's anti-discrimination ordinance could have been applied in a manner unfair to Houston's females.
The lack of common sense, political intelligence and a simple drafting change lost this election. I support equal rights for all individuals, but that is very different from allowing some guy who asserts he self-identifies as a female into the women' bathroom, to shower with the women at the gym or shower with the girls at the high school gym.
That's simply a misleading claim and the proponents know it. For example, Obama's U.S. Department of Education earlier this week targeted a public high school as violating anti-discrimination laws for not allowing "a transgender student who [is a male to] participate in [female] athletics [] and shower in the girls’ locker room." The federal anti-discrimination laws involved say absolutely nothing about whether a guy that self-idenfies as a female can use the women's restrooms or showers.
Had the proponents expressly limited Houston's anti-discrimination ordinance to outlawing discrimination in only gender-neutral circumstances and expressly foreclose its application to society's common sense arrangements for separate gender bathrooms and showers proponents of Houston's anti-discrimination ordinance probably would have won. Without that limiting language, Houston's anti-discrimination ordinance could have been applied in a manner unfair to Houston's females.
The lack of common sense, political intelligence and a simple drafting change lost this election. I support equal rights for all individuals, but that is very different from allowing some guy who asserts he self-identifies as a female into the women' bathroom, to shower with the women at the gym or shower with the girls at the high school gym.
20
Exactly, MLB. When the federal government hands down ridiculous diktats like the one you mention, a vote for Donald Trump starts to look like common sense. Further proof that the DOE has long outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any to begin with. Public education is failing EVERYWHERE, and the DOE has time and resources to worry about stuff like this?
2
The original draft of the HERO ordinance stated that “It shall be unlawful for any place of public accommodation or any employee or agent thereof to deny any person entry to any restroom, shower room, or similar facility if that facility is consistent with and appropriate to that person’s expression of gender identity.” This section was removed before the ordinance was passed by the Houston City Council, but Mayor Parker sent a tweet that called into question the significance of the change: “To my trans sisters/brothers: you’re still fully protected in Equal Rights Ordinance. We’re simply removing language that singled you out.” So there is no doubt that the ordinance would have been used to prosecute businesses, schools, and colleges that attempted to segregate restroom facilities by biological sex. Note that this also applies to locker rooms and showers.
2
“No Men in Women’s Bathrooms”
Can anyone give me an estimate how long men would be allowed to carry a signs that say "NO WOMEN in some Man's domain?" How about never.
Allowing civil rights to be decided by an angry minority is mob rule, not democracy.
Can anyone give me an estimate how long men would be allowed to carry a signs that say "NO WOMEN in some Man's domain?" How about never.
Allowing civil rights to be decided by an angry minority is mob rule, not democracy.
4
Worst argument ever. Bathrooms are segregated by sex in public spaces. No one, including actual women, have ever claimed that this is sexist. Except you, apparently.
6
Worst response ever, Mos. Before I retired, I encountered my first "public" unisex,multi-user restroom. I chose not to use it. BTW, that retirement date was in 1995.
Hank, you're absolutely correct. Its ALWAYS to the Liberal drumbeat of the Conservatives "war on women" dance.
We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.........except in Houston.
1
You do realize that was written by Thomas Jefferson, who ripped it off from George Mason? Both had a LOT of slaves.
2
And if these men are "endowed' they have no right to be in the ladies room.
11
Low voter turnout combined with historic BIG money spent on city, county and state offices and initiatives worked again in many states yesterday. Ohio seems to have galvanized to make some permanent changes that will improve their lives in the long run. It's going to be a tough, long slog for progressives to undo the damage done by BIG democracy-destroying money masters in the last 40+ years but there are positive signs all over America. Let's keep up the good work. Low information voters or non-voters are a real problem in America and here is a possible solution. Washington States has a Progressive Voters Guide that is very helpful in making final decisions. EVERY State needs one and they need to be widely circulated at least a month before every election and recirculated every week and every day the last week before the election. Perhaps Political Science University classes in each state can take on the project? The guides would certainly help level the playing field now dominated by BIG democracy-destroying information-strangling money masters. Let's do it, America!
http://www.progressivevotersguide.com/
http://www.progressivevotersguide.com/
Houston, this is plain wrong.
I wonder, is the Five-Gallon hat too tight when the good people of Houston make such silly decisions?
I wonder, is the Five-Gallon hat too tight when the good people of Houston make such silly decisions?
How can you justify calling call the opponent's complaint about "Men in Women’s Bathrooms” ''fear mongering', when that's exactly what's currently being forced by the government on an Illinois school?
I'm all for treating people decently and with respect, but it is now abundantly clear that these laws are in fact about men in women's bathrooms. The concerns of people who wish to have privacy based on biological gender are tossed out the window
I'm all for treating people decently and with respect, but it is now abundantly clear that these laws are in fact about men in women's bathrooms. The concerns of people who wish to have privacy based on biological gender are tossed out the window
17
I think it very presumptive that the GLBT community would think that the heterosexual majority would be fine with breaking down the walls between the men's and women's locker rooms; especially when it comes to children. While GLBT's may have few issues about being blatantly open about their sexuality, many heterosexuals don't want to deal with them. Get married, raise families, go to work, pay your taxes and we're fine with that. But once you begin to feel that you have the right to expose your neither regions to the opposite sex in a public place, you've gone too far. If there were ever a social situation ripe for separate but equal, this is it.
14
This is classic.
I hope someone who studies rhetoric has the good sense to use your post as textbook something. Saying that some population wants to show their genitals to you is a tactic as old as the hills. And still crazy.
It is far more likely that a straight male will sexually assault you, kill you, etc, if you are a woman in America, than some tiny minority of people on the sexual continuum. Most women- like 90% get killed by men they know. The danger to one's life for American women statistically is the guy across the breakfast table.
I hope someone who studies rhetoric has the good sense to use your post as textbook something. Saying that some population wants to show their genitals to you is a tactic as old as the hills. And still crazy.
It is far more likely that a straight male will sexually assault you, kill you, etc, if you are a woman in America, than some tiny minority of people on the sexual continuum. Most women- like 90% get killed by men they know. The danger to one's life for American women statistically is the guy across the breakfast table.
Two takes. First is that the word "conservative" has been perverted. It now means "authoritarian, rabid right-wing."
Secondly, the chances of a man disguising himself as a woman to enter a women's bathroom is far less than the chance a pre-op or non-op trans-woman needs to use one.
France has a civilized solution to this, as does a restaurant on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach (Balans): a unisex bathroom with cubicles and common sinks.
In the interim, I guess Houston will lose convention and other trade. Who wants to visit the evils of the past? (Even Disneyland doesn't have an Inquisition section.)
Secondly, the chances of a man disguising himself as a woman to enter a women's bathroom is far less than the chance a pre-op or non-op trans-woman needs to use one.
France has a civilized solution to this, as does a restaurant on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach (Balans): a unisex bathroom with cubicles and common sinks.
In the interim, I guess Houston will lose convention and other trade. Who wants to visit the evils of the past? (Even Disneyland doesn't have an Inquisition section.)
2
One of my friends posted a quote from a Texas relative on her FB page that may be a cautionary tale: "You knew it was a snake when you picked it up".
The people who coat-tail their prejudices onto reasonable requests to voters for protection under the law absolutely know how to work your limbic system. Karl Rove treated Ann Richards to a whisper campaign by floating out behind the hand rumors of lesbian hoo-haw and got a popular governor replaced by George Bush for no good reason that could stand the light of day. But the damage was done.
In Colorado we had Focus on the Family getting everyone whipped up years ago about "the gay agenda" when they moved here from California and wanted/ had the gall to write discrimination into the Colorado constitution. They won and later lost. We have had the NRA pay people to go door to door after the Aurora movie massacre and lie that gun legislation calling for background checks was really our state Senator telling you not to protect your own family with a weapon in your own house.Sounds like the same trick worked in Houston. Because no one is going to check your underpants to see if you belong in a women's bathroom, but they are going to be able to actually discriminate against their own citizens in ways that matter.
The Lizard Brain won one, but maybe learning to spot a snake early would help. Sadly, you can usually find a preacher in that mix.
The people who coat-tail their prejudices onto reasonable requests to voters for protection under the law absolutely know how to work your limbic system. Karl Rove treated Ann Richards to a whisper campaign by floating out behind the hand rumors of lesbian hoo-haw and got a popular governor replaced by George Bush for no good reason that could stand the light of day. But the damage was done.
In Colorado we had Focus on the Family getting everyone whipped up years ago about "the gay agenda" when they moved here from California and wanted/ had the gall to write discrimination into the Colorado constitution. They won and later lost. We have had the NRA pay people to go door to door after the Aurora movie massacre and lie that gun legislation calling for background checks was really our state Senator telling you not to protect your own family with a weapon in your own house.Sounds like the same trick worked in Houston. Because no one is going to check your underpants to see if you belong in a women's bathroom, but they are going to be able to actually discriminate against their own citizens in ways that matter.
The Lizard Brain won one, but maybe learning to spot a snake early would help. Sadly, you can usually find a preacher in that mix.
3
There's going to be a huge monetary backlash against Houston, well deserved in my opinion, where no-one will have conventions or conferences there, companies will change their minds about relocating to Houston, individuals will avoid going there, etc due to their citizen's decision to fight for the right to discriminate. Loss of revenue will eventually drive change- it always does.
I was the men in girls bathrooms that killed it. Everything else would have been ok. Foolish to try to fight common sense.
13
Sanity in Texas. Voters there have decided that kowtowing to fringe special interest groups is tearing our country apart. Special rights encoded in law for these groups only leads to more people coming out of the woodwork to demand their own special privileges and protections. Certainly morality has something to do with this vote, but common sense is the dominating factor. Good for Houston.
10
Houston is a liberal city. Houston is an intolerant city. Liberals are intolerant.
7
I don't think more than a handful of voters were actually concerned about sexual assaults in bathrooms. But a lot of people, myself included, would feel more than a little uncomfortable in a co-ed bathroom or locker room. It would just feel weird. And I realize that wasn't specifically addressed on the ballet, but it doesn't take much of an imagination to conjure up images of lawsuits based on this law that would eventually lead to some version of unisex public restrooms.
So it was pretty clever rephrasing of the question on the part of the opponents. It went from, "Do you think it should be illegal to harass, fire, or otherwise discriminate against someone because of their gender or sexual orientation?" to, "Do you think you should be legally required to pretend something you consider really weird is perfectly normal?"
So it was pretty clever rephrasing of the question on the part of the opponents. It went from, "Do you think it should be illegal to harass, fire, or otherwise discriminate against someone because of their gender or sexual orientation?" to, "Do you think you should be legally required to pretend something you consider really weird is perfectly normal?"
5
So when do I get to vote on denying equal civil rights for fundamentalist Christians?
5
I'm pretty sure this has already happened. I'm not religious but Muslims have become a protected group and Christians are no longer allowed to practice their faith without being accused of being bad and mean. This has extended into free speech.
1
Fear Mongering? Always the excuse of the weak.
6
So it's now considered "progressive" to allow males in female-only spaces and infringe on the safety of women for the sake of accommodating men who think they are women? I don't "identify" with my oppression and my safety being at harms way constantly due to being female, the least we can do is protect girls and women from men. Female safety is more important than male feelings. Do girls and women have any rights at all to go to restrooms or fitting rooms safely and comfortably without the presence of men? Or is it always women's privacy that has to be violated? Restrooms and fitting rooms are sex segregated for a very valid reason - let's keep it that way. Keep males out of female only spaces.
21
Elizabeth A: Do girls and women have any rights at all to go to restrooms or fitting rooms safely and comfortably without the presence of men? Or is it always women's privacy that has to be violated?
Exactly. This can easily be seen as yet another genetic male making life more difficult for the 51 percent who are female, and stamping on their rights to peace and security. Too bad the transgender student -- and parents, and attorneys -- did not consider this.
Exactly. This can easily be seen as yet another genetic male making life more difficult for the 51 percent who are female, and stamping on their rights to peace and security. Too bad the transgender student -- and parents, and attorneys -- did not consider this.
3
Well that's exactly what this is. We are prioritizing male feelings over female safety. It is more important to protect this male's delusions than to protect the safety and well-being of females when they are at their most vulnerable and susceptible to male violence.
3
No transgender person is in it for voyeurism, none. They are trying to fully assimilate as the opposite gender and would not intentionally draw attention to themselves by "outing" their genitalia. It is an identity issue and nothing else. To put them in same sex bathrooms is vile; to put them in isolation is no better. It is becoming clearer that gender identity is largely inborn and no more under control than one's skin color. No one chooses to go the extreme of gender conversion because of a whim and to make it even harder than it is, is predatory. This ballot is about pushing back against minority rights and has 0 to do w/ a man in a girl's bathroom.
32
'...No transgender person is in it for voyeurism, none...'
How do you know this?
Most transgender male to females are not gay. They are heterosexual men who dress like women and are attracted to women.
So the question is how would most heterosexual men react to being in a locker room with many naked women?
How do you know this?
Most transgender male to females are not gay. They are heterosexual men who dress like women and are attracted to women.
So the question is how would most heterosexual men react to being in a locker room with many naked women?
4
First of all, females that just want to go to a fitting room or restroom do not know/care about what the intentions of these males are. Males do not belong in female-only spaces. The safety and privacy of females is what is at stake here. Secondly, "gender identity" is not inborn because gender is not real, just like race is not real. Stop equating sex to "gender." Gender is a harmful social construct that oppresses women, it is not based on any innate qualities that females or males have. This ballot is about keeping males out of female-only spaces because no matter how these males "identify," they will always pose a threat to girls and women.
4
Gender is a social construct and not inborn. If you rebel against the gender (masculinity or femininity) imposed upon your SEX, you are gender non-conforming, that's all. Gender and sex are not the same thing. They are not interchangeable terms, as much as they have been deliberately altered to be so in our current cultural understanding. Being gender (sex role) non-conforming doesn't mean you're actually the opposite sex! Regardless, it really doesn't matter what somebody feels or identifies as when, if that identity is put into practice, it violates the rights and safety of another oppressed class (women). The reality is that this kind of legislation allows ANY male who says he "feels like" a woman to use women's bathrooms, locker rooms, and increasingly, be housed with women prisoners, which is especially egregious. It is a violation of women's rights.
1
Brave Houston stood up! Hallelujah!
In this world there is such a thing as right and wrong. Some things are right. Some things are wrong.
Brave Houston stood up for that which is right.
Brave Houston is not against YOU (whoever you are). Brave Houston is against wrong (and it stood up against wrong).
I'm sure brave Houston loves YOU (whoever you are). But, you can't throw wrong onto brave Houston and expect brave Houston to accept it.
Brave Houston stood up (for that which is right). Hallelujah!
And, by the way, Almighty God loves us ALL (whoever we are [but those of us who are defying Him need to repent {right now! - - if walking or driving, don't close your eyes-- }]).
In this world there is such a thing as right and wrong. Some things are right. Some things are wrong.
Brave Houston stood up for that which is right.
Brave Houston is not against YOU (whoever you are). Brave Houston is against wrong (and it stood up against wrong).
I'm sure brave Houston loves YOU (whoever you are). But, you can't throw wrong onto brave Houston and expect brave Houston to accept it.
Brave Houston stood up (for that which is right). Hallelujah!
And, by the way, Almighty God loves us ALL (whoever we are [but those of us who are defying Him need to repent {right now! - - if walking or driving, don't close your eyes-- }]).
2
ha ha- This is a Good Grief/Lawzy twofer.
Are you kidding? You have shared many a bathroom with transgender, gay, straight, yokels, atheists, Bible-folks, etc, and your prejudices have survived intact. You don't need a vote for that. Loving the Almighty is not about spending your brief moment on Earth wondering about what is in other people's underpants.
Are you kidding? You have shared many a bathroom with transgender, gay, straight, yokels, atheists, Bible-folks, etc, and your prejudices have survived intact. You don't need a vote for that. Loving the Almighty is not about spending your brief moment on Earth wondering about what is in other people's underpants.
If transgendered men had grown up from day 1 as little girls, they would understand how vulnerable the state of undress, and relieving oneself can be, and out of empathy and respect would not wish to broach the bathroom or the locker room. Maybe one day when women feel safer, we can alter this circumstance, but that day has not arrived and it is for me to speak up for the girl I was, and the woman I am now.
Horrific that this should result in voting down equal protections, but, again, you have to respect the unknowns of the gender that you believe has chosen you. Being female is not glamorous. Most of us never feel that way but for maybe 5 minutes across a lifetime. I liked the idea of neutral bathrooms.
Horrific that this should result in voting down equal protections, but, again, you have to respect the unknowns of the gender that you believe has chosen you. Being female is not glamorous. Most of us never feel that way but for maybe 5 minutes across a lifetime. I liked the idea of neutral bathrooms.
4
This isn't about "LGBT" protection, because Houston already has laws doing that. It is about LGBT advocates having no regard whatsoever for other people. This isn't like "Jim Crow" laws; the LGBT community has no respect for anyone who disagrees with them.
Anyway you look at this, the most obnoxious and closed-minded people are the judgmental fools who condemn the people of Houston.
Anyway you look at this, the most obnoxious and closed-minded people are the judgmental fools who condemn the people of Houston.
20
When will America stop using excuses HERE at home and abroad to attack others? Enough of this pathetic attitude. Mean + stupid just don't work at all, folks.
2
"Gay agenda..." These conservative bigots just don't get it. Gay people have no agenda. They just want the same rights as the rest of us.
3
You can vote, work at jobs, and love who you want to. All else is somewhere between fantasy, fascism, and flatulence.
1
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: “I’m glad Houston led tonight to end this constant political-correctness attack...."
So now extending civil rights to people falls under the right's definition of political correctness. The grandchildren of today's no-voters will shake their heads and wonder what their grandparents thought they were protecting.
So now extending civil rights to people falls under the right's definition of political correctness. The grandchildren of today's no-voters will shake their heads and wonder what their grandparents thought they were protecting.
1
They have civil rights protections, just like everyone else.
3
@Joseph: This has nothing to do with extenting civil rights. The LGBT crowd already has those rights.
4
HERO said nothing about restrooms. HERO opponents claimed to have identified a "scary reality" that would result from passing this ordinance. Then they aired a commercial showing a male predator entering a bathroom stall with a little girl in it, with ominous music playing. When there is no substance to your opposition throw in a sexually deviant twist and you can scare enough people into believing whatever you have to say. The same people pushed for stricter voter ID laws which are so unnecessary in Houston, because of low voter turn out not because of the lack of fraud. Only 27% of eligible voters took the time to cast a ballot. Apathy is the scary reality that allows bigots to run the state of Texas.
