Regardless of whether the issue is social, fiscal, criminal justice, property rights, or any other expansion of government pursued by liberals, it isn’t easy to defeat them. It takes hard work and commitment. Total commitment in the face of obnoxious, evil, nasty personal attacks. After leading the fight to repeal Houston’s odorous equal rights ordinance (HERO), Jared Woodfill should know.
Standing on Principle is Not Always Easy:
It is Time for the Republican Party of Texas to Take a Stand!
By Jared WoodfillThe Dallas City Council recently voted to allow men in women’s bathrooms as a direct rebuke to the vote on the Houston Bathroom Ordinance that was rejected (61{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} to 39{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}) overwhelmingly by the citizens of Houston. The Dallas City Council’s message is compounded by the fact that Dallas made the decision to embrace men in women’s bathrooms only a week after the Houston vote. The message they sent could not be clearer. I believe it is time to take a principled stand and send a message to the Dallas City Council that they should not profit economically from Texas Republicans with their outrageous contempt for our traditional values and spurning the voice of Texans who fought against and won their cause in a fair and free election. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Senator Don Huffines and numerous others are taking a stand against the Dallas “Bathroom Ordinance.”
Dallas officials have made it clear that they believe the Dallas Bathroom Ordinance will take convention business from Houston because Houstonians recently rejected the Houston Bathroom Ordinance. Phillip Jones, CEO of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, recently indicated that he feared the repeal of HERO in Houston could hurt the entire state when it comes to booking national conventions. Mr. Jones further stated, HERO’s defeat could allow Dallas – which recently launched an LGBT tourism campaign called “All Love is Big Love” – to lure conventions away from Houston. Jones stated that that the city’s new slogan was, “Dallas: Aren’t You Glad We’re Not Houston.”
By keeping our RPT Convention in Dallas, we are supporting the mentality embraced by Phillip Jones and the LGBT political movements attempt to take convention business from cities like Houston who believe men should not be allowed to enter women’s restrooms. Why would we as a Republican Party embrace this agenda? Shouldn’t we be taking a principled stand against it and moving our Republican dollars to a venue that respects our values and beliefs?
The current leadership of the Republican Party of Texas believes it is too hard to change the convention location. Without even trying to relocate the convention, they have given all the reasons they believe the convention cannot be relocated. I understand that moving a convention is not easy. However, it was not easy to collect approximately 55,000 signatures in thirty days to defeat the Houston Bathroom Ordinance. It was not easy to spend almost a year in litigation, going to the Texas Supreme Court twice, to earn the right to vote on the Houston Bathroom Ordinance. It was not easy to take on President Obama, Vice President Biden, Apple, GE, BASF, Sally Field, every major newspaper’s editorial board and the numerous others who opposed us in Houston. It was not easy to fight the $5 million dollars poured into Houston from out of state LGBT interests. But I ask you, my friend, at what price do we hold our convictions dear? What cost would we bear to uphold our values and principles? Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.
Keeping the RPT Convention in Dallas would simply play into the radical left’s argument that Bathroom Ordinances are good for business. Why would we reward Dallas City Council for its actions? In fact, there is a compelling case to be made that taking this stand would help us take back Dallas County-a county that has Democrats in every countywide office but one.
While not every battle is won, there are certainly those that must be fought. Please contact the RPT andyour SREC member regarding this important issue. Let’s make our voices heard in Dallas and across the country by voting to move the convention!
At Monday’s quarterly meeting of the Harris County Republican Party’s Executive Committee, the party choose not to approve a resolution asking the state party to relocate the 2016 state party convention. Not enough time. Too much money. Not our business, let Dallas voters handle it.
Excuses abound but commitment to principle is in very short supply.
State Rep. Molly White penned the following letter to the state party.
As many of you know, I disagree with the plank in the party platform that Rep. White references. I have publicly supported gay marriage for some time. I have publicly supported ENDA, a federal version of HERO, because I think that is the proper place for this type of law. And yes, many Republicans use those two positions to call me a “librul”. Whatever.
But Rep. White is correct in her assessment that fighting this fight will increase trust in the party and ultimately help in the battle against government expansion. If we are truly the party of smaller, more effective government, we need to act on that when we can.
Will moving the convention be “hard”? Surely. Will it inconvenience some people? Likely. Will it cost the party money? Short term, perhaps, but I think that a campaign to raise money to replace the contractual fee losses will be successful.
Most important, will it show that Texas Republicans put principle ahead of money? Certainly.
Robert says
Your are classicly liberal and contermporarily so if you support homosexual marriage. That position is opposite one of the most universally shared and oldest traditions of mankind. You are free to take that position but don’t pretend that it is not perfectly liberal in most every sense of the word.
david jennings says
http://www.allenbwest.com/2014/08/today-im-outing-liberal-classical-liberal/
Kelli says
Effect of HERO defeat on this transgender woman:
I have a little girl and I am a transgender woman. Many people believe we are some caricature of women or are really just men. I can tell you that you would have no idea if I used the restroom your daughters are in and you would probably have told me to watch out for them while in there. I don’t know what kind of image people have in their heads of what a transgender woman looks like. I don’t have a beard, a flannel shirt, or shifty eyes looking at little girls as depicted in the opposition videos. I think the problem is that people are afraid of what they don’t know. The truth is that you probably have already seen many transgender woman and haven’t even realized it. Why? Because we are normal looking women. We are not the devil incarnate. Thank you for painting me as such though. My life is too easy right now and I really appreciate being compared to a pedophile and pervert. I really need that challenge to fight people as I am coming out of the restroom because someone saw a video from Lance Berkman calling me a “troubled man”. So, thank you once again to the 160,000 bigots who think I am some kind of monster and trying to ban me from going to the bathroom.
Manuel Barrera says
Interesting that you picked Allen West. What does Mr. West have to say about same sex marriage decision;
Today the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 in favor of same sex marriage in all 50 states. My friends, we are witnessing the end of federalism in our nation. In a single vote, 5 folks basically just told the states to “stick it.”
Furthermore, we are in effect nullifying the First Amendment.
http://www.allenbwest.com/2015/06/why-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-gay-marriage-could-lead-to-civil-war/
Paul Kubosh says
“I have publicly supported ENDA, a federal version of HERO, because I think that is the proper place for this type of law.”
I agree. If ERO would have passed the abuses would have been endless.
Ross says
So, Paul, you are in favor of requiring a plaintiff to file a Federal lawsuit in all discrimination cases? That would have been one of the best effects of HERO, allowing minor cases to be handled in local courts without the need to fight through the Federal system with its attendant expenses and difficulties.