Getting HERO Wrong

When it comes to LGBTQ equality, things have certainly been going our way recently on the national front.  The focus on national marriage equality, as well as various prospective approaches to national employment equality, has been all-consuming for LGBTQ activists across the nation and here in Houston.

However, to use an unfortunate analogy, while we here in Houston were celebrating the beautiful, panoramic view of the national landscape, a very large tree standing right next to us fell directly on our heads.  

And the resulting "ouchie" is pretty significant.

In May of 2014, the Houston City Council passed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance by a significant majority.  Almost immediately, a well-organized and well-funded petition drive was organized by several anti-GLBTQ rights activists, in association with a coalition of conservative black ministers, aimed at overturning the ordinance.  On April 17 of this year, State District Judge Robert Schaffer ruled that many of the signatures on the petition were invalid, and that the ordinance should remain in effect.  End of story, right?

Well, apparently, that's what the Houston LGBTQ activist community thought, and I think the best way to explain how wrong the activist community got this is to use my own personal experience.  I am a member of several activist organizations here in Houston.  I am a grass-roots member of these groups: I give what monies I can, but I cannot afford $500 a plate gala tickets; I volunteer as much time as I can given my other obligations to HIV/AIDS activism, children's health, and two chambers of commerce; I show up for meetings and always maintain my credentialing, although I often feel as though my voice is not heard.  I sometimes have to remind myself that our activist groups are, by definition, GAY groups.  That means they are like those "measuring sticks" for children in front of rides at amusement parks:  you must be THIS (physically attractive...wealthy...politically connected) for us to acknowledge you.  

So how does my experience tie into the HERO debacle?  Well, while the Houston activist community was sleeping, a group called the NO UNequal Rights Coalition, lead by anti-GLBTQ activist Dave Welch and anti-GLBTQ attorney Andy Taylor, were busy filing not one, not two, but THREE court appeals on the petition issue, including an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.  In spite of those filings, for the last four months the leadership of the activist community has been placidly telling the rank-and-file, "Celebrate!  The HERO fight is over!  Don't worry about HERO!  Yeah, sure, there are some appeals, but they're not going anywhere.  We can focus on other things now.  Hooray!"  And instead of questioning leadership, the rank-and-file went blissfully along with this party line, and those of us who WERE aware that these appeals might in fact "go somewhere" were told not to mention the emperor's lack of clothing.

Of course, last week the chickens came home to roost.  The Texas Supreme Court ruled the petitions valid and told the Houston City Council that they had 30 days to repeal HERO or place it on the November ballot.  Now the activist community, instead of being proactive, is forced to play defense, making impassioned pleas at last week's City Council meeting, and trying desperately to organize a get-out-the-vote movement.  Lurking over all of these efforts is the political reality that at best, the vote on HERO will be close, and the awful truth that the ordinance will in all likelihood fail in November.  So far, I have heard no explanations from activist leaders about why they were so negligent about staying on top of the court appeals, or how they managed to get all of this so wrong.

The problem is this:  there are scores, perhaps hundreds, of rank-and-file, grass roots folks just like me who, if leadership would quit marginalizing us, would have been happy to have been organizing, marching, protesting, carrying signs, posting on social media, and generally making a ruckus, both in Houston AND in Austin, to make sure that the court appeals of HERO stayed firmly in both the local and national spotlights.  But too often, we are told by our organizations that "your help is not needed on this" or "we're focusing on this thing over here right now."  Grass roots doesn't work with a single square foot of sod--it requires acres of people fighting EVERY potential equal rights outcome and, unlike our leadership, staying on the horse until it's safely across the finish line.  I absolutely hope that HERO passes in November.  What I don't understand is why the leadership of the Houston GLBTQ activist community helped put us in the position we are in through their complacency, especially when there are so many people, people who constitute an untapped resource, going unused.