HERO Repeal Petition Is Invalid!

While getting dressed to head downtown to the Communications Workers of America Union Hall where the Forward Times HERO town hall was going to be held, the announcement I'd been looking for most of the day concerning Mayor Parker's press conference dropped. 

The press conference was scheduled for 5 PM CDT, just in time to be the lead story for all the local news stations   And it was wonderful news for Team HERO.

City Attorney Dave Feldman announced there are only 15,249 possible valid signatures on the petition and that the city will not certify the petition.  

Translation: Per the review by the City Secretary and City Attorney, the HERO haters failed to get the required number of signatures (17,269) to place it on the ballot for recall in the fall.  

"With respect to the referendum petition filed to repeal the 'HERO' ordinance, there are simply too many documents with irregularities and problems to overlook," Feldman said. "The petition is simply invalid. There is no other conclusion."

Gee, was a long way from the 30,000 signatures Max Miller and his hate preachers claimed they had on July 3, huh?   Frankly, they probably had enough signatures to force a referendum, but because of their arrogance and the shoddy way they went about their recall petition 'bidness', they failed.

And thank God (or whatever higher power you worship) they did




Major props to the 100 volunteers who took time out of their busy lives to go over those petitions and find the invalid signatures.   Once again Houston LGBT community and allies, y'all rose to the occasion to stand up for human rights against our oppressors and show the nation and the world that Houston does not discriminate.  

Is this fight to protect the HERO over?  Nope.

Like the Terminator, King Hater Dave Welch and friends won't stop until they accomplish their nefarious mission of overturning the HERO with their kneegrow sellouts in tow  

And we're going to fight even harder to keep it..  

HERO Updates, Notes And News-August 4

Today is the day Team HERO has been anxiously awaiting since the faith-based haters announced they were going to attempt to collect signatures to force a repeal referendum.

The signatures were turned in July 3, and ever since then City Secretary Anna Russell's office and a dedicated team of over 100 volunteers have been poring over the 5199 pages turned in.

Many of those pages were riddled with errors or had issues of concern that may render them invalid.   Many had duplicate signatures, or were signed by people who aren't Houston residents or registered voters. 

Others had fatal errors that invalidated the entire page, or others were collected before the June 3 start date, also making them invalid. 


According to the Executive Summary issued by the independent review group conducting the signature validation process, the faith based haters only collected 16,500 signatures, short of the 17,269 needed to place it on the ballot. 

We'll get the official word later this afternoon from the City Secretary's office and at a 5 PM CDT press conference featuring Mayor Parker and City Attorney Dave Feldman.  If it turns out the executive summary is correct, the petition drive fails, and then the HERO haters as they have already indicated will start filing lawsuits

Good, that's less money they can throw into GOP campaigns this fall.

I was out of town when it happened, but it was reported to me by people in attendance that the sisterhood discussion moderated by Dee Dee Watters on July 31 at the Montrose Center went well. 

I was there on only 6 hours sleep for the noon HERO strategy meeting that happened at Legacy Saturday.  Some of the things we're going to do I'm sworn to secrecy about, but some of the topics we talked about were our game plan should this move into a referendum either this year or in 2015, making sure all sectors of the Houston LGBT are involved and our messaging is on point and hammering home the fact the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance protects ALL Houstonians. 

The African-American SGL, bi and trans community is planning to have another strategy meeting in which we talk about issues and messaging strategies specific to our community.   August 12 at 7 PM is the tentative date and time for it, and once I get the date and location I'll post it in a future HERO news update.

Starting at 6 PM will be the HERO forum sponsored by the Forward Times.  Still haven't been able to determine whether Mayor Parker and various city council members will show up, but keep hearing that one of the panelists will be former city councilmember Jolanda Jones.

It'll be interesting to see which haters show up.

Location for this forum is the CWA Hall at 1730 Jefferson St. downtown, and definitely will be there along with Team HERO in full effect for this one.

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.

HERO Updates, Notes And News-July 30

In our latest update of HERO news, Dave Welch of the Houston Area Pastors Haters Council is in this one.

Welch is one of our longtime inside Beltway 8 human rights oppressors who cut his repressive teeth with Ralph Reed and the Not So Christian Coalition.  It's why he got the stank eye and call out from me during that HMS-TV debate a few weeks ago.

Seems like King Hater in a recent update to his faith based hatemongers has called for “imprecatory prayers” as the deadline to count the HERO repeal petitions deadline approaches. 

