From Mayor Brown’s GLBT Liaison

These Are Important Times
With an antidiscrimination ballot up before the city, "not since 1985 have we been called to action as we are being called today"
by Janine Brunjes

The pace has been a steady and intense one since my appointment as liaison to the GLBT community earlier this year. Mayor Brown has a full agenda for our community...and me for him. I am continually amazed and pleased at the mayor’s focus on the issues we are facing today. Foremost in his mind is simply to do the right thing and fight for nondiscrimination for the employees of the City of Houston. The mayor’s senior executive assistant, Carol Alvarado, and I discuss frequently how our community can ready for combat when the nondiscrimination ordinance goes to referendum. We have no reason to believe that the referendum will be avoided and the focus on the GLBT leadership needs to be well developed and ready for the ballot initiative being put forth by our antagonist, David Wilson.

Not since 1985 have we been called to action as we are being called today. I have informed the mayor’s office about People for a Fair Houston and the diligent work of Progressive Voters in Action. Our community leadership is crying "volunteer, vote, donate"–any of the above or all of the above.

Honestly, our mayor has become vulnerable for us by insisting that "the right thing be done." With the mayor’s confidence in us to pass this ordinance, I am in turn empowered to not disappoint our community nor our mayor. He wants what we want. Equality.

To this end, I have begun holding a monthly Liaison’s Roundtable at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center every second Monday of the month. The meetings have been invigorating and very productive. We have focused on the ballot initiative under way and what our community must do to not only oppose the right, but to dampen their efforts.

The roundtable participants, who represent all walks of the GLBT community, recommend that community leadership continue to focus on exposing the efforts of PVA and ways in which people who wish to participate can be involved. A sense of urgency must be instilled in our every conversation about the ballot initiative and what is really at stake. At stake is another step toward antidiscrimination legislation for our city–the fourth largest in the county at 4.2 million people. The math tells us that there are 10 percent of those who are deserving of antidiscrimination legislation.They are us. Please join in this grassroots effort. "We cannot repeat 1985."

Janine Brunjes is our direct pipeline to Mayor Lee Brown and influencing Houston politics. You can discuss your concerns with her about the upcoming referendum, or anything that you think Mayor Brown should be informed about the GLBT community, at the next Liaison’s Roundtable on Monday, May 14, 5—6:30 p.m. at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center, 803 Hawthorne, 713/524-3818.