HERO Updates, Notes and News- July 24

It's time for another HERO news update.  

Since my last one, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is a few days short of being two months old on Monday.  It's still in effect, our opponents are still hatin' on it, and  no Houston bakers have been forced to bake swastika cakes. 

We are still in signature verification mode on the haters petitions to force a referendum on the HERO, and yes they are the jacked up convoluted mess we thought they would be.

Speaking of those signatures, another verification work group event is jumping off from 3-9 PM today sponsored by the GLBT Caucus.  Location for it is 4617 Montrose Blvd, Suite C222.   You can stop by at anytime that you're available during those hours and bring your laptop or fave computing device.

On Tuesday the Meyerland Democrats held their monthly meeting in which the guest speaker was none other than Mayor Annise Parker and the city council  members who passed our long awaited human rights ordinance.  They received a well deserved standing ovation from the assembled crowd for their efforts.    During that meeting Ashton Woods announced the anti-HERO petitions were now online and public record

Out of the closet you come H-town transphobes and homophobes

Since there was a lot of shady and illegal behavior by the faith-based haters in collecting these petitions, you may wish to check and see if your name wasn't placed on them illegally.   If you didn't sign that petition but find your name on it, you can submit an affidavit and mail it to city secretary Anna Russell's office.

In addition to the petition check event tonight, the Houston African-American SGL, trans and bi community and our allies will hold a HERO Civil Rights Strategy meeting at Resurrection MCC starting at 7 PM CDT.

I'm looking forward to it, and according to the organizers, invitations to African-American political and community organizational leaders were sent out.  

We'll see who shows up because intersectionality works both ways, Houston Black community.   You don't get to gripe and point your critical fingers at the Houston LGBT community asking the justified questions of why LGBT peeps aren't showing up for your issue concerns and you hypocritically not reciprocate when we ask you to show up for one of our events to discuss our concerns as unapologetically Black TBLG people. 

This initial community meeting will provide an overview of the HERO, its history and the 15 categories of people it protects.  It will discuss the opposition and their arguments.  It will outline who is providing the most opposition  It will cover the attacks against the transgender community do some myth busting.

We'll also at that meeting come up with strategies for coalition building, stress the importance of participation by communities of color, and how can we better educate our community about the HERO so the don't get hoodwinked and bamboozled should it go to a referendum into voting against their own human rights.  

I got an opportunity last Thursday along with Noel Freeman, Christina Gorczynski and Daniel Williams to appear on a Houston Media Source TV presentation concerning the HERO.   The second half of it Christina and I got to battle King HERO Hater Dave Welch and HERO opponent (why?) Kathy Blueford-Daniels. 

Thanks to Fran Watson and Durrel Douglas for the invite, and I understand there will be more of these HERO shows on HMS-TV soon.

Next Monday will be the HERO forum sponsored by one of our oldest African-American newspapers in town, the Forward Times.   Mayor Parker and several council members were invited to participate, and I plan to be there along with a few friends in the CWA Hall that evening located at 1730 Jefferson St.   

It's scheduled on the deadline day for the City Secretary's office to complete their anti-HERO petition count, and we'll probably know at that time whether the haters succeeded or failed in putting the HERO on the ballot.   Still have time to submit your questions to the Forward Times for the upcoming forum at forwardtimes@forwardtimes.com   
 
And yeah Majic 102, still waiting for pro-HERO people to be invited on Sunday Morning Live to tell the truth about the ordinance. 

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.