So what's an imprecatory prayer?   It's one in which you pray for vile and evil things to happen to your opponents and the destruction of institutions that you perceive as wicked.  

And y'all wonder why I call Welch King Hater.  Probably need to photoshop a '666' on his forehead in any future photos of him.   Whether the misguided Mr Welch and his faith based bigots actually wants negative things to happen to all of us fighting to defend the ordinance is subject to debate, but as the late Maya Angelou stated, if somebody shows you who they are the first time, believe them.

Him parting his lips to ask for imprecatory prayers, being obsessively focused on the sex lives of gay people and obsessed about where we transfolks go potty are signs the man need Jesus and a good psychotherapist.

It's also dangerous when a so called religious leader makes such a dark, chilling and irresponsible call and proves his side and supporters are anything but Christian.   History is also chock full of examples of disturbed people who heed the calls by hate preachers like Welch that subsequently do violently horrible things in the twisted belief they were carrying out God’s will.

Moving on to a more positive subject besides King Hater. .    Let's talk about the HERO recall petitions. 

With the August 4 deadline to verify the petitions rapidly approaching,  the HERO petition.com website went online publishing the names of all the peeps who signed the repeal petitions which are a convoluted mess according to a recent OutSmart magazine article. . 

The HERO haters claimed they gathered 50,000 names and certified 30,000, to which we called bull feces.  Team HERO has subsequently had 80 trained people in a crowdsourcing effort to verify whether or not Max Miller and company were sellin' woof tickets back on July 3. 

The question concerning whether or not the HERO haters gathered enough signatures to place it on the ballot (17,269) is also being asked by our local media. 

The other interesting development happened at yesterday's city council meeting.   Mike Craig and Noel Freeman testified at that meeting it appears that the HERO haters didn't turn in enough signatures.

 

We'll know for certain if that is true when City Secretary Anna Russell and City Attorney Dave Feldman deliver their reports after the August 4 verification deadline.  If it's true, I'll do another happy dance and have a nice bottle of champagne chilling in the refrigerator that will be uncorked in celebration

We also have several meetings of interest coming up as the calendar page flips from July to August.

On July 31 will be the What Is Sisterhood one being held at the Montrose Center at  7 PM moderated by Dee Dee Watters.   On August 2 will be another HERO Strategy Meeting at Legacy starting at 12 Noon.  The Forward Times Town hall will happen on the critical August 4 deadline day also at 7 PM.

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.

HERO Updates, Notes And News- July 28

The HERO is two months old today! 

As of yet no Houston bakers have been forced to bake swastika cakes against their will, we haven't had an epidemic of crossdressing predators flooding Houston bathrooms, and neither have the other parade of horribles and lies espoused by our faith based haters have come to pass. 

And yeah HERO haters, if you don't like me calling you faith-based haters and human rights oppressors, stop acting like it.  

And for you Houston area Black folks bristling because I'm calling your asses out about your unbelievably stupid and jaw dropping opposition to a human rights ordinance that protects you, if you lie down with lying right wing dogs, don't get mad when their fleas bite you and I call you out for associating with them. 

Speaking of right wing liars, Dave Welch and his prevaricating preachers continue to claim that since the May 28 HERO passage, there have been four people caught in opposite gender bathrooms.

Yeah right.  Show me the police reports.  

The checking of HERO petitions continues, and another combined training and petition checking event was held last Saturday afternoon in which we had the pleasant surprise of our next governor, state Senator Wendy Davis visiting Resurrection MCC Church where it was held. 

Sen..Davis was in town to do a block walking event organized by state Rep. Alma Allen and stopped by to thank the volunteers for their efforts.

Deadline to have the petitions checked to determine if there are enough signatures to place HERO on the ballot is August 3 and the clock is ticking.  The visit of Sen. Davis also reminded us we are getting closer to our November 4 election day in the Lone Star State.  

Dee Dee Watters will be facilitating a sisterhood discussion at the Montrose Center on July 31 from 7-9 PM CDT.   The Transgendered Women of Color United for Change and the Legacy Community Health Services Positive Organizing Project cordially invites you to an important meeting that will include a panel of Trans women who will share about a wide range of topics including 'What is Sisterhood? Why Should Trans Women be Included?'

The Montrose Center is located at 401 Branard Street, Houston, TX 77006.  Light refreshments will be served. All women are welcome. Contact Venita Ray for more information at 713-299-6123 or vray@legacycommunityhealth.org. 

And Dee Dee, congratulations on capturing MSociety's Activist of the Year Award!.  Well deserved.


