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.