1
I live in Houston and voted in favor of the ordinance. The amount of fear mongering and misinformation to make it about bathrooms was completely ridiculous. There was 1 paragraph in a 36 page ordinance that ambiguously addressed the transgender bathroom issue. It still would have been illegal to enter a bathroom with the intent to commit a crime regardless of whether the ordinance passed or not. Honestly, I'm much more worried about my sons being attacked by a man in a men's bathroom than I am worried about having a transgendered person in a women's bathroom. Houston is the only major city in Texas without an ordinance to protect civil rights.
And yet, with all of the people turning out to vote against the ordinance, one of the democratic candidates for mayor still ended up taking the most votes. He will have a run off against the republican candidate next month and almost definitely win because everyone who came out to vote against HERO will stay home. Houstonians don't actually care who their mayor is, just who they think may potentially, hypothetically be in their bathrooms.
Our state also voted yesterday to increase the homestead exemption, decreasing revenue to public schools by 1.2 billion dollars over the next 2 years. Priorities, priorities.
And yet, with all of the people turning out to vote against the ordinance, one of the democratic candidates for mayor still ended up taking the most votes. He will have a run off against the republican candidate next month and almost definitely win because everyone who came out to vote against HERO will stay home. Houstonians don't actually care who their mayor is, just who they think may potentially, hypothetically be in their bathrooms.
Our state also voted yesterday to increase the homestead exemption, decreasing revenue to public schools by 1.2 billion dollars over the next 2 years. Priorities, priorities.
1
What was the vote? This story says that one side won, but doesn't say by how much. This is like a sports story that doesn't give the final score.
3
Votte was overwhelmingly against allowing crossdressers in opposite sex bathrooms.
2
The rejection of this ordinance is so odd, and the assumption behind it, even more so. We can't assume a person's sexual orientation based on their gender identity and expression, yet that is what's behind opposing this measure.
OR people just have had it - for now - with being pushed around by liberal activism and its cheeleaders in the media. Wait a few years and come back or - even beter - crusade for something that will help as much as 5% of the population.
Thank goodness for people with common sense to overturn a looney sexual-politics law. I'd love to see how some female supporters of the cross-dressing ordinance would respond when men enter a ladies' dressing room in a department store. This country has become looney, and we can hope that the next president starts digging out from this muck.
11
Good result. this tail wagging the dog where we as a society spend lots of time and money pandering to tiny fringe special interest groups like transsexuals is coming to an end. There are so few of them and the more you make special treatment for them the more people will become trans to take advantage of it just like Rachael Dolezal
15
I hear a deafening silence from Houston's most famous resident. What say you, Mr. President? And what says your son up in Crawford?
So far, not a peep to be heard from the dynasty. It's a sad state of affairs.
http://livinginsonora.blogspot.com/
So far, not a peep to be heard from the dynasty. It's a sad state of affairs.
http://livinginsonora.blogspot.com/
1
I have taken a cursory look around and find a deafening silence from Houston's most famous resident. What say you, Mr. President?
Cat got your tongue?
Cat got your tongue?
1
Nothing says Christian values like dragging a "different" kind of person behind a truck until the body falls apart. Not that something like that would ever happen in Texas. Well, at least moms and grandmas have been protected from the predatory Caitlin Jenners of the world, known and widely feared for their general lawlessness. Unlike Texans, who are so peaceable and believe fervently in Their God to keep them safe, but also carry a .45 just in case, you know, God is too busy blessing a football game somewhere else to help out.
1
I propose we simply do away with separate bathroom facilities all together. Many places already have "family" bathrooms, so why not make that the norm? Take out the urinals and convert all the existing facilities to unisex. Think about that ladies - doubles the availability ergo shorter lines!
The only problem I foresee is that you guys ALWAYS forget to put the toilet seat down!
The only problem I foresee is that you guys ALWAYS forget to put the toilet seat down!
If we left it up to the voters, Blacks would still be in back of the bus in the South.
1
Go travel overseas Houstonians and you will frequently find people of the opposite gender cleaning bathrooms while folks are relieving themselves. Get out and experience life instead of living in fear.
Wait until all those pastors go to Heaven and discover that God is a black lesbian.
2
I favor cannabis legalization, but the Ohio bill was a bad bill that would have enshrined a monopoly consortium of growers. I'm glad it failed. We aren't THAT desperate for legal weed. The NYT article about that bill quotes Ohio voters with similar sentiments.
24
Isn't the solution simple? Get rid of "mens" and "womens" rooms, and get rid of urinals. Stalls and basins only. There you go.
2
Not a bad idea. But easier said than done and you will face a huge hurdle when the demand comes to change all existing restrooms to that configuration. New construction is one thing, but modifying existing ones could be quite problematic,
3
If you've never read "The Coming of the Third Reich," the first in the trilogy by Richard J. Evans, do so. The similarities to what is happening in this country vis a vis the extreme right is absolutely frightening. The election results in Houston is a perfect example.
3
I agree. There is a rather shocking similarity to what the Nazis did when they got into power. Taking rights away, blocking right of the minority...So far they haven't rounded anyone up but Trump assures us that he will should he become president.
1
Freedom of association means freedom to NOT associate also, by definition.
The right to discriminate is just the right to choose based on your beliefs. ITs a fundamental freedom.
'Diversity' just means chasing down the last white person. Diversity just means everyone MUST have the same opinion about diversity. Enough
The right to discriminate is just the right to choose based on your beliefs. ITs a fundamental freedom.
'Diversity' just means chasing down the last white person. Diversity just means everyone MUST have the same opinion about diversity. Enough
10
As usual the devil is in the details as to why this proposition failed...
There were several components to this proposition, ALL of which are broadly covered under the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution except equal access to gender specific pubic facilities (showers, bathrooms, etc...).
Mayor Parker could have EASILY retracted ARTICLE IV - PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS (http://houstontx.gov/equal_rights_ordinance.pdf), basically TWO PAGES of a 36 page proposition if the remainder of the proposition was that important to her...but it wasn't.
Mayor Parker was totally disingenuous in how she tried to slide this past public scrutiny and that is why the Texas Supreme Court forced her to put it back on the ballot with clear language - instead of with wording that would have you voting one way and actually meaning something else. She has known for over a year that the language in ARTICLE IV was problematic as far as garnering citywide support.
Amazingly, she actually wins the sympathy vote due to her being able to dupe the people outside of Houston into believing this was a strictly anti-transgender vote when the word transgender never came up over the entire time this proposition was put before the public.
Mayor Parker, try not being a crafty politician next time and just be honest. Most people could live with that.vOr - why can't abolish the gender specific designation for all public accommodations designation in the proposition...
There were several components to this proposition, ALL of which are broadly covered under the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution except equal access to gender specific pubic facilities (showers, bathrooms, etc...).
Mayor Parker could have EASILY retracted ARTICLE IV - PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS (http://houstontx.gov/equal_rights_ordinance.pdf), basically TWO PAGES of a 36 page proposition if the remainder of the proposition was that important to her...but it wasn't.
Mayor Parker was totally disingenuous in how she tried to slide this past public scrutiny and that is why the Texas Supreme Court forced her to put it back on the ballot with clear language - instead of with wording that would have you voting one way and actually meaning something else. She has known for over a year that the language in ARTICLE IV was problematic as far as garnering citywide support.
Amazingly, she actually wins the sympathy vote due to her being able to dupe the people outside of Houston into believing this was a strictly anti-transgender vote when the word transgender never came up over the entire time this proposition was put before the public.
Mayor Parker, try not being a crafty politician next time and just be honest. Most people could live with that.vOr - why can't abolish the gender specific designation for all public accommodations designation in the proposition...
9
I'm in Ohio. Would have voted for 3 and against 2 but I never received my absentee ballot. I requested three times, online as I have done every year, twice a year or for any election upcoming. I have done this since the bogus need for an ID to vote and the last time I voted in person was 2008. I was in a predominantly black neighborhood and there were these white people standing their scrutinizing my ID, glaring at us from a stage(we were in a school) and not allowing people to hand out flyers as has been done for ever. I will not set foot in one, again. Every time I requested, I waited a few days checked and it read, no ballot requested. I normally read, ballot sent, such and such date. Three times. Not only that, I sent in a paper request as I have always done, too. Just to dover bases. Did not receive my ballot. There seems to be a concerted effort of the bigoted right to deny my voice. I am 66 and registered to vote for the first time in 1970 and I did not need and ID. Before the I get blow back, I did not need one to open my first bank account, to do anything. Before 9/11, did not need one for City Hall, Justice Center, Federal building, either. I realize how things have changed, I get it but not for my vote. NEVER!! I am a product of the 60's and still militant as hell.
1
We Americans are so stupid and provincial!! Show me some statistics about men using women's restrooms. Having once lived in Europe where small restaurants only had one restroom for both sexes and sometimes the sexes shared a common "wash room" between the "his and hers", I can't help but laugh at this kind of issue. But, it scares me to think these silly, ultra religious, right wing persons may rule us all in the near future.
1
First off many who object do to do so on the basis of religion - that is a bias commonly held but it is an attitude that is just as discriminatory and presumptive as what you claim to denounce.
Secondly, statistics are not the issue. Neither is having the Euro-style bathrooms are not the issue for then the question wouldn't arise in this manner, nor our purported provincialism. But people are being told, such as by the federal Department of Education for example as reported just yesterday in this paper, that mere identification as one sex or the other is all it takes to allow the person in question to choose the locker room/bathroom they desire based on that identification. As long as there are one sex locker/bathrooms around then the biological users of those facilities have a right to be heard and THEIR views respected as well. While you may disagree, holding the opposite opinion does not make one a religious zealot or hater or bigot or "stupid" or whatever else just because you are on the other side of the question.
Secondly, statistics are not the issue. Neither is having the Euro-style bathrooms are not the issue for then the question wouldn't arise in this manner, nor our purported provincialism. But people are being told, such as by the federal Department of Education for example as reported just yesterday in this paper, that mere identification as one sex or the other is all it takes to allow the person in question to choose the locker room/bathroom they desire based on that identification. As long as there are one sex locker/bathrooms around then the biological users of those facilities have a right to be heard and THEIR views respected as well. While you may disagree, holding the opposite opinion does not make one a religious zealot or hater or bigot or "stupid" or whatever else just because you are on the other side of the question.
3
This defeat rests solely at the feet of Annise Parker, the mayor of Houston. Her political aspirations clouded her judgement on how she proceeded. She rammed this through City Council, even though she knew there was widespread concern with the ordinance's language. Her legal intimidation of pastors (mostly African-American) who where against the ordinance created a huge backlash. Her personal attacks against local citizens that opposed the ordinance was viewed as petty and ham-handed. Bringing in "celebrities" to shame voters created the opposite effect. Finally, she wasted all her political capital on this, while not addressing the most pressing problem facing Houston: the spiraling debt, due to an underfunded city worker pension plan. Parker lost the support of the African-American and Hispanic communities, in an effort to appease the White liberals in the center of the city. The next mayor will be able to get this passed easily, once the taint of Parker's political miscalculations is gone. And good riddance to her...
10
Texas seems to be the place for aspiring democrats to make a name for themselves. They seek to score political points while Texans get more scorn heaped upon them. Not a great deal for Texans.
2
Will be irrelevant soon enough if the SCOTUS actually upholds the Constitution of the United States. WE really must make sure that Hillary is choosing the replacements for scalia and thomas in a few years so the court can go back to being an institution of law instead of a tool of the radical wing of the conservative movement.
2
Glad to know there is still some common sense left in Houston.
11
Three Years ago I went To a spa outside Frankfort Germany .They had men and woman on the locker rooms . People seemed to ignore this as I saw men and woman with children change in the same locker rooms. This was a very wealthy and conservative town. What could a Texan do there?
3
Dive out of a tenth story window, shrieking in horror.
1
European attitudes are certainly different and more accepting of gender differences. They are not as prudish and don't freak out when they see nipples or bottoms. But they are certainly much less accepting of homosexuality and variations thereof.
2
The cultural value and morales of Europe are Europe's to express. I lived in Germany for three years and deliberately choose not to go in a section of the spa that was unisex and totally nude. There were facilities for both preferences. If you choose to go to a nudist colony you have the right to do so. No one is stopping you but to suggest that all of society should accept this viewpoint is very biased and dare I say it culturally insensitive. You would simply suggest that society as a whole simply accept your warped viewpoint. Please show your cognitive reasoning ability like the majority of the voters in Houston have and grow up!
1
Houston is the 4th largest city in the nation and the biggest in Texas. Texas is the state that cursed the nation with George W. Bush, Rafael Edward Cruz, James Richard Perry, John Cornyn III and Gregory Wayne Abbott.
It is 2016 and the two leading Republican presidential candidates are the plutocrat bigoted multiple married draft dodging barbarian Donald Trump and the extremist Christian cult member Ben Carson who is a bigot and denies science. Carson is ignorant of history while being a black neurosurgeon political virgin.
Imagine the chaos if the current Constitution including amendments were put to a popular vote. Some rights are so basic that they should not be subject to popular revocation. But enslavement and Jim Crow were both legal. Native colonization and genocide were legal. As was internment of Japanese Americans. But they were not moral nor just nor fair.
Bigotry against the LGBT falls into the same category with a not so subtle thin veneer of faith and religion intruding into the secular world. If not in God's, then in whose image are the LGBT made and who among us is without sin and capable of judgment of any of them?
It is 2016 and the two leading Republican presidential candidates are the plutocrat bigoted multiple married draft dodging barbarian Donald Trump and the extremist Christian cult member Ben Carson who is a bigot and denies science. Carson is ignorant of history while being a black neurosurgeon political virgin.
Imagine the chaos if the current Constitution including amendments were put to a popular vote. Some rights are so basic that they should not be subject to popular revocation. But enslavement and Jim Crow were both legal. Native colonization and genocide were legal. As was internment of Japanese Americans. But they were not moral nor just nor fair.
Bigotry against the LGBT falls into the same category with a not so subtle thin veneer of faith and religion intruding into the secular world. If not in God's, then in whose image are the LGBT made and who among us is without sin and capable of judgment of any of them?
1
I don't understand this sentence: "Both sides claimed to speak for the city." There was just an election. The voters spoke for the city.
13
The fear mongers who were screaming about 'sex-crazed rapists hiding in women's bathrooms' have won, for now. Fear of the 'other' will do it every time. I thought Houston was a bit of a sophisticated city, but then, it's Texas, so there's that. Backwater is backwater, no matter how much oil they have.
4
Lucky you, you live in New York - a sophisticated city and state, not a backwater like Houston. Yes, I am being sarcastic because your comment, frankly, is quite offensive to this former Texan and former Houstonian. And I am not even a conservative (though such snarky liberal commentary certainly makes me more sympathetic to conservatives). Why don't you trust the intelligent people of Houston to actually know what the proposal entailed better than commenters from far and wide?
3
is a male who transitions to a female legally considered a male or a female ?
2
I find it comical that a city elected a gay woman as mayor but is viewed by some as intolerant because it didn't pass this act.
26
It's the my way all the way all the time attitude that is reflected in the ill-advised intervention by Obama's people in the dispute over the transgender person at the high school with the girls' locker room.
THE NY Times obsession with sexual re-engineering continues.......many good folk believe that it is odd or disturbing that there is a push by this paper and others to convince people that changing your genitalia is perfectly fine....natural....nothing wrong with it. Well, most people in the USA do not think defying your chromosome make-up is natural. The Gray Lady should wake up a bit and stop castigating those who have serious reservations about sexual re-engineering.
14
Pandora's box was opened when the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.
This resounding defeat of transgenders for the right to enter woman's bathrooms or shower with biological women is a return to sanity.
This is not the end of the gay agenda.
How does a group representing less than 1.8%(CDC data) of the US population have so much political power?
Marriage was absolutely not what the Gay Liberation Front was fighting for in 1970 when its members joined New York’s first march commemorating the Stonewall uprising and celebrating gay pride.
“We attacked marriage as a failed, heterosexual, bourgeois institution,” said Allen Young of Royalston, Mass.,
“If you were feminist, you certainly didn’t think about it, because why the hell would you want to get married?” said Nancy Myron, 69, of Rhinebeck, N.Y..
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy director, Paul Ettelbrick (Kurtz, 2003) said, “Gay means pushing the parameters of sex and family, and in the process, transforming the very fabric of society.”
The idea of marriage is being attacked by feminists as well. A large group of radical feminists, such as Martha Albertson Fineman, and like-minded people want to completely change the definition of the family.
They believe women are trapped in the family unit and the state should free women of their historic “mothering” role. Children should be “mothered” by the state.
This is where the LGBT agenda is truly heading.
1
There is nothing in the ordinance, specifically Article IV (Public Accommodations), that gives men permission to enter women's bathrooms. The words bathroom or restroom are not mentioned, not even in the definition of "public accommodations". Entering a bathroom with the intent to harass or cause harm continues to be against the law. There are exceptions to this ordinance for every imaginable private and religious venue.
Prop 1 opponents used "No men in women's bathrooms" because they knew what a devastating effect it would have on people who wouldn't be inclined to read the text of the ordinance and discover their lies. If they had stated their true intentions of opposing protections for gay and transgender people they would have gotten no traction.
It's a shame that fear and lies are used to impose their conservative "Christian" beliefs on the rest of us.
Prop 1 opponents used "No men in women's bathrooms" because they knew what a devastating effect it would have on people who wouldn't be inclined to read the text of the ordinance and discover their lies. If they had stated their true intentions of opposing protections for gay and transgender people they would have gotten no traction.
It's a shame that fear and lies are used to impose their conservative "Christian" beliefs on the rest of us.
58
So, how do you sort out men in women's bathrooms from transgenders who are not completely at the goal line? 'Excuse me, my body is still that of a linebacker, but in my head I'm Madonna'? Will we station checkpoints at restrooms to check people's credentials, and what would that involve? 'Please lift your skirt'? Present a letter from your doctor?
I'm sorry, but the NYT and its advocates have gone a bridge too far in rah-rah for proposing that what is clearly body dysmorphic disorder should be treated with radical physical mutilation rather than therapy to help the sufferer accept his or her body and mind as they are - that it's OK to live as a woman in a male body or a male in a female body.
The whole transgender movement raises uncomfortable questions about what constitutes gender - Caitlyn Jenner with fake breasts, nonfunctional fake plumbing, and stereotypical 'girly' behavior focusing on frills and fashion, is an embarrassment. As one blog put it, a simulacrum. And of the Helen Gurley Brown stereotype that women-by-birth have been fighting for decades to free ourselves from, no less.
You cannot sing 'born this way' at the top of your lungs and add the rider 'after extensive surgery to remodel your entire body, artificial cosmetic parts to simulate, and a lifetime of hormone treatments'. That gives a whole new meaning to the word 'imbecilic'.