The struggle to protect the HERO continues

HERO Updates, Notes and News-July 25

I spent an interesting Thursday night over at Resurrection MCC with Dee Dee Watters and 25 leaders leaders in the Houston African-American trans bi and SGL community.  

We spent two hours having a much needed tell it like it T-I-S is discussion about issues in our community that needed our attention.

We were hit with the sobering news that many of the petitions to repeal the HERO were signed by people in Districts B, D and who lived in Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee's congressional district.  

Never mind the fact the push to pass the HERO started because a straight Black female judge was denied entrance to a Washington Ave club along with members of the Houston Dynamo MLS team in a separate incident.   

We also talked about the demonization of the trans community that even elements of the  Houston Black SGL community are complicit in engaging in, the lack of engagement on our end with the non-gay Black community and our legacy orgs, the invisibility of our Houston Black TBLG community and the complicity of the white Houston LGBT community in that invisibility.  

We spent that two hours doing an overview of the HERO, its history, who it covers, and where to find accurate information about it.   We also discussed some problems in our own ranks.  Strategies to deal with the diagnosed problems short and long term were envisioned.   The leaders in attendance also came up with suggestion and concrete steps to engage our SGL, bi and trans ranks to get more involved in ours and the African-American community and engaging the local Houston media to deal with the Black LGBT invisibility issue.    

Much of what we discussed is in the 'Houston Black GLBT Revolution Will Not Be Televised' territory, but you will see action occurring over the remainder of the year and into 2015 to solve the identified problems.  

As for other HERO news, more events to do training and petition checking  are on the agenda.    A HERO petition training and work session will happen at Resurrection MCC tomorrow starting at 1 PM.  If you've got a spare two hours, come on down to 2025 W.11th St and the Gathering Place.  The verification process training is quick and easy, and once you're trained, you can get busy verifying the petitions because the deadline to do so is August 3.

Please bring a laptop (or tablet if you are comfortable with that). Resurrection will also provide a limited number of laptops for use and snacks.

There will also be a sisterhood discussion on July 31 at the Montrose Center designed to help cis and trans women break down barriers that inhibit sisterhood amongst each other.  More details coming soon in this TransGriot space.  

The struggle to protect the HERO continues..

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.

HERO Civil Rights Strategy Meeting Thursday

On Thursday July 24 there will be a HERO Civil Rights Strategy Meeting held at Resurrection MCC Church starting at 7 PM.

One of the things i and many other people in Houston trans and SGL world have been pissed off about are not only the cadre of sellout ministers bearing false witness against the trans community, but the erasure of Black LGBT people from the HERO conversation as if we don't exist. 


Some of the topics that will be discussed is the history behind the HERO, the 15 classes the nearly two month old ordinance covers, what we need to do to counter the lies of Max Miller and his sellout ministers, blowing up the anti-transgender lies,  and coalition building and coming to the table in a community with a leadership diversity issue.

We'll also be discussing the upcoming August 4 Forward Times HERO forum.

This is just the first of many strategy meetings the Houston SGL and trans community will schedule, and it would be nice if people do show up for it. 

HERO Show On HMS-TV

As many of you readers may be aware of, I was invited to participate in a televised discussion concerning the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) with Christina Gorczynski, Daniel Williams and Noel Freeman. 

It was hosted by Fran Watson and Durrel Douglas on Houston Media Source TV, our local municipal access cable channel.

The first half of the show was us proving information about our nearly two month old ordinance, the 15 categories it covers, and doing some mythbusting about it. 

The second half of the show featured me and Christina facing off against two HERO opponents, who turned out to be King HERO Hater Dave Welch and Kathy Blueford-Daniels.

Enjoy.    

HMS-TV Talks About The HERO Tonight

For you peeps wanting more info about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance and everything surrounding our nearly two month old law, I'll be part of a live local cable access show panel later tonight on Houston Media Source TV at 6:30 PM CDT. 

Besides your fave award winning blogger, the panelists will be Christina Gorczynski, Daniel Williams, Noel Freeman and HERO opponent Kathy Blueford-Daniels to discuss our Houston Equal Rights Ordinance hosted by Fran Watson and Durrell Douglas.

