Was I surprised by the fear-mongering campaign waged by those against Houston’s equal rights ordinance?
Unfortunately, no. I’m old enough to recall anti-LGBT vendettas playing
out in state and local politics decade after decade and, sadly, this
kind of backlash can get ugly.
Last week, Houston voters
overwhelmingly repealed the city’s law that guaranteed protections based
on an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as
on sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status,
marital status, military status, religion, disability and pregnancy.
The cruelty of the opposition to this fair-minded ordinance reminded me in particular of singer Anita Bryant’s
effort in 1977 to repeal the Miami-Dade County, Fla., ordinance
outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment,
housing and public services. Bryant, along with the organization she
headed, Save Our Children, sought to depict “homosexuals” (as we were
then referred to) as amoral, promiscuous and child predators.
Infamously, Bryant said: “Some of the stories I could tell you of child
recruitment and child abuse by homosexuals would turn your stomach.” MORE