Commentary

To avoid another defeat like HERO, it’s time to deal with the “Bathroom Thing”

To avoid another defeat like HERO, it’s time to deal with the “Bathroom Thing”
So Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) was roundly walloped and defeated in the polls.

I’m scrolling through my Twitter and Facebook accounts and gay news websites, and I’m seeing the same sentiments over and over.

Overnight, Houston has become a city “overrun by bigots.”

But, here’s the thing.

“Bigotry” won because bigotry showed up.

According to Texas Monthly, things weren’t looking good for HERO for quite awhile.

Most of the voters who turned up to the polls were well over 65.

We all know how that works in regard to laws, ordinances, and propositions that are put up to the vote for so-called progressive laws.

Conservative suburbs like Kingwood, Clear Lake, and the Memorial area have seen both the greatest increase in turnout and highest overall totals.

But voters in those areas tend to be older; the demographic that most opposed the ordinance.

The presence of younger voters was virtually nil; a mere one percent of Houstonians between the ages of 18 to 24 bothered to cast ballots.

A whopping 56 percent were 65 and older.

HERO failed because ultra-conservatives found a wedge issue to focus on; one that turns protections for transgender people into a single issue:

“The Bathroom Thing,” as I like to call it.

This concept turns the idea of equal protections for transgender people into something far more salacious and unseemly: namely, it suggests that male-to-female transgender people are sexual predators who can’t wait to use their access to women’s restrooms to prey on unsuspecting women.

That’s a lie, of course, but it hints at a fundamental truth:

There’s a large group of women who are uncomfortable with the idea of male-to-female transgender people having access to spaces traditionally reserved for cisgender women.

And now we know. Because they voted.

Meanwhile, non-clockable (ie, passing) trans women have been — and will continue to — use women’s restrooms.

That’s the “privilege of passing,” and it won’t change.

It seems to me that whenever there’s a failure or setback in LGBTQ politics, the first reaction is to brand the other side “haters” and “bigots.”

We try to reclaim our superiority that we’re on the “right” side of history.

I understand why people feel the need to do this after losing.

I’ve also seen, in some comments, the old bogeyman of a heightened African-American turnout — which is used to provide another reason for the defeat of the ordinance.

I wish that after Prop 8, LGBTQ people wouldn’t go down that rabbit hole again, but there you have it.

To avoid further losses like this, LGBTQ advocates and their allies need to tackle The Bathroom Thing head-on and figure out a way to defeat it.

So no, we cannot just call the other side “bigots” and insult their intelligence, and we cannot wait on Beyonce to fight our battles for us (as some of you would like to suggest).

Otherwise, The Bathroom Thing will be used again and again in other cities that are proposing their own protections for LGBTQ people.

Furthermore, HERO was supposed to provide protections for a wide swath of people, not just the LGBTQ community.

Black people and people with different religious beliefs had a lot to gain from the ordinance… so, among such a potentially wide coalition, why were Houston organizers not turning out the vote?

The proper reaction to a setback like this is not to blame the other side — nor to demonize them as “bigots” or “hicks.”

We also can’t blame Beyonce for the loss (as some of you would like to suggest), nor should we continue to lean on celebrities like Sally Field to speak at our rallies and advocate for our causes.

LGBT people enjoy comparing every single one of our issues to the fight for African-American civil rights in the 1960s, and while I don’t believe in that comparison, it persists because that remains the model for civil rights battles in this country.

How did they win? It wasn’t by relying on celebrities or demonizing those who felt differently.

It was by mobilizing a broad coalition to do more than tweet, hashtag, and Facebook. They went out there and did something.

The proper reaction is to TURN OUT THE VOTE, mobilize a broader coalition, and gear up for the next battle.

And, for the love of God, find a way to battle The Bathroom Thing.

Maybe a push for more gender neutral restrooms is a fair compromise (for now).

Maybe it isn’t.

Either way, it’s time to start thinking politically about this, because if our side cannot think of a compromise, this issue will come back to life again and again — like Jason Vorhees in another Friday the 13th remake.

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