Houston, We Will Be Proud of You Why we’ll win and defeat the antigay referendum on November 6 by Annise Parker

Houston City Council Member

It appears that we will soon face the city's second antigay referendum in 16 years. As I write this, every legal effort is being made to nullify the petition effort, challenge the petition wording, and prevent a November 6 referendum. Should we be forced into a referendum, we’re ready to work night and day to show the homophobes we’ve mastered the tools acquired in the past 16 years.

Houston is our home, too, and we aren’t turning the clock back to 1985. We’re prepared to spend whatever it takes in time and money to win. A 51-percent victory is not the goal. Every vote over the top ends the political career of one more Houston bigot and sends yet another signal all the way to the Supreme Court that referenda on civil rights should be unconstitutional.

Ultraconservative forces led by political loose cannon Dave Wilson are targeting domestic partner benefits for the City of Houston’s 23,000 employees. DP benefits were seriously discussed by City Council in February–and we had the votes to pass them–but we withdrew the proposal for now so the nondiscrimination ordinance could be in place first. This referendum could prevent the city from ever offering equal health benefits to all employees, but it should not repeal the nondiscrimination ordinance we passed that protects gay, lesbian, and transgender municipal employees. (As written, it should not, but one never knows how local and state judges might rule.)

Why does Houston have to go through the ordeal of a referendum again?

Houston has become an extremely diverse and fair city. I love this city and believe it is poised to become a great city in the next decade. Texas still has its share of bigots, and they know how to network with their decreasing number of cronies. They see their hold on our city, particularly our judiciary, slipping away. My election was a telling blow. They want to turn back the clock.

In 1985, I served as chair of the Houston Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus and as one of the community’s spokespersons. During that referendum we became accustomed to glazed-eyed, screaming sign-carriers calling us sodomites. I was personally called a child molester (a painful irony for many of us), and brochures depicted our community as predators. One brochure showed a child cringing in a corner as a shadowed figure raised an ax.

On January 19, 1985, we were devastated by a 81-to-19-percent defeat.

On November 6, 2001, we will win.

My confidence is well-founded.

Organization, business support, and money. People for a Fair Houston (www.fairhouston.org, 713/523-1762) has been working hard for several months. They are doing well, but need your financial support. Progressive Voters in Action has been aggressively identifying supportive voters for two years now.

Dave Wilson’s head may be stuck in 1985, but Houston business leaders are pouring millions into improving Houston's sagging national image and don’t want Wilson’s sign brigade all over national TV. The business community and many prominent civic leaders (on the wrong side in 1985) will visibly support us. Most of the largest employers in Houston now offer domestic partner benefits to their employees.

Incumbent Mayor Lee Brown and one of his high-profile challengers, Chris Bell, are strongly allied with us in this fight and will be urging their supporters to vote with us.

Wilson's mistakes: Those incredibly racist and homophobic letters sent out by "someone" in Wilson's camp continue to be well-publicized in the city's large ethnic minority communities.

Less from the right: Harris County Republican Party officials voted down the referendum effort at a closed meeting. Even Steven Hotze and Gary Polland don’t want to be associated with Dave Wilson. Unfortunately, no one controls Dave Wilson. That’s one reason it took Wilson’s supporters six months to gather barely enough signatures, ending with desperate scams at gay bars and grocery stores. Unlike 1985, petitions were not circulated at large, conservative mainstream churches.

More GLBT support: In the 1985 election, many GLBT voters–for whatever reasons–did not even go to the polls to fight for their own rights. We’ll be there this time. We’ll bring our friends, family, coworkers, political allies, and the majority of Houstonians–who will all turn out to vote against discrimination.

Houston, we will be proud of you on November 6.