Buzbee Pimps Transphobia In The Houston Mayoral Runoff

Looks like Tony Buzbee is getting desperate on the eve of the Houston municipal runoff election tomorrow.

He didn't get as many votes as he thought he would on Election Day or from the early voting phase that concluded on December 10, and is now resorting to transphobia to try to win. 

Why am I not shocked that he's playing that game since he was endorsed by long time Houston gaybaiter Steven Hotze?

Buzbee tried to claim when he was at the Pride Forum held at Texas Southern University back on August 2 that he was in favor of HERO 2.0 and would be a mayor for all people.  He also tried to bash Mayor Turner during that forum by claiming that the mayor didn't listen to the LGBT Advisory Board.

Unfortunately for him I and LGBT Advisory Board Chair Harrison Homer Guy were in the room, and we promptly blew up that lie in real time.. 

These mailers started appearing at the homes of many Houstonians across the city, including my mother, who alerted me this morning she'd received it and wasn't happy about it.



The mailers make references to the HERO repeal debunked 'men in women's bathrooms' talking point and Drag Queen Story Time, which is actually on hiatus at this time.

Buzbee is getting called out for his transphobic political Hail Mary by a wide variety of local and state groups, including Black Trans Women Inc (BTWI) the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), and the Houston GLBT Caucus.

“This mailer is additionally disturbing in light of the fact that Texas has unfortunately led the nation in anti-trans homicides. Two of the four trans Texans we lost in 2019 were from Houston. To see trans women being vilified and misrepresented by a candidate running for mayor in the most diverse and fourth largest city in this country to score political points is a shameful day in Houston’s history.” said Diamond Collier, Interim Executive Director of Black Transwomen Inc.

"Gone are the days where constituents are silenced and forced to live through inconsistency in our elected public servants dedication to our needs. WE SEE YOU AND WE VOTE! Demeaning narratives that perpetuate an already exacerbated hate within our community fortifies systematic and cultural disenfranchisement of our demographic. It leads to unsheltered people without homes. It leaded to workforce discrimination which we don’t have protection from. It leads to us not trusting you to do when we would be electing you to do which is to represent of the most marginalized people in this community as well as the privileged. Undignified narrative about trans people, immigrants, black people, poor people or women is not the direction leaders should be going for the future,

BTWI President Dee Watters added. "As a native Houstonian, it is irritating and disgusting to once again see a political candidate attempt to deploy transphobia and homophobia for their personal electoral gain in a municipal election. Spreading this ugly rhetoric has real-world consequences that the Black trans community will have to deal with long after Election Day has passed." The Houston GLBT Caucus stated, "Tony Buzbee's latest mailer ad is a grotesque anti-transgender charade, in an attempt to pander to his conservative base. We cannot let this kind of blatant, bigoted mindset into City Hall."

Emmett Schelling, the Executive Director of TENT stated,“LGBTQ Houstonians are part of this diverse city that we are all exceedingly proud of, and we urge all Houstonians to reject the false message that the Buzbee campaign is trying to send.”

If you haven't voted yet, you have a chance to send your own message and reject the transphobic bigotry that Buzbee is trying to peddle. 

Voting for the runoff election starts at 7 AM tomorrow and runs until 7 PM in 350 voting centers across Houston and the Fort Bend County portion of Houston.

If you don't know who to vote for, here are my TransGriot Municipal Election endorsements.

But by all means, we cannot afford to have a this transphobe in the most powerful mayoral seat in the country.