While our opposition will cite her concerns (or regurgitate the lies) about the law, I and my fellow panelists will be ready and waiting to point out the 15 classes of people the HERO protects in addition to gleefully doing mythbusting    

The HERO ordinance prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity or pregnancy.   It also provides for the first time a local recourse mechanism for Houstonians who believe they have been victims of intentional discrimination

Viewers will be invited to call in with questions and comments concerning the HERO and I hope that you'll be able to tune in on Comcast Channel 17 or AT&T Uverse Channel 99.   Those of you who live outside the Houston metro area who wish to check out the show can watch the livestream of it at www.hmstv.org.      .

Should be fun and hope y'all get the opportunity to tune in. 

HERO Updates, Notes And News-July 15

It's time for another HERO news update since the last one I penned was back on July 4. 

One thing I and everyone inside Beltway 8 are keenly aware of is that the world is watching our fight to defend the HERO with keen interest. 

I discovered that firsthand when I flew to our nation's capital last week to attend the White House LGBT Innovation Summit.  One of the next questions off everyone's lips once they discovered I was there from Houston was, 'What's happening with the HERO?"

What's happening is the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is nearly two months old, is still in effect, and covers 15 categories.  I can also confidently report that no bakers have been forced to make swastika cakes anywhere inside the Houston city limits. 

Right now we are in signature counting mode.   As you know for the last update the hate ministers dropped off their petitions with the alleged 50,000 signatures at City Secretary Anna Russell's office July 3.  Mayor Parker held a press conference on that date that I was in attendance for along with other members of Team HERO expressing her thoughts about it.

In addition to the launch of the Equal Rights Houston website, we've also held multiple petition verification trainings that have trained over 150 volunteers how to spot invalid signatures.  Now that we've begun to finally receive those petitions, we can start the actual work of poring through them to find the fraudulent and ineligible ones.  

One of those petition checking events will happen tonight at Resurrection MCC Church starting at 7 PM CDT. and  we'll know by August 4 whether the petition drive was successful or it failed.

There will also be a Civil Rights Strategy Meeting held July 24 at Resurrection MCC starting at 7 PM to discuss HERO.  One of the topics on the agenda will be to assess what needs to be done to combat the lies and ignorance about the ordinance being disseminated in communities of color.

Short answer is get African-American media to give the pro-HERO side as much airtime to counter the lies as you have given the opponents.  Our legacy orgs in the NAACP and Urban League along with our politicians and leaders who support HERO have also been far too silent and not forceful enough to call out the ignorance and lies coming from the Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity. 

Neither have they pointed out the fact they are selling out and siding with white Republican conservatives in opposing an ordinance that benefits the entire Houston community. 

One of the things that has pissed off me and Team HERO in this human rights fight is the Houston media continuing to pimp the lies of Dave Welch, Max Miller and his faith based haters. 

While the Houston Chronicle just published this positive HERO op-ed, unfortunately in one of Houston's oldest African-American newspapers, the Forward Times went in the opposite direction. 

Here's another example of the transphobic bathroom myth being repeated without debunking in this Forward Times ad promoting an upcoming HERO debate forum they are setting up on August 4. 
 
Christina Gorczynski had this to say on her Facebook page in rebuttal to this problematic ad

'Factual information about this ordinance must reach each and every community and we are counting on the media to report HERO accurately. Let's avoid dividing people based on the very characteristics that HERO protects and work together to end all forms of discrimination against every Houstonian.'

She's absolutely right about that.   One of the major problems I've had with the African-American media during this HERO fight is they haven't been doing their job of reporting on this ordinance accurately. 

They have been far too busy parroting of the lies of Max Miller and his Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity but not inviting HERO supporters to counter those lies, much less give us the same air time (Majic 102) they have given them.   Houston African-American trans and SGL people are still waiting for KMJQ-FM to extend to them the same opportunity to appear on Sunday Morning Live as was given to the HERO opponents a few weeks ago. 

Speaking of opportunities to tell our story, I'll be part of a panel along with Christina Gorczynski, Daniel Williams and Noel Freeman on HMS TV Thursday discussing the HERO.     

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.

HERO Updates, Notes and News-July 4

Now that the faith-based haters have made their latest move to hate on the month old Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, it's time for me to do regular updates on the blog again of all the news and issues surrounding  the HERO.  

I'm still getting a lot of questions as I travel the nation about our HERO, and that's part of what's driving this decision to once again create a post consolidating all the HERO related news and my commentary about it in one spot.   

The big news yesterday was the anti-HERO haters 3 PM CDT press conference in which they turned in their alleged 50,000 signatures to the City Secretary's office and claimed they verified 30,000 of them..

