Another attempt
Parker says she will fight for protections until leaving office
Mayor says she may try to pass protections before leaving office.
After the failure of her nondiscrimination ordinance at the ballot box, Mayor Annise Parker said she may try to pass similar or related protections before leaving office at the end of the year.
Some of the 10 council members who voted with her in passing the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance in 2014, she said, have suggested bringing the protections in segments, such as banning discrimination in employment, then housing, then public accommodations. But Parker said she has no set plan and must speak with council members.
“I’m going to sit down with the council members and see how they want to proceed,” Parker said. “We will also, of course, evaluate what the national and international response from the business community is, because that certainly will make a difference.”
Parker said she had received calls from business interests given pause by the ordinance’s rejection but refused to elaborate.
“You may have noticed that I’m trying to clear as many things off my desk as possible. I don’t really want to leave a whole lot of contentious items for the next administration,” Parker said. “I’m going to try not to leave this one, as well. I think we have a responsibility to try to be thoughtful and figure out a way to bring those protections back.”
‘Walk away from it’
Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, who whipped votes for the item on council, said a proposal could come back before the December runoff elections for mayor, controller and for seven council seats, after those contests are decided, or in January, when a new mayor takes over for term-limited Parker.
The equal rights ordinance, known by its acronym HERO, would have extended local protections against discrimination to 15 groups, ranging from veterans to pregnant women to gay and transgender residents, with the latter proving the biggest flashpoint for conservative opponents of the law.
Critics pinned their campaign on the controversial claim that the law would allow men dressed as women, including sexual predators, to enter women’s restrooms. Opponents’ most talked-about ad featured a man bursting into a bathroom stall occupied by a young girl as ominous music played in the background.
Councilman Dave Martin, who opposed the ordinance, said the strong opinions generated by the campaign make it illogical to reintroduce the law this year, particularly for the four incumbent council members facing runoffs.
“To talk about bringing it back this year doesn’t sit well with me because it’s almost like a slap in the face to the voters who overwhelmingly decided that HERO was not an ordinance they wanted to have within the city of Houston at this point in time,” Martin said. “I think you have to walk away from it a little while letting the emotions die down and then maybe look at this under a new administration.”
Cohen said the options of what precisely to bring back could, in theory, resemble closely the ordinance that was rejected, could mirror some other cities’ wording to exempt bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities from coverage under the “public accommodations” section of the ordinance, or could come piecemeal, as Parker discussed.
Too soon to revive?
Parker stressed that any proposal she brings forward will include all 15 protected classes — including transgender residents — and said she is not interested in advancing a measure that exempts changing rooms or related areas.
University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray said it may be politically difficult for Parker to reintroduce the item, noting that the mayor pulled off an unfortunate and unusual “hat trick” by uniting three of Houston’s four voting blocks (blacks, Hispanics and conservative whites) against the proposition. The ballot measure gained only the support of liberal whites; of the city’s 11 council districts, only progressive, urban District C voted yes.
“This mayor has expended so much of her political capital on this and basically come up empty,” Murray said. “For her — having lost an election decisively — to try to bring it back, opponents would be suspicious and leery and saying, ‘The voters have spoken; you lost, move on.’ ”
‘Gaping budget hole’
That does not mean Houston long will go without a nondiscrimination ordinance on the books, he said.
“Whoever wins the runoff will be under an awful lot of pressure to pass a fairly comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinance because just about everybody else has it, and it can be used against you in competing for events,” Murray said. “The next mayor will sure as hell want to get this issue out of the way and get on the heavy lifting that really can’t be avoided: the gaping budget hole they’re going to have to confront.”
Houston faces a projected $126 million deficit for the budget year that starts next July.
“I think Houston will at some point be where we need to be,” Cohen said. “The question is how do we get there? How do we get a message of fairness across, and when do we do it and how do we do it? People may need some breathing time. We have to talk about it.”