I think that may be what a lot of Houston voters were rejecting.
This comment won't make it, but it had to be said.
I'm sorry, but the NYT and its advocates have gone a bridge too far in rah-rah for proposing that what is clearly body dysmorphic disorder should be treated with radical physical mutilation rather than therapy to help the sufferer accept his or her body and mind as they are - that it's OK to live as a woman in a male body or a male in a female body.
The whole transgender movement raises uncomfortable questions about what constitutes gender - Caitlyn Jenner with fake breasts, nonfunctional fake plumbing, and stereotypical 'girly' behavior focusing on frills and fashion, is an embarrassment. As one blog put it, a simulacrum. And of the Helen Gurley Brown stereotype that women-by-birth have been fighting for decades to free ourselves from, no less.
You cannot sing 'born this way' at the top of your lungs and add the rider 'after extensive surgery to remodel your entire body, artificial cosmetic parts to simulate, and a lifetime of hormone treatments'. That gives a whole new meaning to the word 'imbecilic'.
I think that may be what a lot of Houston voters were rejecting.
This comment won't make it, but it had to be said.
4
The Houston voters who opposed the ordinance only heard "men in women's bathrooms" from their pastors, which is not what this ordinance was about at all. A coworker commented that the proponents of the ordinance should have taken out the one little piece about transgender people. That one little piece she referenced says nothing about gay or transgender people, or bathrooms.
blueberry, if the proposition passed it is a certainty that men could have entered women's bathrooms. as proof, just look at the feds ordering Illinois to allow a boy to shower with the girls because he "identified" as a girl. there was no statutory authority for that order, but it came through anyway. and they didn't order an "accommodation" for the boy, they ordered him allowed in the girls shower. houstonians heard about that and realized what a slippery slope the proposition represented.
protecting women's right to privacy is not bigotry. it's not homophobia. it's common decency.
protecting women's right to privacy is not bigotry. it's not homophobia. it's common decency.
3
I guess Orange is The New Black and the innocuous scenes of Sophia in the women's prison bathroom hasn't made it to the citizens of Houston.
"In Houston, the ordinance’s proponents — including Mayor Annise D. Parker, local and national gay rights and civil rights groups and the actress Sally Field — accused opponents of using fearmongering against gay people"
No -- against TRANSGENDER people. Gay people are not transgender and do not wish to use the opposite-sex bathrooms.
No -- against TRANSGENDER people. Gay people are not transgender and do not wish to use the opposite-sex bathrooms.
12
Fearmonging will always get out the vote. It worked in California in 2008 (Prop 8), and it worked here. If religious organizations (the main backers behind these "bathroom issue" ads) are going to get involved in politics, then they should lose their tax-exempt status. You want to make laws? Fine. Help pay for them. (Hypocrites.)
5
Yes, we saw the mayor make that threat. Yet she favors early voting on as many Sundays as possible so the congregation can be herded onto buses.
Good job, Houston! March on! You are one step closer to being in the illustrious company of Tehran and Riyadh as one of the biggest centers of bigotry.
6
When was the last time Phoenix (or New York City, for that matter) elected an openly gay or lesbian mayor, let alone re-elect one twice? That's what I thought. I am getting tired of reading such sweeping remarks about the supposed bigotry of Houston's voters when this was about one overly broad and poorly written proposed ordinance.
6
Really, Tehran and Riyadh? Talk about hyperbole. Houston's mayor is a lesbian for heaven's sake.
4
NYC had the opportunity to vote in Christine Quinn (a lesbian) as Mayor, infinitely more qualified than the guy currently living in Gracie Mansion but the progressive Left actually believed the do nothing windbag de Blasio was a better choice and look where NYC is now. But hey the progressive left ALWAYS think they are the smartest people in the room always. Stupid is as stupid does.
1
It's Texas, a bastion of freedom to discriminate against anybody and everybody who is different, and a stronghold for ignorance.
5
I think it is only a small minority of people who believe that gays should not be protected by discrimation ordinances/legislation. The vast majority of Americans believe nobody should be discriminated against.
However, the LGBT community has taken things too far when they insist on using opposite gender locker rooms and bathrooms. I believe most Americans agree with me on this. Yesterday, the NYT had an article about a court forcing an Illinois school to let a student who identifies as a girl (but is actually a boy) use the women's locker rooms. The comment board was easily 20-1 against. And this was the liberal New York Times, not exactly a conservative readership.
I read this ordinance and it does not rule out opposite genders using opposite gender restrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms. Based on the Illinois case and others it's perfectly logical to assume that the LGBT community will insist on this and 'test cases' will start appearing in Texas courts.
Therefore, one can honestly be opposed to this ordinance based on the above scenario yet be perfectly open to nobody being discriminated against (I do not consider having to use the appropriate restroom a form of discrimination).
Had the ordinance specifically ruled out the 'bathroom' issue it's chances of passing would have increased dramatically. The LGBT rights community would be wise to drop the bathroom demands.
However, the LGBT community has taken things too far when they insist on using opposite gender locker rooms and bathrooms. I believe most Americans agree with me on this. Yesterday, the NYT had an article about a court forcing an Illinois school to let a student who identifies as a girl (but is actually a boy) use the women's locker rooms. The comment board was easily 20-1 against. And this was the liberal New York Times, not exactly a conservative readership.
I read this ordinance and it does not rule out opposite genders using opposite gender restrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms. Based on the Illinois case and others it's perfectly logical to assume that the LGBT community will insist on this and 'test cases' will start appearing in Texas courts.
Therefore, one can honestly be opposed to this ordinance based on the above scenario yet be perfectly open to nobody being discriminated against (I do not consider having to use the appropriate restroom a form of discrimination).
Had the ordinance specifically ruled out the 'bathroom' issue it's chances of passing would have increased dramatically. The LGBT rights community would be wise to drop the bathroom demands.
83
Sanest comment here!
1
Who decides what is the "appropriate" restroom -- you? How would you do that, would you require a genetic test? Would you peek under someone's skirt?
Plenty in the LGB community want nothing to do with the T part of the movement.
The national "leaders" need to realize this and stop lumping us all together
The national "leaders" need to realize this and stop lumping us all together
2
Re: Dana, I don't know what women do in their locker rooms and bathrooms, but I know that in men's locker rooms and bathrooms, we are exceptionally discreet. What's next? Banning mothers who bring their small sons to the restroom because they have a penis? Banning fathers from bringing their small daughters with them to the restroom because they will be exposed to others and might catch a fleeting glimpse?
Let's call this what it actually was: religiously fueled homophobia and transphobia. Liberal localities that have passed similar measures, some for years and years, have seen no issues. Religious conservatives, both in Houston in in Saudi Arabia, continually seem to think that policing public morality should be done even in the absence of reason, cause, or common sense. Even an obscure hypothetical is just cause to deny entire classes of people equal access and equal rights under the law.
Sorry, Dana from Texas, your argument is absurd, and fear mongering some grotesque absurdity to cover for your states known history I'd religiously motivated hateful actions is about as convincing as the Saudi's saying that if women are uncovered, men will be provoked to a frenzy, and rape will become endemic. Same basic idea: women are inferior, frail, and need extraordinary protection from an onslaught of imagined predators just waiting to strike. Forgive me, but I think more highly of the capabilities of the women I know.
Let's call this what it actually was: religiously fueled homophobia and transphobia. Liberal localities that have passed similar measures, some for years and years, have seen no issues. Religious conservatives, both in Houston in in Saudi Arabia, continually seem to think that policing public morality should be done even in the absence of reason, cause, or common sense. Even an obscure hypothetical is just cause to deny entire classes of people equal access and equal rights under the law.
Sorry, Dana from Texas, your argument is absurd, and fear mongering some grotesque absurdity to cover for your states known history I'd religiously motivated hateful actions is about as convincing as the Saudi's saying that if women are uncovered, men will be provoked to a frenzy, and rape will become endemic. Same basic idea: women are inferior, frail, and need extraordinary protection from an onslaught of imagined predators just waiting to strike. Forgive me, but I think more highly of the capabilities of the women I know.
1
Do you have kids? I used to take my sons to a dance studio when they were little. They had a sign on the girls dressing room to please not bring in any boys who were were older than 4 years old. Yes -- girls do not want to be undressing and changing in front of boys who are old enough to stare.
7
Jersey Mom, at my gym the privileged mommies march the boys in anyway. More than once I have pulled open a shower curtain to find a goggling lad, or glanced at the floor while sitting on the porcelain throne to see a pair of little Adidas or Nikes facing mine under the stall door, attached to a little boy who was clearly curious about what was going on out there. You can confront them, if you don't mind a fight. Some will, with their bare faces hanging out, insist a boy almost old enough to shave is only 3 and 'tall for his age'. The really annoying part is that at at least one location of the chain there is a separate 'family changing room' with booths with doors, and the mommies feel entitled to bring their sons into the women's room anyway.
2
I'm offended as a Christian and as an American that these political corporations known as "megachurches" disingenuously use fear-mongering straw man arguments like this to push not only members but the public to vote against civil rights, which is unchristian and unconstitutional.
This conflation with some schlocky horror-movie concept of hetero male rapists donning women's garb to gain entrance to ladies rooms is not mere stupidity on the part of these so-called pastors. In 2015, no group of educated adults sincerely following Christ's example could have their conscience led so far afield as to not even recognize this as protection for minorities. A primary reason we are a constitutional republic to begin with, and not a theocracy or straight democracy, is to protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority.
This is the very definition of modern American homophobia: bigotry as civic stinginess and political abuse, twisting issues inside-out in an appeal to those defiant haters with the neoconservative's taste for the Orwellian, while fear-mongering to those "low-information voters" not in on the cruel joke.
Lt. Gov. Patrick, 45 years ago our grandmoms lived through the sexual revolution. It's long past time we expect them and our granddaughters to understand that gay people have the same right to use bathrooms—and rent apartments, and conduct business—as anybody. Stop using hatred and fear to elicit cheers, much less votes, for second-class citizenship.
This conflation with some schlocky horror-movie concept of hetero male rapists donning women's garb to gain entrance to ladies rooms is not mere stupidity on the part of these so-called pastors. In 2015, no group of educated adults sincerely following Christ's example could have their conscience led so far afield as to not even recognize this as protection for minorities. A primary reason we are a constitutional republic to begin with, and not a theocracy or straight democracy, is to protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority.
This is the very definition of modern American homophobia: bigotry as civic stinginess and political abuse, twisting issues inside-out in an appeal to those defiant haters with the neoconservative's taste for the Orwellian, while fear-mongering to those "low-information voters" not in on the cruel joke.
Lt. Gov. Patrick, 45 years ago our grandmoms lived through the sexual revolution. It's long past time we expect them and our granddaughters to understand that gay people have the same right to use bathrooms—and rent apartments, and conduct business—as anybody. Stop using hatred and fear to elicit cheers, much less votes, for second-class citizenship.
Anyone who wishes to advocate for coed public bathrooms is welcome to do so. I'd be in favor of that. I'd also be in favor of abolishing single-sex sports teams and competitions at all levels from babies through professionals.
Until those changes occur, the issue isn't "sexual predators," it's shame and decency. Why should someone who is physically male be allowed to use a women's restroom merely because this person claims in some sense to be female--a claim that would never be subject to verification?
If a bunch of sexual minorities choose to get together for advocacy purposes, they'll be as strong as their weakest link.
Did they think a majority of voters favored letting physical males choose to use women's restrooms? A more reasonable ordinance that excluded this would have passed.
Now let's overrule the judge who decided that a physically male kid should be allowed to use the girls' bathroom and locker room.
Until those changes occur, the issue isn't "sexual predators," it's shame and decency. Why should someone who is physically male be allowed to use a women's restroom merely because this person claims in some sense to be female--a claim that would never be subject to verification?
If a bunch of sexual minorities choose to get together for advocacy purposes, they'll be as strong as their weakest link.
Did they think a majority of voters favored letting physical males choose to use women's restrooms? A more reasonable ordinance that excluded this would have passed.
Now let's overrule the judge who decided that a physically male kid should be allowed to use the girls' bathroom and locker room.
22
It wasn't a judge, it was Obama's Department of Education. I say abolish it.
While many do not support or practice discrimination against gay people or transgendered people, many are tired of being told by the government how to treat other people. Yesterday's announcement by the US Dept. of Education that a Chicago school must allow a transgendered student to use the girls locker room along with girl students or risk losing Federal funding may be getting to the last straw. While sexual identity issues, both biological and psychological, are real, the jury is far from out as to what is at play in every case. I know several families where a son or daughter has actually switched sexual identities several times. In one case, as a daughter grew, going from being born a girl, to being a boy (even taking male hormones) and then reverting to being a "girly girl" and then back to identifying as a boy. These kids obviously are dealing with difficult issues, but that does not justify the government's heavy handed insistence that all others sacrifice their rights while the person goes through these issues. Perhaps the voters of Huston were more interested in expressing their anger at the government's interference than defining a right to be prejudiced.
17
I have several gay and lesbian relatives in my Anglo-Latino family, so it pains me to say this, but we may well look back on the first half of the 21st Century as the high-water mark of equal rights for the LGBTQ community in the United States.
Traditionally, LGBTQ advocates have framed their struggles as a battle against traditional white Anglo, predominantly male privilege and attitudes of discrimination. But, as we read in yesterday's NYT's article about a Princeton University study, as well as another article about the increase of suicides in rural America, white American males are facing their own economic and health struggles, and likely no longer present the dominant force of a future America.
My parents are immigrants from Latin America, and I can tell you that a culture of machismo and bias against gays is not uncommon in Latin American cultures. I suspect that the same may be true in other cultures, Middle Eastern, African, and Asian. As new immigrants come to this country and become citizens, the LGBTQ community may find itself fighting less and less against the attitudes and biases of traditional Anglo white male privileged culture, and tackling more and more against the religious and cultural beliefs, attitudes, and biases of other minorities.
Finally, I tend to believe that Houstonians are open-minded, after all they elected a strong woman, and open lesbian, as their mayor. Perhaps people unduly worried about personal settings, like school showers.
Traditionally, LGBTQ advocates have framed their struggles as a battle against traditional white Anglo, predominantly male privilege and attitudes of discrimination. But, as we read in yesterday's NYT's article about a Princeton University study, as well as another article about the increase of suicides in rural America, white American males are facing their own economic and health struggles, and likely no longer present the dominant force of a future America.
My parents are immigrants from Latin America, and I can tell you that a culture of machismo and bias against gays is not uncommon in Latin American cultures. I suspect that the same may be true in other cultures, Middle Eastern, African, and Asian. As new immigrants come to this country and become citizens, the LGBTQ community may find itself fighting less and less against the attitudes and biases of traditional Anglo white male privileged culture, and tackling more and more against the religious and cultural beliefs, attitudes, and biases of other minorities.
Finally, I tend to believe that Houstonians are open-minded, after all they elected a strong woman, and open lesbian, as their mayor. Perhaps people unduly worried about personal settings, like school showers.
8
Really, we have 15 protected classes? Which are the groups who are not protected? It seems like everyone around me has protections or quotas or preferences - and I am neither black not white!
Let's face it - we are not all the same and there are major and obvious differences between races and genders. Neither the liberals not conservatives not the extremists want to discuss or acknowledge this,
The key here is to accept differences, and peoples' individual preferences, as normal in society and go ahead with life. I find something abhorrent about mandating special protections for certain groups - whether they be by race, gender or sexual orientation.
Let's face it - we are not all the same and there are major and obvious differences between races and genders. Neither the liberals not conservatives not the extremists want to discuss or acknowledge this,
The key here is to accept differences, and peoples' individual preferences, as normal in society and go ahead with life. I find something abhorrent about mandating special protections for certain groups - whether they be by race, gender or sexual orientation.
8
Hear, hear!
More than anything else it is the incessant lying that bothers me. Just 3 examples:
1. If diversity means anything, it means that people are different. But when those differences between races and genders translate into different outcomes -- say in promotions at Kleiner Perkins -- differences suddenly become taboo.
2. Then there is the big lie about "protected classes." Everyone worth their salt knows that "protected" doesn't mean protected; it means means favored or entitled. So in the name of non-discrimination we discriminate in favor of certain classes of Americans (e.g., in government contracting).
3. And now we are lying about bathrooms (sic!). Some commenters dismiss as fear-mongering the concerns some people have about bathrooms. Oh come on, do you think we can't read? Today's New York Times reports that the Education Department has threatened to cut off Title IX funding for schools that don't allow transgender students who are biologically male but who identify as girls to change and shower in girls’ locker rooms.
Why is the truth not good enough for these folks? This is really simple. Separate bathrooms have always been about biological differences, not about what people identify as.
More than anything else it is the incessant lying that bothers me. Just 3 examples:
1. If diversity means anything, it means that people are different. But when those differences between races and genders translate into different outcomes -- say in promotions at Kleiner Perkins -- differences suddenly become taboo.
2. Then there is the big lie about "protected classes." Everyone worth their salt knows that "protected" doesn't mean protected; it means means favored or entitled. So in the name of non-discrimination we discriminate in favor of certain classes of Americans (e.g., in government contracting).
3. And now we are lying about bathrooms (sic!). Some commenters dismiss as fear-mongering the concerns some people have about bathrooms. Oh come on, do you think we can't read? Today's New York Times reports that the Education Department has threatened to cut off Title IX funding for schools that don't allow transgender students who are biologically male but who identify as girls to change and shower in girls’ locker rooms.
Why is the truth not good enough for these folks? This is really simple. Separate bathrooms have always been about biological differences, not about what people identify as.
6
The argument that men will enter women's bathrooms is the same one used in the 1970s to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment. In those days, transgender was not a widely discussed topic at all. It was simply put that if women had equal rights to men, then men and women could not be prevented from using each other's bathrooms. It's fearmongering plain and simple. Use an emotional hypothetical to whip up sentiment against something right and good. And women still make 77 cents to men's dollar forty years later.
I just see this as another reason not to go to Texas. They may yet get to become their own country. They already are in so many ways.
I just see this as another reason not to go to Texas. They may yet get to become their own country. They already are in so many ways.
2
As long as Progressives continue this policy of elevating all claims by all groups to be "rights", they are going to suffer reversal after reversal - even in Blue states.
Only a misguided few believe that the right of gays to marry, fair housing, equal opportunity, etc is the same as insisting that a biological male has the right to enter woman's restroom just because he self-identifies as female.
As long as the so-called Progressives continue to put all these issues into one basket, gays are going to find themselves losing rights all over the country.