Yeah right.  We'll see in 30 days.  I received a copy of an e-mail in which you urged your hate pastors to pump up the petition in their sermons and get signatures in your June 29 Sunday services.

It was also interesting to note that just nine days ago (June 24) , according to our intel sources, the haters only had 8100 signatures.  So how did that morph to 50K in 9 days?   I'm also aware of the fact you haters hired an outside firm to boost your flagging signature collection effort in addition to one of your repeal petition signature takers getting busted committing election fraud while doing so.  

Meanwhile over at the City Hall annex across the street Dave Welch was getting Rev. Max Miller to do his dirty work for him and be the useful fool fronting the anti-HERO effort. 

Had to laugh when he claimed at their anti-HERO press conference he and his little cadre of hate ministers aren't anti-gay because they have gay family members.

Um, yes you are.   You are a homophobe when you are pushing a repeal effort that would take human rights coverage away from your gay relatives and the other 14 categories of Houstonians protected by HERO at the behest of right wing conservatives.

You also earned an SUF nomination for your repeated violations of Exodus 20:16 yesterday.

I also noticed that Rev. Kendall Baker was in the house, but nowhere to be seen in the photo ops.  What, was he the man cruising women's restrooms y'all falsely claimed to have four instances of occurring since the May 28 HERO passage?    Police reports proving it, please since y'all faith based haters have a proven propensity for prevarication.

And yeah, no Houston bakers have reported being forced to make Steve Riggle's swastika cakes. 


Max, one other thing I have to say before I move on.   If you're shamelessly christopimping for conservative white people a repeal effort that rolls back the human rights of everyone in Houston, you and your friends in the Baptist Ministers Association of Houston and Vicinity are bigots and even worse, cookie chomping sellouts to our people who are survey says, protected by the HERO.

Another question I have.  If y'all have so much support to repeal HERO, why is it when you faith-based haters have events, nobody shows up for them, or you have to bus them in from The Woodlands and Grace KKKommunity church? 

Those gross violations of Exodus 20:16 and several other commandments were countered at the HERO press conference Mayor Annise Parker held in the City Hall rotunda.   An enthusiastic Team HERO was there in full effect to hear our mayor bust lies and point out that the Houston we know and love doesn't discriminate.

"I have every expectation that this petition drive will be defeated, if they have sufficient signatures, in November, then we will have shown that Houston does not support discrimination.  I have every expectation that this is an ordinance that will live in Houston for many years to come and make Houston a better place in which to live."
--Mayor Annise Parker

All eyes in H-town will be turned to the City Secretary's office this month.  We'll find out if Max, Dave and the gang were selling woof tickets (which I suspect) about their petitions.   If they have enough signatures to force a vote, we are prepared and confident that once we lay out the facts about the HERO and debunk the lies, we will win.    

HERO Petition Check Training

The deadline is today for the HERO haters to get their petitions in to the city secretary so they can be checked to determine they collected enough signatures per City Charter requirements to force a repeal election.

Since we are keenly aware of the fact our opponents will lie, cheat and break the law to get the 17,500 signatures they need to force that repeal vote this November, it's up to us HERO defenders to ensure that invalid or fraudulent signatures don't get counted.

The stakes are high on this one.  If we find enough invalid or fraudulent signatures, the petition will fail and the HERO won't face a repeal election.  Team HERO is going all out to make sure that every one of these invalid and fraudulent signatures is found and our state election law is complied with to the letter.

Tuesday night at Resurrection MCC was the first of several planned meetings held to train people to do precisely that with another scheduled for 7:00 PM tonight.  

40 people showed up at this initial meeting to get a quick but thorough tutorial from Kris Banks on how to find those invalid or fraudulent signatures.   The other cool thing about this part of the battle is that it doesn't require you to speak in front of city council or with other people, and you can do it on your own time and at your own pace. 

Volunteers will need:

*A computer at home
* Internet at home
* A Google account (if you have a Gmail account, you already have a Google account. If you do not, sign up for a free one here: https://accounts.google.com/)

If you're interested in attending tonight's training, Resurrection MCC is located at 2025 W.11th St.  You do not need to bring a laptop to the training, but it may be helpful if you can.

If you have experience in any of the following, please email kristopher.a.banks@gmail.com in advance:

* Legal Field (Lawyer, Law Student, Paralegal)
* Data Collection Management
* Election Petitions

Legacy is also hosting a bring your own laptop or tablet HERO petition check event July 9 from 6-8 PM at its building located at 1415 California St.   They will have space for 20 people, will feed you and provide the WiFi access.  

