June 23, 2014      4:52 PM
Houston equal rights fight could have statewide electoral consequences
Democrats could benefit from LGBT issue; recently ousted Harris County GOP Chairman campaigning as hard as ever
Time is running short for
opponents of Houston’s recently passed equal rights ordinance, which supporters
call HERO,
to gather signatures on a petition to try to overturn it. Opponents led by
longtime – and now former because he was recently ousted – Harris County Republican Party
Chairman Jared Woodfill are working
to turn in at least 17,000 signatures of Houston residents by next Monday. If
they can do that and the signatures are verified, the issue will be on track to
cause all kinds of additional heat in Houston with potential statewide
implications.
On the surface, this would
seem to be a classic liberal versus conservative argument playing out at the
local level. But one possible statewide consequence has do with Woodfill’s role
in the fight coupled with speculation that he’d like to be the next Republican
Party of Texas chairman. Meantime, the placement of what’s been framed
as a gay-rights issue on the November ballot could be used by Democrats to push
their voters to the polls in the state’s largest city during a non-presidential
year.
The ordinance, as passed
by the city council and signed by Mayor Annise Parker, is
described by the Houston Chronicle’s Mike
Morris, as a ban on “discrimination based not just on sexual orientation
and gender identity but also, as federal laws do, sex, race, color, ethnicity,
national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information,
as well as family, marital or military status."
Woodfill and others ominously
call it a “sexual predator act.” As he and other opponents put it on this website: “It will by
government decree open thousands of women’s restrooms, showers and girls locker
rooms in the city to biological males! Predators and peepers can use it as
cover to violate our women and children!”
Now working alongside Steve Hotze’s Conservative Republicans of Texas,
Woodfill told Quorum Report on Monday that his group is confident they’ll
have enough signatures in time to meet the deadline. “We can't afford to wait.
Lives are at risk," Woodfill said. “It’s about the safety of our wives and
daughters and kids.”
Woodfill declined to
comment on growing speculation that he may be using the issue to position
himself as the “conservative choice” for the next chairman of the Texas
Republican Party. He stepped down as Harris County Chairman earlier this month
after losing to challenger Paul Simpson.
Voters in Houston could be forgiven, though, for not noticing Woodfill is
no longer chairman given the amount of email blasts he is still sending out regularly
about the ordinance. “This isn’t about anybody’s personality,” Woodfill said. “This
is about the issue.”
By Scott Braddock
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