Only a misguided few believe that the right of gays to marry, fair housing, equal opportunity, etc is the same as insisting that a biological male has the right to enter woman's restroom just because he self-identifies as female.
As long as the so-called Progressives continue to put all these issues into one basket, gays are going to find themselves losing rights all over the country.
14
I have long supported gay rights, including the right to marry, as such ought to be a decision made by individuals, and not the state, as long as no one else is being harmed. Now though, the concept of the rights of others, those not in some protected, minority class, have been tossed aside under the guise of political correctness. That men should not be in the woman's bathrooms, and visa versa, would seem to be common sense. And what of the parents of a 13 year old boy who wants to wear a dress - do they have the right to object, or do we now send Child Protective Services after the parents, take the child away, and tar the parents as uneducated bigots who deserve nothing but ridicule and possible loss of employment and even prosecution for child endangerment for refusing to let their son follow his impulses?<br /> How about the wedding photographer, prosecuted or fined for not wanting to shoot a gay wedding? (and why would anyone, gay or straight, want a photographer or anyone else at their wedding if they were so opposed to their choices?). It has become no longer about protecting rights, but the minority enforcing their choices on everyone else, and forcing others not only to accept, but to actively participate, in their personal conduct. A little common sense please.<br /> Should gays be denied housing, accommodation, employment, etc, due to their status? Of course not. Should the biological boys and girls be forced to share a bathroom? I think not.
11
In the late '70's there was a situation at a big Union Carbide fabrication facility that foreshadowed the transgender conflict in Houston.
Dennis/Denise was a welder who was taking hormone treatment for a sex change, male-to-female. There was much talk. It was a "sensation," as they say in showbiz.
Dennis/Denise opened by asking management for permission to use the womens locker room and lavatories. Immediately a howl went up from the female employees demanding that Dennis/Denise not be allowed.
Right on cue, several male employees began agitating that he/she be excluded from the mens locker room.
"We don't want that (something-or-other) in the locker room scoping-out our genitals."
This was a union shop, so a high-level meeting was essential.
Company lawyers eventually found a solution: a lavatory was set aside for the exclusive use of Dennis/Denise. On the door was stenciled, "Authorized Personal Only."
So then, we all went back to grinding, pounding, and cursing.
Dennis/Denise was a welder who was taking hormone treatment for a sex change, male-to-female. There was much talk. It was a "sensation," as they say in showbiz.
Dennis/Denise opened by asking management for permission to use the womens locker room and lavatories. Immediately a howl went up from the female employees demanding that Dennis/Denise not be allowed.
Right on cue, several male employees began agitating that he/she be excluded from the mens locker room.
"We don't want that (something-or-other) in the locker room scoping-out our genitals."
This was a union shop, so a high-level meeting was essential.
Company lawyers eventually found a solution: a lavatory was set aside for the exclusive use of Dennis/Denise. On the door was stenciled, "Authorized Personal Only."
So then, we all went back to grinding, pounding, and cursing.
4
To me this indicates a great need for a rational left. I don't like the righties. Not at all.
But fearmongering or no, allowing transitionals into women's or MEN's restrooms is offensive and potentially dangerous. Why is it offensive and scary? Because of my right to privacy among my kind and safety.
Oh gods, hear me! For a rational left that adores social democracy but doesn't take offense at the drop of a hat and has a thick skin and believes to the end in Freedom of Speech and Expression. That doesn't indulge in the idiot logic that criticizing a religion is racism. And has sane priorities, such as rape, domestic violence and the scariest ones of all, Anthropogenic Climate Change and overpopulation!
This may well be why the real left could fail and what is nominally left, such as Hillary Clinton and Co, could continue to decline. People know what nonsense PC is.
I'm still voting for Bernie!
But fearmongering or no, allowing transitionals into women's or MEN's restrooms is offensive and potentially dangerous. Why is it offensive and scary? Because of my right to privacy among my kind and safety.
Oh gods, hear me! For a rational left that adores social democracy but doesn't take offense at the drop of a hat and has a thick skin and believes to the end in Freedom of Speech and Expression. That doesn't indulge in the idiot logic that criticizing a religion is racism. And has sane priorities, such as rape, domestic violence and the scariest ones of all, Anthropogenic Climate Change and overpopulation!
This may well be why the real left could fail and what is nominally left, such as Hillary Clinton and Co, could continue to decline. People know what nonsense PC is.
I'm still voting for Bernie!
5
Just one more example of gun totting, intolerant, dinosaurs who breakout with a rash if anyone has a different lifestyle than they do. Next they will pass a law that says women must walk 5 yards behind their husband!
1
It is very difficult to make a rational judgement about the anti-discrimination ordinance when proponents laud it for promoting equality and opponents condemn it for a paradigmatic hypothetical failing. I doubt that it is actually a paragon of acceptance and diversity or that it will actually give people license to go into bathrooms to assault women. So, what does it actually do?
My take is that anti-discrimination laws are not necessarily as innocuous as billed. The opponents say it is vaguely worded, and that is a serious concern. A poorly drafted law or policy, regardless of its intention, can become a weapon. A vague anti-discrimination laws can be used, in effect, as legal weapons.
Was this Houston ordinance vague and poorly drafted? I don't know because no where in this article is that concern addressed.
My take is that anti-discrimination laws are not necessarily as innocuous as billed. The opponents say it is vaguely worded, and that is a serious concern. A poorly drafted law or policy, regardless of its intention, can become a weapon. A vague anti-discrimination laws can be used, in effect, as legal weapons.
Was this Houston ordinance vague and poorly drafted? I don't know because no where in this article is that concern addressed.
4
I still love the Texas of my childhood, driving through it (and once even breaking down for a week in Amarillo) while visiting relatives in Louisiana in the 60's and 70's. Even though I could feel the difference from my home state of California even then, and was always happy to get back home, I still feel strongly connected to it to this day. Clearly though, they (and the entire South and Midwest) must hurry up and catch up with the 20th Century. And then of course, before it's too late, begin the wrenching job of joining the 21st Century, already in progress.
The "no men in ladies' bathrooms" campaign is really unspeakably, embarrassingly medieval in 2016. This ordinance was about LGBT rights, and the opposition essentially used a crude caricature of the needs of transgender people, who are some of the most vulnerable in our society, to attack it. Whether in ignorance, or just plain bigotry, who cares? The whole world is watching us, Texas, as we deny climate change, evolution, gender dysphoria, etc, etc. Tired of it.
It's not rocket science.
The "no men in ladies' bathrooms" campaign is really unspeakably, embarrassingly medieval in 2016. This ordinance was about LGBT rights, and the opposition essentially used a crude caricature of the needs of transgender people, who are some of the most vulnerable in our society, to attack it. Whether in ignorance, or just plain bigotry, who cares? The whole world is watching us, Texas, as we deny climate change, evolution, gender dysphoria, etc, etc. Tired of it.
It's not rocket science.
62
Rocket scientists lost Challenger and Columbia. Mexico and Mexicans lost Texas. Houston does not shake nor quake nor snow. But the wind does howl and the rains do fall and the water does rise. Crude caricatures win and lose elections. "Houston we have a problem" was the distress call from Apollo 13. That was the same kind of call heard by the majority of voters regarding HERO,
Straight Houstonian here, voted for HERO, was bummed out by the lack of turnout despite great weather. It might have helped had they extended voting hours. Not all of us are bigots. Anyone not in Houston hiring?
1
For the opponents of Houston's Ordinance, please point me to all of the problems regarding restroom access that have occurred in the hundreds of cities that already have similar ordinances. Why haven't all of these purported bathroom issued occurred here in Portland? This is essentially one of the same arguments that Phyllis Schlafly used to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in Illinois. It wasn't true then and its not true now. I'm sure there are many cities whose voters are not so stupid and who will be happy to host the Super Bowl and NCAA Final 4. And then Houston can focus on how to militarize its public restrooms to protect all of its children from phantoms.
1
Maybe we should just let Texas secede. They give the impression they have always wanted to do this. Why shouldn't we happily accommodate them?
2
How about all office buildings in NYC, including the NYT, be forced to permit anyone from the street to use their restrooms? Any replies?
Or, every building in NYC should be required to have 15 different restrooms to satisfy all false minorities.
Or, every building in NYC should be required to have 15 different restrooms to satisfy all false minorities.
4
Men in women's bathrooms?
Oh, please.
If that's the concern, then just make sure women carry their guns when they go powder their noses.
That's what the Second Amendment is for, right?
But leave the anti-discrimination ordinance in place.
Oh, please.
If that's the concern, then just make sure women carry their guns when they go powder their noses.
That's what the Second Amendment is for, right?
But leave the anti-discrimination ordinance in place.
2
As usual, it seems that self-satisfied, holier-than-thou East Coast liberals need folks from somewhere else in the country to talk some sense into them.
I do recall that Michael Dukakis carried his home state of Massachusetts, and that's just about it.
Maybe the take-away from this disaster of an election is that liberals need to double down on a strategy to not let their opponents define the terms of a cultural issue on the ballot or as part of a candidate's profile.
What makes anyone think that this type of approach won't be trucked out in the 2016 presidential and congressional races? Would you East Coast liberals rather be self-congratulatory and right or would you rather win an election? (Let's say with someone more competent than Bill De Blasio, for starters....)
Chris Christie. Rudi Giuliani. Michael Bloomberg. Mitt Romney. Scott Brown. Peter King, Joe Lieberman etc. etc. Sure, these guys aren't Ted Cruz-es. But then again there's Joe Lieberman. Holy Cow.
Not like y'all's track record is spotless.
This is what is coming at ya in 2016. Time to man up (or trans-gender up) and come up with some other strategy than sanctimony to get out the vote and actually win an election rather than simply pontificate.
I do recall that Michael Dukakis carried his home state of Massachusetts, and that's just about it.
Maybe the take-away from this disaster of an election is that liberals need to double down on a strategy to not let their opponents define the terms of a cultural issue on the ballot or as part of a candidate's profile.
What makes anyone think that this type of approach won't be trucked out in the 2016 presidential and congressional races? Would you East Coast liberals rather be self-congratulatory and right or would you rather win an election? (Let's say with someone more competent than Bill De Blasio, for starters....)
Chris Christie. Rudi Giuliani. Michael Bloomberg. Mitt Romney. Scott Brown. Peter King, Joe Lieberman etc. etc. Sure, these guys aren't Ted Cruz-es. But then again there's Joe Lieberman. Holy Cow.
Not like y'all's track record is spotless.
This is what is coming at ya in 2016. Time to man up (or trans-gender up) and come up with some other strategy than sanctimony to get out the vote and actually win an election rather than simply pontificate.
9
Houston Is already a gay-no- a lgbtq Mecca of sorts. Was this pandering legislation really even necessary? It's getting to the point where the lgbtq community is no longer fighting for equality- their fighting for superiority. Soon all of straight America will be afraid to respectfully disagree or otherwise so much as utter a word to a lgbtq person, without fearing the full force of the law bearing down on them with fees, and even imprisonment and prosecution. The buck had to stop somewhere. Of course now gays are threatening to boycott- typical intimidation tactic to bend all to their will. This is ridiculous. It's become a power play. All humans are discriminated in some way-gay, straight, ugly, fat, disabled, old, shy etc; so should we draw battle lines where everyone has laws drafted for "Their rights" over others? We are going down a very slippery slope here...
7
It really isn't difficult to make unisex bathrooms.
Many businesses already have them and every home and apartment has them as well.
Most bathrooms could easily be retrofitted to be unisex. It really wouldn't be that difficult.
I still have faith that society moves forward toward greater compassion and more understanding for all sentient beings.
As Houston proved today, it just doesn't move forward every single day.
Many businesses already have them and every home and apartment has them as well.
Most bathrooms could easily be retrofitted to be unisex. It really wouldn't be that difficult.
I still have faith that society moves forward toward greater compassion and more understanding for all sentient beings.
As Houston proved today, it just doesn't move forward every single day.
1
Creative Houstonians:
We feel your pain. We get it. It's not easy. But we welcome you here. Come join us. If, in 20 years, your "friends" and families get it, well, then, head back on down, as our African American brothers and sisters are heading back to Atlanta. In the mean time, the philosophy of Ayn Rand prevails, so withdraw your talents from those who scorn you and join those of us who celebrate and welcome you. When they've had enough and decide to welcome you back, we'll (sorrowfully) bless your return.
We feel your pain. We get it. It's not easy. But we welcome you here. Come join us. If, in 20 years, your "friends" and families get it, well, then, head back on down, as our African American brothers and sisters are heading back to Atlanta. In the mean time, the philosophy of Ayn Rand prevails, so withdraw your talents from those who scorn you and join those of us who celebrate and welcome you. When they've had enough and decide to welcome you back, we'll (sorrowfully) bless your return.
Let me get this straight. Gay and transgender rights essentially come down to fears that men will go in the ladies' john?
Seriously?
Is that really all there is to equality?
Houston, give us a break.
Seriously?
Is that really all there is to equality?
Houston, give us a break.
2
As a gay man, I'm still confused as to when a person who's transgender is allowed to use the facilities of the gender of which they identify. Saying your a woman and committing yourself to transitioning are two different things...and I personally believe that certain steps need to be made before a transgender person should be fully accommodated.
My confusion on the issue also highlights a major problem with this bill: Although gays, lesbians and transgender people are lumped together, their issues aren't homogenous (so to speak). And to make matters more confusing, many transgender people consider themselves "straight," so there's mutual ignorance of gay & lesbian/transgender issues. Some in the gay community also feel that men and women who don't fit traditional gender norms are being pushed to transition rather than be proud of who they are (not including those with true gender dysphoria).
My confusion on the issue also highlights a major problem with this bill: Although gays, lesbians and transgender people are lumped together, their issues aren't homogenous (so to speak). And to make matters more confusing, many transgender people consider themselves "straight," so there's mutual ignorance of gay & lesbian/transgender issues. Some in the gay community also feel that men and women who don't fit traditional gender norms are being pushed to transition rather than be proud of who they are (not including those with true gender dysphoria).
22
It's curious that the Mayor never said whether she thought that men who "identify" as women but who have male genitals should be allowed to use women's public restrooms. If she thinks that they shouldn't be allowed to, she should have said so and offered some clarifying language to the proposed ordinance. I am forced to assume from her failure to object that she thinks that this is exactly what the ordinance would require and should require.
7
Daniel Wong said: Stop trying to fool yourselves about why you oppose this ordinance. Admit the truth: you do not want equal treatment for gays.
The reason people opposed this ordinance really had nothing to do with sexual attraction. It was about tossing transgender toileting in. Hard to believe, but a great many people do not want to give permission to genetic males -- no matter how feminine they claim to feel, and it is easy to claim -- to enter a bathroom where they or their daughters or indeed any girl or woman may be caring for their body.
The reason people opposed this ordinance really had nothing to do with sexual attraction. It was about tossing transgender toileting in. Hard to believe, but a great many people do not want to give permission to genetic males -- no matter how feminine they claim to feel, and it is easy to claim -- to enter a bathroom where they or their daughters or indeed any girl or woman may be caring for their body.
10
Straight Houstonian here, we had a very low turnout despite great weather. It might have helped to extend voting by an hour or two as Houston's mass transit system is nonexistent. Im pretty disappointed with the outcome of the referendum(and the turnout), but it is encouraging to see equal protection and the 14th amendment at the forefront of the national discussion. I'm sure that a similar provision will be on the ballot next year(though some of us are thinking about moving right now). It's not easy being a liberal in Texas.
3
Ads that featured a pervert following a young girl into her stall, with the voice over saying there's nothing you can do to protect her... yeah that's going to scare your average American.
Bill Clinton talked about politics being the "art of the argument". In this case we can call it the art of the twisted argument.
I have to say when I saw those stark and brightly colored signs about stopping men from going into women's bathrooms...... oh that should do it. That measure is going to pass.
what it says about the zeitgeist well that's a whole 'nother comment.
Bill Clinton talked about politics being the "art of the argument". In this case we can call it the art of the twisted argument.
I have to say when I saw those stark and brightly colored signs about stopping men from going into women's bathrooms...... oh that should do it. That measure is going to pass.
what it says about the zeitgeist well that's a whole 'nother comment.
1
They used the same tactic to deny passage of ERA. women would be forced to fight. Go to war. Go to the bathroom in the trenches(guess they thought it was WWI situations) Men would be allowed to use the women's bathroom, dressing rooms, etc. When I read the exaggerations and lies, I had a powerful flashback. SSDY
Congratulations, Houston! Once again, Texans give in to ignorance, fear and bigotry. News flash: This was never about "men going into women's restrooms," as all the religious hate mongers proclaimed. Nope, this was plain, bald-faced homophobia at work. Nice going. It's one more reason to boycott Texas. I feel very sorry for my friends who have to live there.
4
Well, I'm so relieved!!
Now, maybe the number of attacks by men in the ladies room will fall to ZERO! ( down substantially from...........ZERO )
I'M just waiting for the first transgendered man in full female attire and makeup to try to walk into the MEN'S room and see all the other "normal" men flee for their lives!!! LOL
What is wrong with all those "god-fearing" bible thumping bigots in Houston (and other states )
Is it something in the water??!
Now, maybe the number of attacks by men in the ladies room will fall to ZERO! ( down substantially from...........ZERO )
I'M just waiting for the first transgendered man in full female attire and makeup to try to walk into the MEN'S room and see all the other "normal" men flee for their lives!!! LOL
What is wrong with all those "god-fearing" bible thumping bigots in Houston (and other states )
Is it something in the water??!
The real solution is requiring insurance companies to cover gender reassignment surgery. . Heck even iran covers it
Iran forces gay men to have "gender reassignment" surgery so they are "no longer gay." Your comparison to Iran is disingenuous. Most transgender persons don't even want bottom surgery, so insurance covering the surgery isn't a solution at all.
Everyone who rejected it will be fine until it affects them, a friend, or a family member. Then they'll change their tune.
2
I don't know why anyone is surprised that the oil capital of Texas voted right-wing in an off-year election.
12
Seems as if their twice elected lesbian in a gay marraige mayor was surprised. 61% against is not a right - wing vote its overwhelming.
1
Austin is the capital
Funny how the NYT didn't bother to say what the vote margin was (61% opposed to 39% in favor). If the vote had gone the other way I am sure the headline would have been "Houston Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Anti-Discrimination Ordinance."
29
It wouldn't matter if the margin was 99-1. Eventually somewhere the issue will go to a Federal judge and that will be that. Men in Black explains the situation.
And your point? Texas celebrates discrimination?
Why isn't the Times reporting the voting percentages? Probably because both the Houston ordinance and Ohio legalization bill were both resoundingly defeated by wide margins.
24
Blacks and Hispanics overwhelmingly voted to repeal the ordinance, That doesn't fit the progressive narrative...