Civil rights should never be put up to a vote.   Let's do our part to ensure they aren't in this case. 
 

Questions For Rev. Max Miller

In this battle to pass and now keep the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) on the books, the interesting permutation for me was this attempt by the far-right wing Houston Area Pastor Council run by the odious hate monger Dave Welch to execute the NOM crafted strategy of driving a wedge between the African-American and TBLG community.

They propped up non-white useful fool Black, Latino and Asian ministers to do the optical dirty work for them of attacking a HERO ordinance that would benefit their communities while the conservative people stayed on the down low.and tried to work behind the scenes in conjunction with the Harris County Republican party to kill it. 

In addition to the now disgraced Rev. Kendall Baker,  one of the other prominent kneegrow front men during the HERO fight was Rev. Max Miller, the pastor of Mt. Hebron Baptist Church in southeast Houston and head of the Baptist Ministers Association of Houston And Vicinity.    

Miller is the nephew of JJ Roberson, the legendary founding pastor of the church who passed away in 2012 at the age of 94.   His uncle also headed the minister's organization he now chairs.

But Miller and the Baptist Ministers Association of Houston And Vicinity. were on the wrong side of this as Councilmember C.O Bradford correctly called it, an international human rights fight.  My inquiring TransGriot mind along with other human rights minded African-American Houstonians and our allies want to know why. 

I damned sure want to know why as part of the group of people you and your right wing friends demonized in the Houston transgender community (and sadly continue to do so). 

I and my fellow trans Houstonians saw this as a life and death issue, and we fought like hell to debunk the lies and ensure the HERO passed.

I'm also part of the community who has the moral high ground in this HERO human rights struggle, not you.


You lending your name Rev. Miler and the Baptist Ministers Association to the HERO.opponents was disappointing and problematic.    I ask why were you part of an unholy bargain with conservative white evangelical fundamentalists and gay baiters like Dave Welch and Dave Wilson?  

Surely you can't be that obtuse to not be aware of the fact Welch, Wilson and the Pastors Council are part of a Republican Party apparatus and conservative movement that seeks to roll back all the civil rights progress your uncle fought to help achieve in Houston and Texas?


Why has your group, that you are the head of, spent money on Majic 102 commercials that violate Exodus 20:16, and more importantly, if you aren't spending your own money for those anti-HERO commercials, who is providing you with the money to do so?

I'll definitely be coming up with more questions as my inquiring mind ponders them, but the main one I'd like an answer to is this one:

Why are you Rev Miller selling out our Houston African-American community by actively working to oppose a human rights ordinance that protects 15 categories of Houstonians and visitors to our city?

HERO Is One Month Old Today!

How apropos it is for us in Houston that we are having our Pride Parade on the one month anniversary of the 11-6 passage and signage into law by Mayor Annise Parker of our Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) .

In addition to prohibiting discrimination in our sprawling world class metropolis against residents and visitors to our city in 15 different categories, it provides a local governmental solution in case people's rights are violated.

And as of yet Steve and Becky Riggle, no baker has been forced to make a swastika cake.

Neither has Houston endured all the other parade of horribles the faith-based haters claimed would befall our beloved city if we passed the HERO including fire and brimstone raining from the sky. 

But what we do have is a citywide ordinance to protect the human rights of all who live here.

HERO: Next Steps Meeting

You know I thought is was important if I tore myself away from the USA's initial World Cup match to head over to Resurrection MCC to attend a community meeting concerning the HERO and our next steps in defending it.

It was another one of the frequent questions I received while I was in Philadelphia for the PTHC in terms of how the haters petition drive was going.

In a fast paced one hour meeting in their Gathering Place room that seemed more like a reunion, we got updates on the current situation from Januari Leo, Christina Gorczynski, Brad Pritchett, Lou Weaver and Ryan Leach with major assist from Kristen Capps .

Christina reminded us in her presentation that our greatest asset in this fight to defend the HERO is the truth is on our side.   She pointed out the HERO covers 15 protected classes of which only two are sexual orientation and gender identity.  The HERO also addresses discrimination based on sex, race, color, age, ethnicity, national origin, marital status, familial status, genetic information, military status, pregnancy, disability and religion. 

The exempted classes are private clubs, religious organizations, private schools, senior citizen and military discounts and federal, state and county governmental entities. 

The private employers threshold is stairstepped.  I would have rather had it be 15 from the outset, but it goes from 50 employees in the first year to 25 in the second year and 15 in the third and subsequent years. 

