The Right and the Fair Thing
From the Mayor’s GLBT Liaison
by Janine Brunjes

Writing my column as the mayor’s liaison to the GLBT community this month is like no other I have written. Houston is now a city with a nondiscrimination ordinance ... we, as a GLBT community, are one step closer to our dream of equal rights. Our city council’s vote that critical Wednesday afternoon in July showed what our city and its elected officials and our voluntary activist efforts can do for our community and all of Houston. Thank you, Mayor Brown, thank you, Councilmember Annise Parker, and all those council members who voted to do the right and the fair thing.

I was in the chamber when the council voted on the ordinance. Councilman Orlando Sanchez was fervently working to add language to mandate that there should be no discrimination of any type in the city of Houston. Ideally we all want that, but it simply is not realistic. By overgeneralizing, we risk losing the actual legal advances for which we are striving. The quote of the day was Parker’s retort to Sanchez’s ideology, that "it sounded good for a Hallmark card." Right on, Annise. Sanchez missed the point, as did Bruce Tatro. Both voted against the ordinance. They are usually on the same page, I might add.

At the last roundtable that I held in my capacity as the mayor’s GLBT liaison at the community center, Brenda Thomas and Jeff Anderson announced the establishment of H.E.A.T, the Houston Employees Affinity Team. Brenda and Jeff began discussing the formation of this landmark organization before the passage of the nondiscrimination ordinance. The Affinity Team is a social advocacy group composed of members of the GLBT community who are city employees, and gay-friendly city employees who want to be a part of this effort. Councilmember Annise Parker attended the inaugural meeting, and Mayor Brown is aware of the workings of this new organization. Please see postings on Han-Net@yahoogroups.net for more information. By the way, subscribe to Han-Net if you haven’t already. Founded by Brandon Wolf, it is a very active e-mail discussion group in the GLBT community and provides much fruitful exchange and information–it is true community dialogue (and sometimes diatribe). (To subscribe, send an e-mail to han-net-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.)

I must say the sensitivity to gender identity comes at a historic time for our community. The transgender community–yes, the T in GLBT–is very excited and pleased with the city ordinance. The language around City Hall is not just gay and lesbian, it is gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual. The mayor and his staff are committed to this, and not many heads lean sideways when I say GLBT at City Hall. You all have heard the query … is GLBT anything like BLT? Those days are numbered now!

Having the nondiscrimination ordinance on the books signals a change in the environment as we have known it in Houston, Texas. But the ordinance is only a first step, isn’t it? We all know that there is much more work to be done to influence our city to not see sexual orientation, or sexual identity, for other than exactly what it is. "It" does not influence the wonderful talents we possess or the performance we exhibit in our jobs.

Other priorities I have focused on are issues around talk of "crime in Montrose." I have spoken to Lieutenant John Silva in Chief C.O. Bradford’s office. Although any crime is significant, Lieutenant Silver was sensitive, as well as clear, that the numbers in any type of crime in Montrose are very low. We all followed a visible homicide case over the past month … the assailant is no longer with us. I urge everyone who has any difficulty at all to please report the incident to the robbery/assault line at 713/222-3131, and remember that our Montrose police station is at 802 Westheimer. As we all are aware, our 911 is there to respond to emergencies. Our police department cannot help us if they are not aware of our trials. A tracking system is well up and running, and the intent is there to handle any difficulty we have in the ’Trose and elsewhere in our city.

Mayor Brown’s August schedule has been a busy one in our community.

On August 14 the mayor was the guest speaker at the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, addressing GLBT business owners from across the community about commerce in Houston. On August 15 the mayor and Councilmember Parker hosted a Victory Fund reception. The Victory Fund focuses on electing GLBT officials who vote progressively. That second week in August was a busy one, as the mayor also attended a reception hosted by the mayor’s GLBT Campaign Finance Committee (Anita Renteria, Jim McElgunn and John Michael Gonzalez) at Elvia’s on August 17. This event was a hearty thank you to our mayor for all he has done for "us." The host list was a lengthy one, and over 10,000 invitations were distributed in the GLBT community.

Looking ahead to the fall, I have asked the mayor to attend Empower 2001 on October 14 and the Houston Black Tie Dinner on November 17.

I hope that you will all continue to join me at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center the second Monday of the month for the Mayor’s Liaison’s Roundtable; the next will be Monday, Sept. 10, 5—6:30 p.m. It’s a perfect time to shed light on what you and your constituency feel the issues are in our diverse community. I also host an Internet chat room the Wednesday after the roundtables from 9:30—10:30 p.m. (To join the September 12 chat, go to http://www.talkcity.com/HoustonGLBTforum.) I look forward to any and all of your visits. My e-mail is brunjesj@aol.com.