5
This reminds me of Republicans' partisan self-interest spawned obsession with phantom voter fraud, which led to rolling back the Voting Rights Act and enacting restrictions on legal voting, mostly to minorities that tend to vote Democratic. They claim they want everyone to show ID, but only ever bring it up right BEFORE an election, as they don't intend any provision for such ID to be provided to eligible Americans, and in fact national ID has long been anathema to paranoiacs on the right-wing fringe.
Here we're told the problem isn't with prohibiting actual "bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services" against "15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity," but rather the phantom menace of men attacking women in bathrooms—the obvious solution to which would be providing single-occupant bathrooms. But of course that would mean actually putting their money where their mouths are to build the private facilities they seem to think they enjoy, rather than the communal facilities where most large organizations currently commingle heterosexuals, homosexuals, and post-op transsexuals. The byproduct of that solution would be that those same facilities were also available to transgender individuals.
But of course conservative bigots don't want solutions, they want the issue to malinger indefinitely so it can be trotted out and spun to their political advantage over and over and over again.
Here we're told the problem isn't with prohibiting actual "bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services" against "15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity," but rather the phantom menace of men attacking women in bathrooms—the obvious solution to which would be providing single-occupant bathrooms. But of course that would mean actually putting their money where their mouths are to build the private facilities they seem to think they enjoy, rather than the communal facilities where most large organizations currently commingle heterosexuals, homosexuals, and post-op transsexuals. The byproduct of that solution would be that those same facilities were also available to transgender individuals.
But of course conservative bigots don't want solutions, they want the issue to malinger indefinitely so it can be trotted out and spun to their political advantage over and over and over again.
6
The transgender lobby would not be satisfied with single-occupant or unisex restrooms, and transgender individuals have filed ACLU-supported suits against schools and businesses that try to assign transgendered individual to unisex restrooms. They insist they have the right to use facilities consistent with their gender identity rather than their biological sex. There is no attempt to ban gay males from men's restroom rooms or lesbians from women's restrooms. No one wants "private" restrooms in schools or public facilities. The expense would be enormous. Sports stadiums would have to provide thousands of private restrooms.
2
I happen to be in favour of at least some form of this ordinance - ideally there would be three options, one restroom for men, one for women, and one for those who 'just want to pee.' But I can't help a twisted smile of appreciation for the irony that when first-wave feminism produced another failed initiative - the Equal Rights Amendment - some 40 years ago, opponents managed to kill it in part with the argument that if it passed, there would be unisex toilets! Men using the ladies' room! No, we supporters said, that is not what the ERA is about - we will never ask for that! And by golly, 40 years later ... here we are. asking for that.
13
"The ordinance, they noted, says nothing specifically about whether men can use women’s restrooms."
Restrooms were never mentioned in the HERO proposition. That was just a great slogan espoused by Dan Patrick to keep bigotry alive and well and living in Texas.
The ERA and thus proposal are not even close to being the same thing.
I am against discrimination in any form. But this case is not simple. By lumping in transgender identity issues with human rights, we are confusing two completely separate issues in my opinion. Whether someone identifies as a particular gender does not necessarily mean that that person should be given the right to use facilities that are biologically segregated (XX vs XY chromosome) especially if that person is pre-operative and still has the physical makeup of man/woman even though they identify as a woman/man. I understand the push for transgender rights, but I think that at some point those rights are going to have to be balanced out with the general rights of privacy for all. To lump gender identity issues in with the broader issues of Anti-discrimination for gays, only serves to marginalize the majority of gays in my opinion. No easy answers come to mind.
150
I agree with your comment. This particular issue seems to be a standard bearer for the left vs. right divide. Those on the left are intolerant of religious liberties protected by the Constitution as well as tone deaf to the legitimate worries of parents who want to protect their children. Those on the right side of the issue, no pun intended, are indifferent to the needs of a very small minority who insist on their right to use the gender appropriate public bathroom of their choice even during the pre-operative stage of their transgender transformation. Both sides could easily come to a compromise if they allowed for a 3rd option, which is an optional private bathroom for either families and/or transgender individuals usage thus protecting the rights of all aggrieved parties involved in this dispute. The costs involved would clearly be made up by the avoidance of offending gay rights tourists who simply opt out of visiting Houston due to this single issue.
8
Being a man, I have no first-hand experience, but I believe that, when women pee, they do so in enclosed stalls, with the doors closed.
I think what you're missing is that first of all trans people aren't causing any problems in bathrooms. Second, this "No Men in Women's Bathrooms" neglects the fact that there are transmen, who are as large and strong as cisgender men, have beards and who would generally be a very unwelcome presence in women's bathrooms. Trans people have been using restrooms for as long as there have been trans people, which is FAR longer than the general public has been aware of us. Also, in all of my 32 years, I've never seen anyone else's genitalia in a public restroom. This is nothing but fear mongering that actually hurts people and doesn't benefit anyone. It's more security theatre and pegs trans people as predators when in reality, trans women especially are far more likely to be raped, assaulted and murdered than the reverse.
I live in Houston. Everyday for the last month there have been at least 5 phone calls on my answering machine urging me to vote "no" on proposition 1. The main reasoning given is that passage would allow men in women's bathrooms. It came across as fear mongering. Yet, there were never any messages arguing the other point of view. I also heard that roughly only 9%of registered voters participated in the election. There seems to be more of a problem here in Texas in getting people to vote and for both sides of an issue to be given equal "air time".
22
This is disturbingly typical. Republicans have the energy and resources to sway voters. Where are the Democrats? In my county in the Southeast, we have an ultra right wing Congressman and zero energy to recruit a credible Democratic candidate to oppose him. Democratic Party, Organizing for Action, Common Cause, etc. , where are you?
Doesn't the task of educating oneself on an issue necessarily exclude waiting or depending on receiving prerecorded messages left on an answering machine?
The mayor try to prevent putting this on a ballot. She tried to ram it through.
Pay attention to the numbers here and wonder about our democracy. Only 28% of registered voters cast ballots on this referendum question, of whom 60% voted to repeal the measure. So the Equal Rights Ordinance was repealed by about 17% of Houston's registered voters. That means that the vast majority of the electorate in that city did not participate and was not interested in the issue, and those who were scared into voting for repeal by the mendacious advertising campaign were actually a rather small percentage of the population.
24
You assume that those who voted were "scared".
The fact is that 60% is 60%. You may not like that fact. But, too bad.
As for me, I would not want any man in the same bathroom as my granddaughter. If he thinks that he is a woman, then all the more the reason to keep him away from my granddaughter.
The fact is that 60% is 60%. You may not like that fact. But, too bad.
As for me, I would not want any man in the same bathroom as my granddaughter. If he thinks that he is a woman, then all the more the reason to keep him away from my granddaughter.
2
I grew up in Houston, and though it has a couple liberal enclaves in the downtown area, at heart Houston remains the same as it has always been - an energy town. This recent anti-gay election shouldn't come as that big of a surprise, since Houston is ruled and owned by oil/gas, and is there an industry that is more conservative..? The oil/gas culture permeates everything in this town including politics. The South at one time was ruled by the commodity of cotton only to be replaced by the commodity of oil. While I'm not saying all people in oil/gas are conservative and generally dislike liberal policies that protect gay people, but I'm sure you can guess which way the vast majority of them feel.
7
I'm not at all certain this is the broad civil liberties rejection it is being portrayed as. Had the same bill been rejected in Boston, I suspect the response would be different.
I oppose transgender women from using the ladies room until after surgery. It has nothing to do with their disposition, it has to do with weakening restrictions on men in ladies rest room, because it is not safe for young children and women. If no one ever talked about it, it would never have been an issue at all - but now it is.
You can't advocate one person's rights at the expense of another, and this debate hits my feminist core. The movement of gender by choice hits at far more issues for women than just bathrooms, and perpetuates an unfair power balance that favors men.
Maybe the issues need to be redefined.
I oppose transgender women from using the ladies room until after surgery. It has nothing to do with their disposition, it has to do with weakening restrictions on men in ladies rest room, because it is not safe for young children and women. If no one ever talked about it, it would never have been an issue at all - but now it is.
You can't advocate one person's rights at the expense of another, and this debate hits my feminist core. The movement of gender by choice hits at far more issues for women than just bathrooms, and perpetuates an unfair power balance that favors men.
Maybe the issues need to be redefined.
40
Sounds sensible - which means it will surly fall on deaf progressive ears.
13
If you're really a feminist, surely you can see that trying to protect little ladies from dangerous men pretending to be women is not exactly feminist. A major tenet of feminism is that women can take care of ourselves. Indeed, the very fact that the signs saying "No men in women's bathrooms" are carried by men rather than women should be enough proof that the issue is not one of equality for women but rather bigotry against men who refuse to be "masculine" according to our society's misogynistic standards.
Given that public bathrooms have individual stalls, and that it's impossible to tell whether a woman washing her hands or arranging her hair in front of the mirror is biologically male or female, there is no issue of "safety" here. Furthermore, I don't see how a man who self-identifies as a woman using a women's restroom presents any kind of threat to "young children and women." This whole discussion belongs in the 19th century, not the 21st. As a woman, I have no problem with male-to-female transsexuals using the public bathrooms I use. What we feminist women need is feminist men who listen to us; not men who claim to be feminists while presuming to speak for us.
Given that public bathrooms have individual stalls, and that it's impossible to tell whether a woman washing her hands or arranging her hair in front of the mirror is biologically male or female, there is no issue of "safety" here. Furthermore, I don't see how a man who self-identifies as a woman using a women's restroom presents any kind of threat to "young children and women." This whole discussion belongs in the 19th century, not the 21st. As a woman, I have no problem with male-to-female transsexuals using the public bathrooms I use. What we feminist women need is feminist men who listen to us; not men who claim to be feminists while presuming to speak for us.
It is not illegal for men to be in women's bathrooms and vice versa. It is and will remain illegal for anyone to assault anyone else in a bathroom (or elsewhere, for that matter), male or female. Both men's and women's bathrooms have stalls with doors. In my 74 years I have been in many women's bathrooms, and I have never seen a woman in any state of undress. They're washing their hands, combing their hair and putting on lipstick. I would have no idea whether the people I see there are transgender, nor do I care. I do my business behind a closed door, as does everyone else. A transgender male who has not had surgery is not going to stand at a urinal because he doesn't have the equipment. He will also be behind a closed door.
This bathroom stuff is just the excuse the Christian right has glommed onto in order to create fear of the "other" and to allow them to continue their bigotry. If it weren't, they wouldn't be voting to rescind the entire ordinance, most of which has no bearing on which bathroom is used by whom.
This bathroom stuff is just the excuse the Christian right has glommed onto in order to create fear of the "other" and to allow them to continue their bigotry. If it weren't, they wouldn't be voting to rescind the entire ordinance, most of which has no bearing on which bathroom is used by whom.
Voters made the right decision. First Amendment Rules. Private business and organizations have a Constitutional Right to conduct their business as they see fit based on their personal belief. We or you or I may not like it but we or you or I have a right NOT to use this business or service. Government has no roll in a FREE society in tell individuals what they can do or say. We all need to protect free speech or you will regret the results of the iron fist of government. This in not an issue of LGBTQ rights this is an issue of free speech rights. In the end you may have friendly LGBTQ services and not so friendly LGBTQ services. Fine. Let the market decide. In the end we never want government to control speech.
14
So it would also be OK to exclude blacks or women from my business?
By that logic we should repeal almost all civil rights
A practical solution would be to have enough bathrooms for men, for women and unisex. These last would be for only one person at a time and they could be used by men, by women and by transgender people. But males who identify as female would not have the right to use bathrooms for females only.
(And vice versa in fairness).
I am sure that the city of Houston would be comfortable with such a solution.
But the feds would have a problem. They just sued a school in Illinois which tried to come up with a rational solution.
It is the federal government which has made a religion of the belief that we are all the same, even anatomically, which is the problem. The Declaration of Independence says that All men are created equal. We no longer believe that there is a creator, but we believe that the term "men" includes everyone and absolutely no distinctions are permitted.
We are like a country which insists on feeding grass to lions and meat to cows and refuses to admit that we can take care of BOTH lions and cows, but not in the same way.
(And vice versa in fairness).
I am sure that the city of Houston would be comfortable with such a solution.
But the feds would have a problem. They just sued a school in Illinois which tried to come up with a rational solution.
It is the federal government which has made a religion of the belief that we are all the same, even anatomically, which is the problem. The Declaration of Independence says that All men are created equal. We no longer believe that there is a creator, but we believe that the term "men" includes everyone and absolutely no distinctions are permitted.
We are like a country which insists on feeding grass to lions and meat to cows and refuses to admit that we can take care of BOTH lions and cows, but not in the same way.
7
"A practical solution would be to have enough bathrooms for men, for women and unisex."
And who would pay for installing these "unisex" bathrooms, undoubtedly not the government that demanded them.
And who would pay for installing these "unisex" bathrooms, undoubtedly not the government that demanded them.
2
You know darn well that a great many people in the U.S. and worldwide believe in a Creator. As I'm sitting here I can't prove to you that subatomic particles exist - but I believe that they exist.
I have a feeling that true transgender persons would be able to bring individual legal cases if they so desired to gain access to a restroom of their choice. Meanwhile, a true predator will still stalk women in restrooms (has this been a problem in Texas?) and other places.
The referendum does not do anything to protect women from being victimized, and it is disingenuous for anyone to say that's what this was about.
At the end of the day, now in Houston, "bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services for 15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity" is no longer prohibited. That is the real result here, not some strong non-bowing to the "oppression of the LGBT crowd" as has been suggested by some.
I didn't notice restrooms in there at all.
The referendum does not do anything to protect women from being victimized, and it is disingenuous for anyone to say that's what this was about.
At the end of the day, now in Houston, "bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services for 15 protected classes, including race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity" is no longer prohibited. That is the real result here, not some strong non-bowing to the "oppression of the LGBT crowd" as has been suggested by some.
I didn't notice restrooms in there at all.
5
Why do I get the "feeling" that the du jour response to the judge of "I feel like a woman" won't pass the smell test. Use the bathroom assigned by your plumbing, it's that simple.
2
Federal law provides ample protection for at least thirteen of those classes - and most people know that. The various perverts and confused people don't need special protection, they need "help."
My guess is that this is more a response to the over-the-top PC correctness that is endlessly pushed by the far left, including the garbage that is promoted on college campuses, and in liberal cities, than it is about the merits of the ordinance.
The Democrats and their rabid social justice warriors have managed to alienate many with their culture of grievance and special rights and "benefits" for their protected classes. At least that is what the perception is. And perception, is for many, reality.
Until Democratic party leaders and politicians realize that pushing rights for specific sub-groups, while simultaneously ignoring the middle-class average citizen voter, proposals like this, put to a popular vote, are doomed. It is viewed as a benefit for a partisan, supported group, rather than a benefit for society as a whole.
From sanctuary cities coddling illegal aliens to "yes means yes" campus sex policies, and the endless parade of "who is offended today" garbage, the perception is that these types of ordinances are not designed for the benefit of society as a whole. And that is why they may fail like this one in Houston. No average citizen voter can relate to it any more.
The Democrats and their rabid social justice warriors have managed to alienate many with their culture of grievance and special rights and "benefits" for their protected classes. At least that is what the perception is. And perception, is for many, reality.
Until Democratic party leaders and politicians realize that pushing rights for specific sub-groups, while simultaneously ignoring the middle-class average citizen voter, proposals like this, put to a popular vote, are doomed. It is viewed as a benefit for a partisan, supported group, rather than a benefit for society as a whole.
From sanctuary cities coddling illegal aliens to "yes means yes" campus sex policies, and the endless parade of "who is offended today" garbage, the perception is that these types of ordinances are not designed for the benefit of society as a whole. And that is why they may fail like this one in Houston. No average citizen voter can relate to it any more.
42
Some people need to go back and read the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, which was written specifically to protect minorities. It is, after all, a government for ALL the people, not just the ones a majority decide are worthy.
How does it benefit society as a whole to treat a group of people as second-class citizens who can't shop where others do, work in jobs they're qualified for, rent housing everyone else can rent, or even use the same bathroom everyone else uses?
This isn't a matter of being politically correct. It's a matter of recognizing basic rights of all humans. The only reason to focus on difference is to make oneself feel superior - and to create fear in order to gain control over others.
How does it benefit society as a whole to treat a group of people as second-class citizens who can't shop where others do, work in jobs they're qualified for, rent housing everyone else can rent, or even use the same bathroom everyone else uses?
This isn't a matter of being politically correct. It's a matter of recognizing basic rights of all humans. The only reason to focus on difference is to make oneself feel superior - and to create fear in order to gain control over others.
My guess is that this is more a response to the over-the-top PC correctness that is endlessly pushed by the far left, including the garbage that is promoted on college campuses, and in liberal cities, than it is about the merits of the ordinance.
The Democrats and their rabid social justice warriors have managed to alienate many with their culture of grievance and special rights and "benefits" for their protected classes. At least that is what the perception is. And perception, is for many, reality.
Until Democratic party leaders and politicians realize that pushing rights for specific sub-groups, while simultaneously ignoring the middle-class average citizen voter, proposals like this, put to a popular vote, are doomed. It is viewed as a benefit for a partisan, supported group, rather than a benefit for society as a whole.
From sanctuary cities coddling illegal aliens to "yes means yes" campus sex policies, and the endless parade of "who is offended today" garbage, the perception is that these types of ordinances are not designed for the benefit of society as a whole. And that is why they may fail like this one in Houston. No average citizen voter can relate to it any more.
The Democrats and their rabid social justice warriors have managed to alienate many with their culture of grievance and special rights and "benefits" for their protected classes. At least that is what the perception is. And perception, is for many, reality.
Until Democratic party leaders and politicians realize that pushing rights for specific sub-groups, while simultaneously ignoring the middle-class average citizen voter, proposals like this, put to a popular vote, are doomed. It is viewed as a benefit for a partisan, supported group, rather than a benefit for society as a whole.
From sanctuary cities coddling illegal aliens to "yes means yes" campus sex policies, and the endless parade of "who is offended today" garbage, the perception is that these types of ordinances are not designed for the benefit of society as a whole. And that is why they may fail like this one in Houston. No average citizen voter can relate to it any more.