It not only protects Houstonians but visitors to our city as well.. 

Brad's presentation covers the HOUequality website which is designed to be an informational clearinghouse concerning all things HERO related.   If you need to do some faith-based lie busting, you can whip out your mobile device and have at your fingertips all the factual information to crush the lie in an avalanche of information. 

Lou's portion of the presentation busted the anti-trans myths the haters are using to stir animus toward the ordinance and what to do to help Houston trans community voters get registered and a early voting polling place they can go where they will be respected. 

Ryan closed it out with our game plan if the faith based haters get enough signatures to place it on the November ballot.  Who gets to write the repeal ballot language, fundraising and PAC's.

So yep, definitely needed to be there.  Besides, the USA-Ghana game will be replayed on demand  anyway.      

HERO: Next Steps Meeting Tonight

As I've been reminding everyone, passing the #HERO was the easiest part of the process.   Now we have to defend it from our misguided faith-based haters and their 'fear and smear' tactics. 

There will be a #HERO: Next Steps meeting taking place later today from 6-7 PM at Resurrection MCC Church facilitated by Januari Leo and Brad Pritchett.

Januari and Brad will be your hosts for this exciting opportunity for community building and conversation around what's currently happening with our soon to be three week old non-discrimination ordinance.

At the #HERO: Next Steps meeting we'll discuss: (1) tools to address misinformation online and in person (2) details on a high-impact way to share your story (3) updates on the petition gathering and referendum process.

And if you attend, you also get to ask questions and make suggestions and comments concerning these issues.

Resurrection MCC is located at 2025 W. 11th Street west of TC Jester Boulevard.  The meeting will be in The Gathering Place building on the Resurrection MCC campus, and it has ample parking.   For you METRO riders it is on the 40 Pecore line

I will have my face in the place, and hope to see you there.

Houston HERO Opponent Accused Of Sexual Harassment

“I say to you, what if I came into the bathroom while you were sitting on the toilet? Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable?”
-Pastor Kendall Baker, in his anti-HERO public comments  

Yeah, your comment is cringe inducing now that we are aware the reason you lost your city job was because of a sexual harassment allegation, according to a News 92FM report from Adela Uchida

Kendall Baker, the pastor at StraightUp Ministries World Church, is also a member of the Houston Area Pastor's Council that has been fighting the HERO.

He has been one of the pastors featured along with the Rev. Max Miller used as the faces of the anti-HERO effort by Dave Welch and Dave Wilson.  They have used non-white ministers as their spokespeople in an attempt to present the veneer of a multicultural, broad based coalition, when the reality is the coalition is overwhelmingly dominated by the usual H-town white evangelical Christian conservative haters with ties to the Republican Party.  

Baker was the former manager of the City of Houston's 311 Services Division until his suspension and termination.  After a female employee filed a complaint on June 27, 2013, the Office of Inspector General found during the subsequent investigation that Baker solicited sexual acts, made crude remarks about female anatomy and hugged subordinate female employees. 

Baker was also alleged to have solicited donations for his church, which he denied according to the OIG report.

During the May 13 public comment session, there was a snippy exchange between Mayor Parker and Baker that was a things that make you go hmm moment, but we now realize is related to this situation.

In response to testimony questions about the OIG and their potential role in investigating HERO complaints, Baker said:  "The reason I know the OIG is overwhelmed is because I just ended a 28-year, 11-month career with the city and was wrongfully terminated and the OIG did not handle the case appropriately.”

Mayor Parker's response to Baker's comment was:  

“Absolutely, you are proof we do a good job in the OIG, sir.”

As of yet Baker hasn't responded to media requests for comments concerning the sexual harassment  allegations that led to his termination from his city job. 

But isn't that special (and not surprising) that one of Dave Welch's Pastor Council sheeple hypocritically lives in a glass house.  

Faith Based Cognitive Dissonance

Ran into that all last month from the faith-based HERO haters at 901 Bagby Street   

But note to the Christians uber Alles crowd:  The HERO has been in effect a week.  Still no fire and brimstone raining down upon the city.  Still no bakers being forced to make swastika cakes or any of your other parade of horribles coming to pass.

And yes, discrimination's time has expired in H-town to the relief of everyone who has been victimized by it.
 

Houston Style Magazine, Stop Pimping The HERO Bathroom Lie

One of the things that has really pissed me and Team HERO off about this battle to pass the now week old Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is how the elements of the Houston media are still stuck on stupid in continuing to deploy the bathroom meme.

