The Fight To Keep HERO-October 19

Early voting starts today, and over the weekend there was a rally and canvassing done to ensure our fellow Houstonians are well versed on what's at stake in this critical battle to keep the HERO as part of Houston City Code of Ordinances.

There was a canvass and rally on Saturday hosted by Resurrection MCC in the Heights, and one of the speaker was attorney Dan Scarbrough.   You may recall that he and two friends were denied entrance into the Gaslamp hate club in Midtown.

Early voting starts today and runs through October 30, so handle your electoral business. For those of you planning to get your vote on today, here's the link to find an early voting location near you.

The Texas Voter Suppression law is still in effect for now), so you will need the orange voter registration card and the conservatively approved photo ID before the clerk let you handle your electoral business.

In other HERO various organizations are still coming out in favor of Prop 1. The Texas AARP has become the latest group to urge the passage of Prop 1.

"For older workers, grandparents, unpaid family caregivers, and others age 50 and older who bring vitality to Houston, there's good reason to afford them and others the protections offered by Proposition 1 (HERO)."
- Bob Jackson, Texas Director of AARP

The Houston Association of Realtors, who supports the passage of Prop 1  also published this recent statement debunking the bathroom predator myth  

"The ordinance originally included language that specifically mentioned the use of restrooms. That section of the ordinance was removed in May 2014 and is not included in the language on which you will be voting. The ordinance does include protection from discrimination in areas of “public accommodation,” which is defined as any business that offers a product or service for sale from a physical location. There is already a long-standing law in the City of Houston that makes it illegal for someone to enter a restroom designated for the opposite gender with the intent to cause a disturbance, cause harm or harass anyone. This ordinance does not change that; it will still be illegal for a man to go in a women’s restroom."

The law the HAR referenced in their bigot busting statement is Section 28-20.  And it was yours truly and other trans leaders who called for the removal of that bathroom language because it was problematic.

The  Houston Chronicle has published another editorial calling for our fellow Houstonians to judge HERO on the merits and not the debunked lies of the opposition.

And yes, even though early voting has started, the big day is still November 3 when the votes get counted, so we still have to endure a bunch of commercials in this hotly contested campaign to keep HERO and in the mayor's race that is heating up.

And I'm going to close this post out with the final paragraph of the Chronicle's editorial.

Houston is a big city, a big-hearted city.  To allow small-minded arguments, fraudulent claims and cynical tactics to prevail om Election day would be a repudiation of core values that are intrinsically Houston. 

This great city is bigger than that.

Vote YES on Prop 1