15
Mayor Parker will always be remembered as the mayor who tried to intimidate, bully, and threaten Christians by deploying weapons of the state against Christians when she issued subpoenas against five Christian entities, some pastors, some para-church workers -- not all mega-churches as has been falsely reported. This abuse of her power scared the public and its outrage quickly caused her to back off her extreme stance re the subpoenas. Her abuse of power against Christians was fresh in peoples' memory. She had created a climate of fear and the public no longer trusted her. She tried to argue that the churches had stepped into politics and therefore deserved the subpoenas. But liberal churches have also been involved in politics for years. It was simply because conservative Christians of conscience dissented from her opinion that she decided to try to bully, threaten, intimidate them, and use the weapons of the state against those who disagreed with her. The press, as usual, will report this as them backward bigoted Texans refusing to agree with the press's agenda. But there's a bigger more common sense picture. The recent memory of Parker's attempt to bring the legal arm of the state against those who disagreed with her created a climate of fear and she lost trust. Secondly, Houstonians would like City Government and mayors to fix potholes instead of over-regulating our lives and pushing silly bathroom ordinances down our throats and losing all perspective.
26
Care to show any examples? Your comment has been published in the country's most influential newspaper, now is the time to show your facts.
This was no abuse against Christians. Perhaps you need to look at the network of money being spent on lawyers and organizations supporting all Christian legal issues, a lot of it from the Catholic Church. This is not about religion as much as it is about power.
Women's bathrooms have stalls, and with or without a non-discrimination ordinance, violating the privacy of the stall or accosting someone in a bathroom are criminal acts. So, what are the fine citizens of Houston going to do? Hire city officials to personally check out the genitals of everyone seeking to use a non-residential bathroom? Make everyone using all non-residential bathrooms in the city sign an official affidavit under penalty of perjury stating they have no attraction to members of the same sex?
Regardless of the fact that it is now legal in Houston to hate and discriminate against someone on the basis of sexual preference or orientation, its still going to be possible for a transsexual to use the women's bathroom; as well as for lesbians and gays to use the bathrooms assigned to their gender..
Houston's now official permission to discriminate has nothing to do with bathrooms, and everything to do with perpetuating outdated hate. If it doesn't fail in federal court on constitutional grounds now based on the Supreme Court's recent decision approving equal marriage rights, it will fail because the voters get tired of seeing their City lose conventions, In the meantime, Houston needs to get busy hiring taxpayer employed gender checkers for hundreds of thousands of bathrooms,
Regardless of the fact that it is now legal in Houston to hate and discriminate against someone on the basis of sexual preference or orientation, its still going to be possible for a transsexual to use the women's bathroom; as well as for lesbians and gays to use the bathrooms assigned to their gender..
Houston's now official permission to discriminate has nothing to do with bathrooms, and everything to do with perpetuating outdated hate. If it doesn't fail in federal court on constitutional grounds now based on the Supreme Court's recent decision approving equal marriage rights, it will fail because the voters get tired of seeing their City lose conventions, In the meantime, Houston needs to get busy hiring taxpayer employed gender checkers for hundreds of thousands of bathrooms,
8
Transgender is multifaceted, unlike transexual which is pretty much binary. One transgendered person might be a man who is attracted to women, but also identifies as a cross-dresser. And on it goes - probably why Facebook introduced more than 50 choices for gender identification.
This makes the issue more complicated. For example, some feminists see men bringing their body parts into women's restrooms as just another extension of male privilege. Meanwhile, right wingers lament the fact that basic principles are being abandoned and with it, all of Western Civilization. Then some activists insist this is the new civil rights.
As someone once asked, "Can't we all just get along?" Evidently not. Atleast not right away. This issue will take some time. In the meantime, here's hoping that the opposing sides will, by some miracle, listen to one another.
This makes the issue more complicated. For example, some feminists see men bringing their body parts into women's restrooms as just another extension of male privilege. Meanwhile, right wingers lament the fact that basic principles are being abandoned and with it, all of Western Civilization. Then some activists insist this is the new civil rights.
As someone once asked, "Can't we all just get along?" Evidently not. Atleast not right away. This issue will take some time. In the meantime, here's hoping that the opposing sides will, by some miracle, listen to one another.
7
FB was jumping on the bandwagon, the fad of pinning as many 'identity' labels on oneself. Labels are great - they sure do beat the hard work of actually having a personality.
2
When conservatives say they know something is right "in their gut," it's usually wrong. But I fear we're coming to a point where a "right" is defined capriciously. Despite our founding documents, rights are not self-evident. Does a pre-op trans who feels like a lady have the right to enter the ladies' room against the wishes of the majority of ladies? That's equality? Most of HERO is exemplary, but parts of it are perverse.
As for Mississippi's Initiative 42, conservatives have never liked judges telling them to stop discriminating against blacks, which is mainly what this was about. They even concocted an "alternative," Initiative 42A, in order to split the vote and kill Initiative 42. And it looks as if they were effective.
During the Civil Rights Era, in an attempt to stave off the Brown decision, the white government tried to get blacks to consent to continued segregation by proposing, at long last, equal funding for black schools; they also considered the outright abolition of public schools -- the assumption being that Mississippi would fund private schools for white children. After a NAACP meeting decided to call for the enforcement of Brown, Reverend H.H. Humes, quondam spy for the Sov-Com, said, "for too long you have given us schools in which we study the earth through the floor and the stars through the roof."
If one inspects our (black) inner-city and rundown rural schools, one will find that that's still the case. And it will continue to be for some time.
As for Mississippi's Initiative 42, conservatives have never liked judges telling them to stop discriminating against blacks, which is mainly what this was about. They even concocted an "alternative," Initiative 42A, in order to split the vote and kill Initiative 42. And it looks as if they were effective.
During the Civil Rights Era, in an attempt to stave off the Brown decision, the white government tried to get blacks to consent to continued segregation by proposing, at long last, equal funding for black schools; they also considered the outright abolition of public schools -- the assumption being that Mississippi would fund private schools for white children. After a NAACP meeting decided to call for the enforcement of Brown, Reverend H.H. Humes, quondam spy for the Sov-Com, said, "for too long you have given us schools in which we study the earth through the floor and the stars through the roof."
If one inspects our (black) inner-city and rundown rural schools, one will find that that's still the case. And it will continue to be for some time.
1
It appears that the reason the non-discrimination ordinance got overturned had to do with the fears of men and women being in the same area to urinate and defecate. Maybe we need to look at the issue of segregation of bathrooms, and why we have our current model of bathroom segregation. There are a number of places in our country where bathrooms are not segregated by sex. In such settings everyone has their own stall and has a shower stall that is closed by a curtain or possibly by a shortened door. It is my understanding that the University of California at Berkley has such a model and it is my understanding that it hasn't been a problem. I know of no homes that have men's and women's separate bathrooms, and it doesn't seem to be a problem. Perhaps, instead of taking extreme positions and throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we should look at the issue logically and come up with a sane solution to the issue of privacy in a world of growing acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism. It seems we are having growing pains and difficulties adapting to a changing society. If we were able to send a man to the moon, and the Catholic church is showing a willingness to deal with the issues of divorce and the involvement of women in the church, then we should be able to come up with a reasonable solution to this issue without having to do away totally with anti discrimination ordinances.
6
A setback for gay rights and the rights of LGBT. Nothing is going to stop a sexual predator from attacking a woman anywhere. That is just a fact. To oppose a law which would have allow transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice is stupid.
On the marijuana issue in Ohio. I would have voted against it too even though I support strongly the legalization of pot because it would have given a group of business people a monopoly on the growth of weed. As far as I know, other than buying pot on the street, many people grow it themselves. And if the legalization of pot proposal had excluded the monopoly provision. As voters indicated when they approved a separate anti-monopoly amendment banning ballot initiatives for personal economic benefit, they did the right thing.
On the marijuana issue in Ohio. I would have voted against it too even though I support strongly the legalization of pot because it would have given a group of business people a monopoly on the growth of weed. As far as I know, other than buying pot on the street, many people grow it themselves. And if the legalization of pot proposal had excluded the monopoly provision. As voters indicated when they approved a separate anti-monopoly amendment banning ballot initiatives for personal economic benefit, they did the right thing.
6
It's not about sexual predators, it's about the right to privacy.
2
News Flash. Transgender, Queer and Hetro Male Crossdressing folks are ALREADY using Women's public facilities.
135
I agree, but I think this is more about protecting privacy for children and teenagers, as transgender identity is now being declared at increasing younger ages.
5
But not with impunity.
Males who enter female locker room and disrobe will be asked to leave, if not arrested.
Males who enter female locker room and disrobe will be asked to leave, if not arrested.
3
Of course they are, but that does not mean it's okay and it certainly does not mean that we should make it legal. It's very simple, if you have male parts, use the male bathroom, or use a private one.
1
Wake up liberals!!! Houston has shown that political correctness has been "flushed down the toilet!.: And Ohioans voted out the 10 democrat donors who wanted to control marijuana growth and sales! There's hope for our country, yet!!!
18
Good morning, fifty-six year old native-Houstonian here. We won a "skirmish" but America continues it's death-spiral downwards.
Why would a Times news report on two high-profile elections FAIL to mention the actual vote tally?
15
Dale, how silly, It's because the vote was so lopsided. If the vote was close, it would have been a different headline and story.
The next time Texan politicians threaten to secede from the U.S. THE REST OF US SHOULD say "happy trails .
17
I agree with you rob. However, please let the few thousand who voted for HERO move back to the real USA.
In doing so Texas would take a large (and critical) chunk of the U.S. economy with it.
“Houston, Can you hear me?” ...appearantly all connection to the outside world is lost...
11
Houston's hearing is fine thanks. If ok with you, they just decided not to pander to a gender identity dysfunction. A tiny minority wants preferential rights not equal rights.
3
Agreed. All little girls should not view male parts for the first time in their lives in a public bathroom. That should be left to the internet.
10
They're nothing if not consistent. Empty, twisted terms like "gay agenda", "political correctness", and general fear mongering are trotted out for the base who've not one iota of critical thinking cells in their brain. They seem to fear just about everything except guns and god.
9
No -- we fear political correctness and the gay agenda. And they are real. And they were on display with this issue, as well as the supposed "rights" of transgender boys to infiltrate the girl's bathrooms and showers in high schools.
1
Many people will interpret the vote as resulting from animus towards gays and lesbians, but if so, why would Houston elect a lesbian mayor?
24
What a load of nonsense. Houston already has a comprehensive anti-discrimination ordinance on the books which is very effective. This proposed law was so bad that even one of the major black mayoral candidates, a lawyer, described the proposed law as badly written and would have removed protections for those protected under the current ordinance. The media is, of course, not reporting the truth at all. Should surprise nobody!!!
34
The opposition to this ordinance can be dressed up any way you want but it is bigotry, barely disguised. There can be no over-reach on basic rights or equal treatment under the law. Time to boycott Texas - for so many reasons.
11
I have no issue with gays or transgenders whatsoever. However, what about the young girls who may not want to be naked in a shower with someone who looks like a boy? Don't they have rights, too? Perhaps separate showers for transgenders would be a better idea?
39
No, they don't have rights. A transgenders rights supersede those of everyone else.
1
the feds have already ruled out that compromise.
1
Houston people elected a lesbian as mayor, yet recognizing any right to homosexuals and transgenders is evil. Texas should secede.
8
Here's an idea. Amend HERO to permit bathrooms to separated by biologically (not sexual identity). The bill would pass and we can all move on.
13
Houston for the past forty years has elected only Democrats as mayor. Can it be the voters didn't believe the law was needed?
18
Texans will take a pounding by liberals but they are certainly within their rights to draw a line on rights at the bathroom door. Heterosexuals use the bathrooms too, and they deserve a say.
101
Then what about giving heterosexuals a say: how about we get to vote on whether we'd rather use a communal bathroom, or an individual one? A communal shower, or an individual one? A communal locker room or an individual changing booth? Something tells me that heterosexuals, much less conservatives, and probably the majority overall, would vote for the individual rather than the communal.
2
I don't even know what you mean by "heterosexuals use the bathrooms too."
Businesses receive enough tax benefits to require them to serve the public -- the entire public. Saying
Businesses receive enough tax benefits to require them to serve the public -- the entire public. Saying
The ordinance had nothing to do with bathrooms. The idea that it did was created by the opponents, an idea which the major newspaper in Houston (and everyone except the opponents) made clear was completely untrue. The opposition was driven by a lie, blatant and told without remorse, designed to create fear in the conservative voters. It worked because those voters have stopped questioning whether their leaders are telling the truth, or believing it when they are shown to be doing just that. Houston may be big, but it is also dumb.
1
Texas is bad for immigrants, women, anyone who isn't bulletproof, and now the LGBT community. Who else can they alienate?
13
They way I see it, Texas got it right.
1
Groan. Here come the boycotts and the enabler media outrage. Can we as a country focus on issues important to average Americans?
35
LGBT, chjildren, women, and people who are scared of what proliferating guns can do ARE average Americans.
Perhaps we should move all average white Republicans to Texas and let them founder in their insular world!
Perhaps we should move all average white Republicans to Texas and let them founder in their insular world!
1
Texas. Twenty years behind the times (or 120). Ground zero for ignoramuses. This issue was decided in 1996 by the Supreme Court, in Romer vs. Evans. Colorado amended its constitution to ban anti-discrimination ordinances and SCOTUS slammed it to the floor. Take it to the Supreme Court, mayor Parker. You've won already. Houston lost by showing the world what a backward place Texas really is. When is that state going to secede and take so many of the problems and bad public image the U.S. has with it? Good riddance.
14
Mr. or Ms. 'Observing Nature':
Yours is a 'fascinating' post, though an apt response would be to quote George Orwell:
"Certain Ideas are so Stupid,", he said, "Only an Intellectual Would Agree with Them"
Yours is a 'fascinating' post, though an apt response would be to quote George Orwell:
"Certain Ideas are so Stupid,", he said, "Only an Intellectual Would Agree with Them"
7
There is a different between banning anti-discrimination additions to the State Constitution and adding a vague statute to the Constitution "protecting fifteen arbitrary classes of individuals who present NO evidence that they are even noticed much less discriminated against. Most people never even heard of some of these exotic types of identities much less figured out how to discriminate against them. Wonder if they included "tree huggers" who get a tingle up their legs like, Chris Matthews, when they are close to nature or Pres Obama. They left out the sub-species called politicians who fit nowhere on the continuum of sentient beings.
4
The point ON makes about Romer is incorrect. Romer held that a state could not amend its constitution to prevent the passage of anti discrimination laws which benefited GLBTs. Nothing in Romer requires local or state governments to pass anti discrimination laws for its GLBT population. If you were correct every state and local government would have a constitutional obligation to pass such laws.
1
Maybe we're all just sick of hearing about poor gays, transgenders, and whoever else wants to be grouped in with these folks screaming louder and louder about their "rights", even though, by a margin of one, they're now allowed to "marry". Sort of funny, they espouse so called alternate lifestyles but want still like the marriage idea? It seems to me that the current laws prohibit discrimination already, so why do we need more?
37
djohnwick, you write, " Sort of funny, they espouse so called alternate lifestyles but want still like the marriage idea." Wanting to live an alternative lifestyle is very different from wanting to forego the financial, physical, and emotional benefits that accompany marriage. It is possible to want to receive and benefit from "marriage" without having to be Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver.
5
Maybe we're just all sick of discrimination, against gays, immigrants, etc. What harm does it do anyone else if gays want to marry? As a straight person, it does not effect me or my 47 year marriage to my wife...why not just treat people as human beings? It's not really that hard.
1
Texas wants to secede from America and I say let them do it. Let them forfeit all government funding for disaster relief, medicaid, medicare, social security, etc. The fact is most of the Red 'rebel' states take more in federal dollars than they pay back in taxes than any other states. They're cash strapped - go figure.
Unfortunately, succession is not legal.
Unfortunately, succession is not legal.
20
You New York liberals/socialists would not survive without Texas and our economic output.
8
LOL, Texas would not survive without the federal tax dollars coming from places like New York.
2
@Billy
Texas and other Jesus loving states should set up referendums and ask people if they want Medicare, Medicaid and other LIBERAL programs out of their lives. If so, the rest of the America will set up a single payer system and take care of its people.
Texas and other Jesus loving states should set up referendums and ask people if they want Medicare, Medicaid and other LIBERAL programs out of their lives. If so, the rest of the America will set up a single payer system and take care of its people.
3
Overreach by the Gay/Lesbian/Transgender community. This isn't about bigotry. The NYT reported a school in Illinois in trouble over a male (being female) wanting to use the female locker room. Many americans don't see this as a civil rights issue but common sense. Good work Houston!
63
It is, however, another perfect opportunity to paint opponents as "bigots". We're at the point where every opponent is now a bigot, racist or homophobe. There's no space for opposition. It automatically gets shut down by these accusations.
How can you even have a conversation with people who respond this way?
How can you even have a conversation with people who respond this way?
42
Ditto what you said. Spot on 100%...
2
You can start wearing the labels proudly because they have become meaningless. It's Orwellian doublespeak.
Opposition = bad. It's already backfiring on them. "Rejoice when they utter false accusations against you....."
Opposition = bad. It's already backfiring on them. "Rejoice when they utter false accusations against you....."
4
Living in Houston I am perpetually reminded that I am surrounded by bigots. Houston is a great city from an entrepreneurial standpoint and is a truly ethnically and culturally diverse city. But it has a strong anti gay bias. I received more robo calls against the HERO ordinance than for any other issue or candidate. The opposition was relentless. This election shows that anti gay prejudice is thriving in Texas. We have a long way to go.
185
No Men in Women’s Bathrooms
18
What total nonsense. What other major US city has elected and reelected an openly gay woman as mayor? Houstonians and Texans generally are not not bigots. Bigots are those who have no tolerance for any opinion but their own. Sounds more like the NYT and its liberal readers than the average Texan. Forcing a particular agenda on the public against their will is counter productive. Perhaps someday "progressives" will learn that.
3
It has nothing to do with anti-gay. Most people could care less who people are sleeping with. What we are sick of is this constant victim hood. The idea that women and girls will be put at risk so a transgender feels better is absolutely ridiculous. We are so sick of hearing from the anti-gay community. Why is it that gay community especially lesbians have to tie their whole identity to their sexuality. Why is it so necessary to let everyone know that you are gay. So what, we are so sick of your rants of mistreatment.
2
Fear mongering nonsense again wins the day for the right-wing. It's right up there with the "if we allow gay marriage, anything goes and next thing you know your nephew will marry a mare" lines.