The latest demonstration of facts free Houston media stenography concerning the HERO comes from Houston Style magazine.   It's a local African-American oriented publication that's available on newsstands in predominately Black H-town neighborhoods.and has a Facebook presence.

I was angered along with Team HERO to see Houston Style post this grossly inaccurate June 2 commentary on the HERO on their Facebook page that made it all about the bathroom and once again poured gasoline on the lie injected into this HERO debate by the Daves and the Black auxiliary ministerial sellouts about the damned bathrooms.

The push to pass the HERO started because of the discrimination experienced by a straight Black woman who is a sitting judge (Alexandra Smoots Hogan) at a Washington Ave nightspot.  She discovered along with Councilmember Ellen Cohen there was no way to address that type of discrimination locally unless you filed a federal lawsuit.  . .



Houston Style, it is irresponsible stenography like this (it doesn't deserve to be called reporting) that leads to anti-trans hatred and attacks upon trans African-Americans.

Here's a crash course in Trans 101 that you sorely need.  You also need to remember that some of the trans people you are dissing have melanin in their skin and African heritage.

As one of those proud Black trans Houstonians who fought for passage of the HERO and is a leader in the African-American trans community locally and nationally, I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the anti-trans hatred and ignorance being trafficked in our community and our media outlets.    

You should be ashamed of yourselves, Houston Style magazine for perpetuating the debunked transphobic lies of longtime gay baiters Dave Wilson and Dave Welch.   I'm sure the Daves, the Republican Party and their Baptist Ministers of Houston and Vicinity sellouts are pleased you continued the perpetration of disinformation about a long needed ordinance that protects the human rights of ALL Houstonians, not just those of us in the trans, SGL and Bi community.



I'd demand a retraction and apology, but I'd probably have better odds of seeing the Astros, Texans, Rockets, Dynamo and Dash all win championships in the same year than seeing you post an apology for this transbaiting piece. 

How about you do the Houston African-American community a huge favor by doing your jobs and actually printing the facts about the HERO instead of the 'fear and smear' talking points of the opposition?


TransGriot Update: A retraction was made for the problematic bathroom lie  comments I was lambasting in this post.

Another Tuesday, Another HERO Fight

Today may be the first Tuesday in June, but what this day actually is turning out to be is the first battle of the fight to keep our just passed Houston Equal Rights Ordinance from being rolled back by the faith-based bigots.   

It's the first Tuesday City Council comment session since the ordinance passed and went into effect on May 28.

Many of us on Team HERO had planned to go to City Council, thank Mayor Parker and the 10 council members who voted in favor of expanding rights for all Houstonians. But it looks like our haters also targeted this June 3 council meeting to express their HERO hatred.   They were frustrated that Team HERO dominated the chambers and the speaker counts 447-98.  Pro-HERO ministers outnumbered the anti-HERO hater ministers by a 2-1 margin and most importantly, we dominated the media optics during the HERO passage fight.  

Note to the HERO haters.  The city is still standing.  The Houston skies did not see fire and brimstone descend upon it.  The mayor and the ten council members who voted for passage didn't turn into pillars of salt.   The sun has continued to rise in the east and set in the west.  No Houston baker has been forced to bake a swastika cake against their will   Transpeople are using the bathrooms according to their outward gender presentation without incident. 

None of your parade of horribles has happened short of y'all showing your nekulturny asses and issuing death threats to Mayor Parker. 

And you faith based bigots are STILL on the wrong side of history.  You lied, you lost 11-6 and you need to get over it.  Houston is a much better city because that ordinance is on the books.  Your reprehensible behavior is our best evidence why the HERO needed to pass..

Discrimination's time has expired in my hometown, and I'm going to fight with every fiber of my being alongside Team HERO to keep it that way.  

So once again, if you can show up and show out and join me, Amelia, Dee Dee and Team HERO in Houston City Council chambers, I ask that you get there no later than noon CDT for the public comment session that will start at 1:30 PM

Remember, decline to sign for the next 30 days ANY petition that is thrust upon you for your signature.   The anti-HERO peeps need to collect  25,000 signatures to force a referendum.   

And yes peeps, for those of you not inside Beltway 8 or who can't make it, you can watch the proceedings once again by clicking on this link.


TransGriot Update: Turn out the spike in speakers was over a proposed transportation ordinance debating eideshare companies Uber and Lyft's entry into the Houston market.  No haters at City Hall, but members were surprised that members of our community would come to thank them for passing an ordinance.