81
ReANNEMARIEHISLOP: Negative. Its not fear mongering that won the day for the opponents of the anti discrimination ordinance. Rather, it is the overwhelming support for those who stand for traditional values, who have had it up to here with political correctness,and whose defiance is encapsulated in the pithy phrase,"Estamos hasta la corinna con el el pensamiento unico," Vote in Houston is also a harbinger, a sign that after 8 years of liberal democratic rule which has produced deeper deficits and more unemployment for victims of the immigrant invasion and those displaced by H-1B visas than any other time in our nation's history, people want change. There is a lot of suffering out there, Ms. Hislop, which u may be unaware of, endemic unemployment and underemployment among citizens, which explains in part the popularity of anti establishment candidates like DT and BC, as well as the vote in Houston and the rejection of the sanctuary city advocate in SF."Tout s'enchaine(It is all linked)!" Ironic that self designated victims' groups, once in the catbird seat, showed the same degree of intolerance towards those who disagreed with them that they claimed they had been subject to.
5
ReAnne-Marie Hislop: Unfair of you to tarnish the victory of opponents of anti-discrimination ordinance in Houston as a product of "fear mongering,"and "right wing(extremism)."Why is it those on the left r so intolerant of dissenting views that they attribute them to base motives like "fear mongering?" Why not call it for what it is, which is a victory for common sense and an affirmation of traditional values shared by the majority of Americans. For years the left has promoted myth that its shibboleths re gay marriage,misogyny, open immigration, racism of the GOP are approved by the majority of Americans, whereas the opposite is true. Vote in Houston, just like the rejection of the sanctuary cities candidate in SF,may be a harbinger, encapsulated in the pithy phrase of one SF voter,"Estamos hasta la corinna con el pensamiento unico(We have had it up to here with political correctness!""Tout s'enchaine(It is all linked)!"Voting results in Houston,Kentucky and SF are symptoms of a nation wide trend to conservatism, also exemplified by the popularity of non politicians like DT and BC. Ironic that self designated victims' groups, once in the catbird seat, have shown the same degree of intolerance towards their opponents that they claimed they had been subject to.
1
Wasn't there a Republican Congressman from Texas that actually said it would mean the nephew could marry a toaster?
1
Between this and the Kentucky gubernatorial result, a foreshadow of 2016. We rant and rave about the "crazy" right wingers and meanwhile, their voters are much more motivated.
Wake up folks -- we have a majority Republican Congress, majority of states controlled by Republicans, a right-wing Supreme Court and now laws being changed to reflect right wing "values".
Next up: a Republican President in 2016 of the likes of Donald Trump or Ben Carson. And most likely a Republican Senate.
Somehow, with all the talk of a more liberal America, it's just not happening at the polls. There seems to be no motivation at the grass roots level to stop the red steamroller.
Bottom line? We're doomed.
Wake up folks -- we have a majority Republican Congress, majority of states controlled by Republicans, a right-wing Supreme Court and now laws being changed to reflect right wing "values".
Next up: a Republican President in 2016 of the likes of Donald Trump or Ben Carson. And most likely a Republican Senate.
Somehow, with all the talk of a more liberal America, it's just not happening at the polls. There seems to be no motivation at the grass roots level to stop the red steamroller.
Bottom line? We're doomed.
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Doomed? Really? Name another country in which you rather live.
5
Pick one: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland...
1
A brilliant plan, Barnacle. Don't forget to write.
2
Organized religion is such a joke. There's no doubt in my mind that Jesus would have advocated for Houston's Anti-Discrimination Ordinance accepting with arms wide opened and rejoicing with love all God's children- all deserving of equal rights and human dignity.
72
Even Jesus could have told you which door is the men's room.
1
REPAULCOHEN:Who is any of us to speak for JESUS or any other allegorical figure mentioned in the NEW TESTAMENT, and when did Jesus ever comment on the transgender community or American politics? The grand illusion among leftists is that their agenda has the support of the majority of Americans, whereas in truth it is those who believe in traditional values who r the preponderant voting bloc in this country.Voting results in Houston and SF r a harbinger, a sign that the pendulum, after 8 years of Obama, is swinging back the other way.
1
What does organized religion have to do with this? Nothing. The result is simple common sense.
I have good friends in Tampa - a lesbian couple who have been together for 31 years. I asked them if they would marry, now that Florida allows same sex marriage.
"No", said Susan.. "I am afraid that in a few years they will rescind our rights and then they will come to harass or hurt us, and our marriage license will guide them to our front door."
Looks like she was right.
"No", said Susan.. "I am afraid that in a few years they will rescind our rights and then they will come to harass or hurt us, and our marriage license will guide them to our front door."
Looks like she was right.
75
Ellen, this is paranoia. It is important to draw sensible lines between individual desires and social coherence as both are important for society to work and for the happiness of human beings to be furthered.
How can you say that Houston which elected a lesbian mayor is a city of bigots which will eventually put gays in gas chambers? Makes no sense, but I am sure your belief is sincere.
I hope that conservatives and gays will learn to live and peace and to respect each other's priorities. And I hope you will consider the possibility that such a situation is possible.
How can you say that Houston which elected a lesbian mayor is a city of bigots which will eventually put gays in gas chambers? Makes no sense, but I am sure your belief is sincere.
I hope that conservatives and gays will learn to live and peace and to respect each other's priorities. And I hope you will consider the possibility that such a situation is possible.
Same argument the 2nd amendment folks use when firearms registration comes up in the legislature. Can't blame either group since California used this tactic with automatic guns in the 80s and New York allowed groups to publish the names of registered firearms owners a few years ago.
Why? What happened in Florida?
Couldn’t this ordinance have included a provision about this “bathroom issue.”
Yes prohibit discrimination against transgenders in housing, employment etc.but include a provision prohibiting transgenders who are biologically of one sex from using bathrooms of the opposite sex.
I live in a rural area of NYS. In my local public park there are separate bathrooms for males and for females and a bathroom [one person at a time use] for handicapped that both males and females may use.
Transgenders could use that bathroom.
The Illinois school that allowed a transgender male to female student to play on girls’ teams and use the girls’ locker room but shower and dress behind a privacy curtain in the girls’ locker room was ruled unacceptable by the US govt.
Why are these measures unacceptable to extremists in the transgender community.
Unfortunately some extremists are more interested in making political statements about transgenders than in finding solutions. .
Yes prohibit discrimination against transgenders in housing, employment etc.but include a provision prohibiting transgenders who are biologically of one sex from using bathrooms of the opposite sex.
I live in a rural area of NYS. In my local public park there are separate bathrooms for males and for females and a bathroom [one person at a time use] for handicapped that both males and females may use.
Transgenders could use that bathroom.
The Illinois school that allowed a transgender male to female student to play on girls’ teams and use the girls’ locker room but shower and dress behind a privacy curtain in the girls’ locker room was ruled unacceptable by the US govt.
Why are these measures unacceptable to extremists in the transgender community.
Unfortunately some extremists are more interested in making political statements about transgenders than in finding solutions. .
113
Like all of us, I use a bathroom every day.
I have never seen people walking around naked in a public bathroom.
Has anyone?
I have never seen people walking around naked in a public bathroom.
Has anyone?
278
David in NY said, "I live in a rural area of NYS. In my local public park there are separate bathrooms for males and for females and a bathroom [one person at a time use] for handicapped that both males and females may use.
Transgenders could use that bathroom."
Um - if it's "one person at a time" why would the trans folks have to use the either or? If no one is ever in the restroom with someone else, no matter their anatomy, what is the issue? If folks are super sensitive, take the very sensible step of making the bathrooms gender neutral...
Transgenders could use that bathroom."
Um - if it's "one person at a time" why would the trans folks have to use the either or? If no one is ever in the restroom with someone else, no matter their anatomy, what is the issue? If folks are super sensitive, take the very sensible step of making the bathrooms gender neutral...
29
Yours would make sense if compromise were an option. It seems every traditional gender practice is a potential barrier to broken down and removed.
7
I did not vote on YOUR rights as a citizen; you do not get to vote on MINE.
According to America's founders, they are inalienable rights, conferred upon my creation.
Equality is America's very soul. The stain of slavery was removed at great cost; the shackles of gender were broken with great courage (legally and theoretically for both, at least; culturally is another matter).
Rather than continuing to winnow down the remaining pockets of exclusion, let's just observe and act as if we truly believe "all... are created equal."
#WeAreOne
According to America's founders, they are inalienable rights, conferred upon my creation.
Equality is America's very soul. The stain of slavery was removed at great cost; the shackles of gender were broken with great courage (legally and theoretically for both, at least; culturally is another matter).
Rather than continuing to winnow down the remaining pockets of exclusion, let's just observe and act as if we truly believe "all... are created equal."
#WeAreOne
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These inalienable rights are described as 'God-given'. But what if God does not exist? In that case, you're out of luck, and the voters can do whatever they want.
You do remember the abolitionist movement, right? They were all evangelic Christians. People who were indifferent to religion didn't care what the Southerners were up to, it wasn't their problem.
You do remember the abolitionist movement, right? They were all evangelic Christians. People who were indifferent to religion didn't care what the Southerners were up to, it wasn't their problem.
8
Actually, Jonathan, abolitionists were not all evangelical Christians. By the 1850s, many Americans particularly in the Northeast were dropping out of their old churches.
That's why you had, for example, the Transcendentalists.
The James family (as in Henry Sr.) were firmly on the abolitionist side too and sent two two younger boys off to fight, and they certainly weren't mainstream Christian.
Thoreau an evangelical? Really?
The Alcotts?
Many Christians are lovely people. Others, not so much. True of any religion.
That's why you had, for example, the Transcendentalists.
The James family (as in Henry Sr.) were firmly on the abolitionist side too and sent two two younger boys off to fight, and they certainly weren't mainstream Christian.
Thoreau an evangelical? Really?
The Alcotts?
Many Christians are lovely people. Others, not so much. True of any religion.
5
Except nobody really believes we are created equal.
Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Huckabee (Ark.) , and Bobby Jindal (La.)have all committed to attending a conference in Iowa this weekend hosted by Kevin Swanson, a far-right pastor who supports the death penalty for LGBT people.
This result in Houston, given the current environment of hatred and intolerance in Red States like Texas, should not be unexpected.
This result in Houston, given the current environment of hatred and intolerance in Red States like Texas, should not be unexpected.
138
Indeed. Hate in the name of Jesus sadly continues.
Exactly! It makes me wonder if secession is such a terrible idea.
Maybe votes like this should be left up to rape victims. Let's see how they feel about having a man dressed as a woman enter their private space. The problem here isn't with transgenders. It's with transgenders using the opposite genders bathroom, locker room, school shower, etc.
In Illinois, the Federal government is forcing a high school to allow a transgender male into the female locker room. Way back when I was in high school I knew a girl who had suffered date rape. I cannot imagine that she then nor now would be accepting of a man (and IT is a man) walking around in his birthday suit, regardless of how feminine he may feel.
In Illinois, the Federal government is forcing a high school to allow a transgender male into the female locker room. Way back when I was in high school I knew a girl who had suffered date rape. I cannot imagine that she then nor now would be accepting of a man (and IT is a man) walking around in his birthday suit, regardless of how feminine he may feel.
100
A man dressed up like a woman could do this today. Really is this your fear? This ordinance did not authorize rape. Get real. Btw ever seen a trans woman in a public bathroom? Would you even know?
41
Nothing stops a rapist from dressing as a woman and entering a bathroom now. This ordinance did not legalize RAPE. Btw how many naked men or women have you ever seen in a public bathroom? I've never seen a naked woman or man or trans woman or trans man in my gym's dressing room. Trans people want to fit in, not stand out. They want to pass. So they will hide before exposing themselves as not cis gender.
28
Are you serious? Yes, Yes, and yes. If you have never seen a trans person in a bathroom meant for women then you must not be a woman. They frequently saunter into female bathrooms and we natural born women quickly leave and try very hard not to make eye contact. Once on the other side of the door the conversation --usually with a woman you don't know-- is "did you see that?". It's not OK.
4
The pendulum is swinging back to the right. After all the "political correctness" that's been crammed down the collective American throat, it's going to be interesting to see just how far it swings. Just remember, poke the tiger and you might not like the result.
127
In an off year election, Republicans have been dominant. In presidential election years, the true majority shines forth, that being Democrats. It's a shame that we don't have a higher level of participation each and every year. It means only the most extreme opinions are heard in the off years especially.
2
The pendulum barely made it to the bottom of its arc before retreating to the right.
1
Or, we are simply dealing with an ignorant electorate who will vote on something they don't understand.
1
Civil rights must never be determined by referendum. When will our nation learn? (It seems obvious the majority in Texas will never learn, but as a nation, we should have learned by now after all our struggles.)
213
I agree, but I think your insight remain true even if the referendum had passed. Behavior can, and in some cases should, be directed or redirected by laws (referenda or otherwise), and this can provide breathing space to adjust. However, underlying beliefs, tendencies, biases or whatever, or even hopes and aspirations, cannot always be altered in the former case or promoted in the latter by legal means alone.
Please explain what Civil Rights has to do with allowing a man in the bathroom with my daughter?
2
It' was OK for the mayor to demand that pastors submit copies of their sermons for vetting? Can you show me any federal law or Supreme Court decision that gave the mayor to limit Free speech It cuts both ways
So it was the whole "bathroom issue" that pushed people over the edge there? Seriously?
140
Yes. The half dozen robo calls I got each day on this issue was all about trans women using women bathrooms.
20
Ya christian lies always sway common sense
You are surprised? It is one of the most fundamental actions an organism can undertake and every one has strong opinions about how it should be done.
Personally I think all bathrooms should be 100% unisex and each person should get their own stall that is more private than what you see in the US (but it exists in other countries). Not because I'm a big privacy fan in this case but because I think this is what will work in the modern world.
Personally I think all bathrooms should be 100% unisex and each person should get their own stall that is more private than what you see in the US (but it exists in other countries). Not because I'm a big privacy fan in this case but because I think this is what will work in the modern world.
So if I understand this correctly this ordinance, an anti-discrimination ordinance, claims in order to stop discrimination it must discriminate by denying the welfare of one group in order to satisfy the other.
226
Isn't that always the case? By definition, if two people disagree on something, then both their views can't win the day. Would you say (for example) that an ordinance that stops discrimination in allocating seats in the front of the bus denies the welfare of the group of people who prefer segregated seating?
1
You do NOT understand this correctly. The anti-discrimination ordinance claims no such thing. It denies the welfare of no one.
2
Thus are all "rights" laws and ordinances. All laws are a zero sum game. Winners and losers are ubiquitous concepts in the law.
WR
WR
1
Would it be to hard to have rest rooms that are for men, women, trans? Most women would like to simply see more rest rooms!!
55
Val in Brooklyn, NY to motherlodebeth in CA
Your comment should have been an NYT Pick.
Good ideas; I'm a women who'd definitely be happy to see more rest rooms. (No matter where you go, there's always a line for women's and the men's never seems to have one). What stuns is the several million $$ spent on this issue. That's absurd.
Submitted 11-4-15@2:40 a.m. EST
Your comment should have been an NYT Pick.
Good ideas; I'm a women who'd definitely be happy to see more rest rooms. (No matter where you go, there's always a line for women's and the men's never seems to have one). What stuns is the several million $$ spent on this issue. That's absurd.
Submitted 11-4-15@2:40 a.m. EST
1
C'mon Houston, grow up! We could move towards gender neutral bathrooms. Then we could all feel safe doing our business. It's so sad that this type of fear mongering sways people away from equality and enlightenment.
51
So we should get rid of ordinary bathrooms for men & women -- which have functioned without problems for generations -- to appease the 0.1% of people who are transgender.
We should spend BILLIONS as a nation to change every bathroom in the nation to accommodate a tiny handful of loud, demanding activists.
Yeah, that makes sense (NOT).
We should spend BILLIONS as a nation to change every bathroom in the nation to accommodate a tiny handful of loud, demanding activists.
Yeah, that makes sense (NOT).
3
As a petite single woman, I truly do not feel comfortable with the concept of gender neutral public bathrooms. What about my right to safety?
Another, unnecessary non-problem fabricated from America's hysteria deep-seated neuroses and absurd hysteria about body parts and bodily functions. The non-problem lies in part in the misleading US English term 'bathroom'. A bathroom is properly a room that contains at least one bath, where a person can take a bath, ie immerse themselves naked in a large tub of water. It shouldn't be necessary to spell out such obvious things but when people are clearly incapable of describing functional things accurately and precisely such prescriptions are needed.
In order for a human being to urinate and defecate privately, out of sight, sound and dare I say it smell of other humans, then one needs a secure, private cubicle (with a thick, acoustically insulated wall to the ceiling and a secure, lockable door) containing a water closet. There also need to be separate basins in the cubicle for washing one's hands and for washing one's genitals and anus, the last such as the basin that the French call a bidet.
We have many such secure and private cubicles along our seafronts in Far North Queensland. Some are large enough to accommodate a wheel chair and are clearly marked as disabled. Each cubicle opens directly to the outside area, the latter of which is lit at all times, visible from the road and has a ramp for wheelchairs and buggies. All the cubicles are all unisex. Good design is needed when it comes to public lavatories - not prudish and prurient American hysteria and exceptionalism.
In order for a human being to urinate and defecate privately, out of sight, sound and dare I say it smell of other humans, then one needs a secure, private cubicle (with a thick, acoustically insulated wall to the ceiling and a secure, lockable door) containing a water closet. There also need to be separate basins in the cubicle for washing one's hands and for washing one's genitals and anus, the last such as the basin that the French call a bidet.
We have many such secure and private cubicles along our seafronts in Far North Queensland. Some are large enough to accommodate a wheel chair and are clearly marked as disabled. Each cubicle opens directly to the outside area, the latter of which is lit at all times, visible from the road and has a ramp for wheelchairs and buggies. All the cubicles are all unisex. Good design is needed when it comes to public lavatories - not prudish and prurient American hysteria and exceptionalism.
298
Uh, well I am sure that is very lovely for you guys in Far North Queensland.
But that is NOT what lavatories or public bathrooms are like in the US. (Yes, by custom we say "BATH room" though they do not hold baths, but toilets.)
They are public spaces, with toilet stalls that are not completely private. And the men's lavatories have URINALS, at which stand in partial undress to urinate. With no doors.
But that is NOT what lavatories or public bathrooms are like in the US. (Yes, by custom we say "BATH room" though they do not hold baths, but toilets.)
They are public spaces, with toilet stalls that are not completely private. And the men's lavatories have URINALS, at which stand in partial undress to urinate. With no doors.
2
I should clarify that none of the public unisex lavatories here in FNQ have bidets.
Thank you! Lately Australia appears to have pulled ahead of the USA in intelligent, humane thinking.
So much for endorsements by the President and the woman who would succeed him.
29
It's Texas, what did you expect?
Gosh, yes, how surprising that a Democratic President's endorsement and that of a Democratic Presidential candidate would hold little sway in a state that has not voted for a Democrat for President since 1976 and only once since 1972.
Please.
Please.
1
Many commenters are saying they are never coming to Texas. Please don't make that mistake. Come visit our beautiful city of San Antonio, which passed a non-discrimination ordinance. Also visit Austin, the Texas Hill Country, Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks and many other attractions. There's a lot to see here besides Houston.
37
I'm sure it is, and I have always wanted to see the vast expanses of West Texas, and listen to music in Austin, not to mention the other wonders you list. And I have a niece in San Antonio who I love.
But you have to pass through the rest of it to get to your 2 beautiful islands of acceptance. And those parts, in addition to this vote, change schoolbooks to soften the rougher edges in our shared American history, question basic scientific theory, shut down clinics that serve poor women, and is bristling with guns.
I am not planning to boycott, but it is less and less an attractive destination.
But you have to pass through the rest of it to get to your 2 beautiful islands of acceptance. And those parts, in addition to this vote, change schoolbooks to soften the rougher edges in our shared American history, question basic scientific theory, shut down clinics that serve poor women, and is bristling with guns.
I am not planning to boycott, but it is less and less an attractive destination.
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Of course boycotting is the answer when you don't agree with someone. Alec Baldwin and Barbra Streisand spoke often that they didn't like Bush in the White House and kept threatening to move out of the country.....We are still waiting for the moving vans to arrive. All talk and no action.
If they don't want to come please don't beg them to. There's already too many moving here and if they don't like our politics stay in California or wherever else you feel is less "threatening."
No one has a right to force women, especially younger females, to view male bottom parts while they are changing clothes or taking a shower. What people don't understand by the media labels "bathroom ordinance" is that the ordinance would have allowed biological males equal access to female locker rooms, showers, spas, etc. This isn't bigotry or hate, this is common decency.
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"This isn't bigotry or hate, this is common decency."
It's an American norm, not "common decency". Other cultures, among developed countries and elsewhere, don't have a problem with younger females looking at male bottom parts. Other cultures also don't have a problem calling a penis a penis, but there you go.
It's an American norm, not "common decency". Other cultures, among developed countries and elsewhere, don't have a problem with younger females looking at male bottom parts. Other cultures also don't have a problem calling a penis a penis, but there you go.
17
True decency wouldn't force women to view and be viewed by other women, either. Because by this point we concede some of them in every state at every age are bound to be lesbian. And some girls aren't comfortable being naked around straight women. This isn't common decency, it's communal indecency. The answer is individual changing rooms, showers, and toilets in public places.
2
Bottom parts? Adults call them genitalia. So what if the "male" is post-op and now has female genitalia? Does that satisfy your requirement to have matching bottom parts in locker rooms, even if she still looks otherwise like a male?
1
I'm commenting on the vote in Ohio on legalization of marijuana. I hope including recreational use in the amendment doesn't destroy efforts to use marijuana for medicinal use in that state.
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Well, it has. I voted against the legalization. I am in favor of DECRIMINALIZATION -- but not legalization for recreational use.
I would have voted FOR medical marijuana (with tighter controls than the "wink wink nod nod" attitude in California) very easily and that would have passed in a nanosecond -- but they got greedy.
I would have voted FOR medical marijuana (with tighter controls than the "wink wink nod nod" attitude in California) very easily and that would have passed in a nanosecond -- but they got greedy.
I live in Ohio and I think the bigger issue was that this was an amendment to the Ohio constitution that would have granted an oligopoly to the 10 owners of land parcels that were designated in the amendment as the sole permitted growers of marijuana.
Being an Ohian, I think a much larger issue was that the referendum would have instituted an oligopoly in the state. The people funding the referendum would have been the only people permitted to grow cannabis commercially. I support legalization, but this was a flawed measure.
I've lived in Houston for five years and cheered to see improvements in the rights and status of LGBTQ people in public life and in the workplace in our city. HERO was a great addition to a trend of increasing tolerance in our community and it saddens me that it failed at the polls. It embarrasses me that this city I've grown to love is now nationally known to reject a common sense measure that will protect veterans, the disabled, women, gay and lesbians, and, yes, transgender people.
For my fellow citizens who are sighing with relief that now men won't allowed in the bathroom with them I'll let you in on a secret: trans men and women do, in fact, go to restroom now and are unlikely to stop. So you will have to decide if you really want to call the cops and ask someone minding his or her own business to 'prove' their gender. Or you could be a decent person and show some tolerance.
For my fellow citizens who are sighing with relief that now men won't allowed in the bathroom with them I'll let you in on a secret: trans men and women do, in fact, go to restroom now and are unlikely to stop. So you will have to decide if you really want to call the cops and ask someone minding his or her own business to 'prove' their gender. Or you could be a decent person and show some tolerance.
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Restroom etiquette, and the new male. "O brave new world, that hath such creatures in it!"
Houston has a long and ugly history of intolerance. Back in the 80s, when I lived in Houston, a mayoral candidate was caught on open mic promising to "shoot the queers"; he briefly backpedaled, and then ended up embracing his remark, ultimately partnering with a group of mainstream City Council candidates who advertised themselves as the "Straight Slate." Their advertisements encouraged people to believe that AIDS was spread by casual contact.
We've come some distance in 30 years; no one in today's mainstream would openly defend ol' Louie Welch or his explicitly homophobic talking points. How many more years will it be before the bathroomistas come to appear as ridiculous to the mainstream as the Straight Slate does?
We've come some distance in 30 years; no one in today's mainstream would openly defend ol' Louie Welch or his explicitly homophobic talking points. How many more years will it be before the bathroomistas come to appear as ridiculous to the mainstream as the Straight Slate does?
This reminds me of the people who freaked out when they discovered gay people use bathrooms.
1
The old bathroom paranoia again.
I remember when opponents of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) fear-mongered about unisex bathrooms. [Yes, we have those . . . they have a family sign on them.]
I remember when opponents of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) fear-mongered about unisex bathrooms. [Yes, we have those . . . they have a family sign on them.]
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It's the oldest trick in the book of bigotry: "protect the children." Houston, you've embarrassed yourself. This will be a short-lived "victory." Transgender people ARE a part of the LGBT community and we'll continue to work toward full equality, not half-measures that throw some members of the family under the bus.
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I don't believe this ordinance was cast down on a basis of faith any more than it was cast down based on ones of logical understanding of the human body. The reaction here in the comments section acts as if Houston is bigoted, when it is one of the most forward leaning cities in the country.
Personally, I wouldn't want my children to share a restroom with an individual from the opposite sex, no matter how strongly that individual "identified" with the opposite gender. I believe Houston voters feel similarly.
It's quite astonishing how easily the populous is consumed by social issues affecting such a small percentage of the population, such as this. Transgender individuals aren't being actively discriminated against here. All the city of Houston and the rest of the country are asking is that transgender individuals use the appropriate facilities that correspond with the genitalia between their legs.
Has our society become so philosophically engaged in this debate over "gender identify" that we fail to realize a man and woman, no matter their "identity" have drastically different bodily features?
Personally, I wouldn't want my children to share a restroom with an individual from the opposite sex, no matter how strongly that individual "identified" with the opposite gender. I believe Houston voters feel similarly.
It's quite astonishing how easily the populous is consumed by social issues affecting such a small percentage of the population, such as this. Transgender individuals aren't being actively discriminated against here. All the city of Houston and the rest of the country are asking is that transgender individuals use the appropriate facilities that correspond with the genitalia between their legs.
Has our society become so philosophically engaged in this debate over "gender identify" that we fail to realize a man and woman, no matter their "identity" have drastically different bodily features?
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Everyone is the same now. That's what "equality" means when taken to incoherent extremes.
2
Saying that an issue isn't important because it doesn't affect the majority... that's a slippery slope. It's also really easy for you to say since it doesn't affect you.
Btw, not sure what your children are doing in the bathroom, but if they are going into a stall and peeing, which is what everyone else is doing, then they probably won't have to worry about seeing something they don't want to see.
Trans people are MORE private in bathrooms than most other people, because I guarantee you they don't want to expose themselves to anyone.
Not sure why this is so hard for people to understand.
Btw, not sure what your children are doing in the bathroom, but if they are going into a stall and peeing, which is what everyone else is doing, then they probably won't have to worry about seeing something they don't want to see.
Trans people are MORE private in bathrooms than most other people, because I guarantee you they don't want to expose themselves to anyone.
Not sure why this is so hard for people to understand.
" man and woman, no matter their "identity" have drastically different bodily features". Well yes, but so what? Men and women have many more drastically SIMILAR bodily features--and similar needs--after all. Could it be because you think that these little details, modestly hidden between the legs, are the most significant features of human beings? Really? If genitalia were our most significant bodily features why didn't nature (or God, if you prefer) place them on our faces to signal their importance?
So no one is worried about biological women who identify as men in the men's room, I see.
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Seconda said: So no one is worried about biological women who identify as men in the men's room, I see.
Probably due to the low risk of rape from a genetic, pre-operative female. Of course, that person might be at risk from the genetic males in the bathroom -- but it is that persons choice to enter.
Probably due to the low risk of rape from a genetic, pre-operative female. Of course, that person might be at risk from the genetic males in the bathroom -- but it is that persons choice to enter.
2
Good point! It shows the hypocrisy of the ordinance's opponents.
Why should they be worried? About all those female peepers and rapists roaming around?
everyday I read the NY Times I give thanks that I live in Canada, a land free from the backward prejudice, gun culture and Republican crazies running for your highest office. Tomorrow we celebrate the swearing in of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his inclusive Cabinet. This man rallied a majority of Canada's youth, diverse cultures, immigrants , First Nations and citizens from every region to vote for his party in an impressive victory. I expect that Americans will continue to be one of our largest increasing source of immigrants.
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Finalizing my plan now to immigrate to Canada...if you'll have me, despite living in Austin, Texas for 20 years. I promise you, we're not all like this.
1
Trudeau got 39% of the vote, hardly an endorsement. You failed to say that the Conservatives have held power for a decade and that the only people how immigrant to Canada do so because they can not get into the US. USA is not even in the top 20 countries in terms of immigration numbers to Canada.
I would gladly go to Canada
Please, please put TEXAS on notice. It's been years since I even buy a coffee at the Dallas/Ft Worth Airport. I will not buy products that I know to have come from Texas. If you dislike this powerful, but hideously retro state, fight them the only way you can. Let'em drink oil!
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Why so wide a net, Tes? You must be aware that a number of localities in Texas have passed ordinances similar to the one that Houston voters just rejected. (Dallas, which you specifically singled out, did so overwhelmingly last year with 77% of the vote. Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio have protections in place as well.) I'm all for making Houston pay an economic price for this outcome, but so much of that leverage is squandered if one can't simultaneously support the communities that are doing the right thing.
Ha- good luck with that. Boycott to your heart's content. Your massive contribution to our economy will be missed.
Or encourage them to secede.
As a former Texan and gay man who's marched and worked for gay rights since 1979, I'm truly disappointed at what happened in my birthplace. Last June, gay pride parade organizers in Houston were bragging that police had estimated festival attendance at 700,000. That was certainly an overestimate. But going into this vote I figured that if even half those pride attendees showed up at the ballot box this would be a done deal. All this goes to show that the party means nothing if they don't respect you as a human being.
33
I think as you rightly pointed out, most people did not care enough to vote, which is really the sad comment about the outcome. In a city of 4 million a total of 250k voted either for or against the ordinance.
Why not just ban public washrooms and showers?
5
OK -- then where will people urinate and defecate? on the streets?
?????
?????
1
Oh saints be praised! That the delicate eyes of women might see a penis . . . Through the wall of a stall? It's not like we have urinals to contend with. We, as Americans, should stop flipping out over body parts.
Oh Ohio! The rest of the story, of course, is that Issue 2 is passing, which suggests more people were uncomfortable with Nick Lachey being their dealer than perhaps were actually opposed to the idea of decriminalization of a plant. I know plenty of people who voted no on 3, and none of them because they were against marijuana legalization.
Oh Ohio! The rest of the story, of course, is that Issue 2 is passing, which suggests more people were uncomfortable with Nick Lachey being their dealer than perhaps were actually opposed to the idea of decriminalization of a plant. I know plenty of people who voted no on 3, and none of them because they were against marijuana legalization.
18
a wise person once said, "a country is measured by how it treats its smallest citizens." this is not a proud moment for our country.
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David Chan said: a wise person once said, "a country is measured by how it treats its smallest citizens." this is not a proud moment for our country.
Yet the smallest citizens of any country are its children. Tell me how allowing genetic men to enter a bathroom where little girls are taking care of their bodies is good treatment of those children?
If only Houston had kept to its original intent with the law and not conflated it with transgender toileting issues.
Yet the smallest citizens of any country are its children. Tell me how allowing genetic men to enter a bathroom where little girls are taking care of their bodies is good treatment of those children?
If only Houston had kept to its original intent with the law and not conflated it with transgender toileting issues.
5
The pendulum is swinging....
Perhaps common sense will find its way...
For the children of this nation...
Three bravos...
Perhaps common sense will find its way...
For the children of this nation...
Three bravos...
31
Landslide. With 95% of the vote in, the vote is 61% to 39%.
Those not totally transgendered males in the ladies bathrooms will get you every time.
Those not totally transgendered males in the ladies bathrooms will get you every time.
8
Transgender issues have NOTHING to do with gay rights.
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Of course they do. What do you think the T in LGBT stands for? This ordinance was about so much more than the bathroom issue and it's disappointing to see so many on these comment boards to systematically erase the identities of transgender men and women. Operations are expensive and not something that every transgender person even desires. That doesn't make a transgender person who opts to not have reassignment surgery lesser than those that do.
I'm sorry, but do I understand that a great city in a great country voted that all men and women are not created equal? I'd say that's just plain un-American, not conservative, un-American.
19
This ordinance had nothing to do with that...try reading the ordinance.
2
I am generally pro LGBTQ rights, and it is true that the word "bathroom" was apparently not in this ordinance.
However as the NYTimes reported yesterday, the Obama administration now interprets Title IX's bar on sex discrimination as requiring school districts to allow pre-op transgender boys into girls' bathrooms at school. This is in spite of the fact that Title IX doesn't say anything about bathrooms or even about transgender students at all - so given that fact, I think concerns about statutory "wiggle room" are valid and not simply being used as a boogeyman. The issue of who uses what bathroom obviously needs to be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone before this kind of law goes into effect.
However as the NYTimes reported yesterday, the Obama administration now interprets Title IX's bar on sex discrimination as requiring school districts to allow pre-op transgender boys into girls' bathrooms at school. This is in spite of the fact that Title IX doesn't say anything about bathrooms or even about transgender students at all - so given that fact, I think concerns about statutory "wiggle room" are valid and not simply being used as a boogeyman. The issue of who uses what bathroom obviously needs to be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone before this kind of law goes into effect.
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Everything we were warned about with the ERA (which did not pass) 40 years has COME TO FRUITION -- every single thing. Gay marriage? check. Unisex bathrooms? check. Gay military? check.
EVERY SINGLE THING.
EVERY SINGLE THING.
2
The only open area in girls bathrooms is the sinks. How would you even know if a trans was using the bathroom. Women do not walk around naked in bathrooms.
I find it very interesting that the opponents of this legislation are preying on the same fear that Phyllis Schlafly cultivated to galvanize support against the Equal Rights Amendment. It was effective then and I'm afraid it's going to be effective now.
20
It's effective because it is true. The feds just ordered Illinois to allow a teenage boy to shower with the girls because he "identifies" as a girl. Sounds unbelievable, but I read it in the NYTimes.
Everyone knows that if you give a liberal an inch they will take a mile. Houstonians were smart to say "enough!!"
Everyone knows that if you give a liberal an inch they will take a mile. Houstonians were smart to say "enough!!"
Oh, so the phrase "that's so gay" being a popular insult is not a "shred of evidence" that anti-discrimination laws are needed? If I were feeling generous, I would attribute Mr. Welch's statement to sheer ignorance. However, it seems far more likely to me that Mr. Welch is smart enough to know that he needs to hide his true reason: either he does not care about gays getting equal treatment, or he downright chafes at the notion.
Sorry, Texas, can't say I'm surprised that you voted for bigotry. I suppose it is a sign of progress that you at least feel the need to hide your true underlying motivations.
If bathrooms were the real issue, alternate accommodations could be provided. Of course, such a solution would never even occur ordinance opponents, because bathrooms are not the real issue for them. Their rationale is nothing more than shield of plausible deniability. "Oh, no. We're not bigots! We are simply worried about women being attacked in bathrooms.". Guess what: men dressing up as women to gain false entry into bathrooms has always been possible. Repeal does nothing to address this "rampant" problem.
The claim that lacks any "shred of evidence" is that this law has or will result in more men attacking women in bathrooms.
Stop trying to fool yourselves about why you oppose this ordinance. Admit the truth: you do not want equal treatment for gays.
Sorry, Texas, can't say I'm surprised that you voted for bigotry. I suppose it is a sign of progress that you at least feel the need to hide your true underlying motivations.
If bathrooms were the real issue, alternate accommodations could be provided. Of course, such a solution would never even occur ordinance opponents, because bathrooms are not the real issue for them. Their rationale is nothing more than shield of plausible deniability. "Oh, no. We're not bigots! We are simply worried about women being attacked in bathrooms.". Guess what: men dressing up as women to gain false entry into bathrooms has always been possible. Repeal does nothing to address this "rampant" problem.
The claim that lacks any "shred of evidence" is that this law has or will result in more men attacking women in bathrooms.
Stop trying to fool yourselves about why you oppose this ordinance. Admit the truth: you do not want equal treatment for gays.
41
If bathrooms were the real issue, alternate accommodations could be provided.
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Once again, you expect the tail to wag the dog. It's a solution in search of a problem for a handful of "special needs" people. Feed the poor and house the homeless first, government can not even manage that well.
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Once again, you expect the tail to wag the dog. It's a solution in search of a problem for a handful of "special needs" people. Feed the poor and house the homeless first, government can not even manage that well.
I think that transgender people have among the hardest struggles. No one chooses a fate like that. All the "boys in the locker room" talk is just plain transphobic bigotry.
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Houston's been home since 1978. Got to say, it's never been a better place than under Parker, and a constant improvement stemming from a succession of previous Democratic mayors. I happen to live in Montrose, the bulwark of liberalism here, if not of any place in the South. This, however, was a silly ordinance to propose in the first place, as if we had to be a poster child of GLBT rights just after all the hard fought victories in the Supreme Court. It takes time to overcome every hurdle, this included. Let's try again in four years.
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Thanks for that post, Baboulas. I came here in 1998 myself - settled first in Montrose, then Old Braeswood, then Sharpstown, and now out to Sugar Land. I wish Annise Parker wasn't term limited, and I wish I could still vote in Houston elections. She was definitely among the better Mayors in the US. She did wonderful things for the City.