A small, but vocal group of community members held a protest outside of the HISD headquarters calling out HISD Board member Manuel Rodriguez for an anti-LGBT campaign flyer attacking his opponent, Ramiro Fonseca.
Rodriguez got just enough votes to seem like the winner on Tuesday night, and Fonseca is awaiting the canvassing of the votes before making any decisions on which direction to take.
Organized by activist Mike Pomeroy, representatives of the GLBT Caucus, Stonewall Dems, Young Democrats, HISD students, and vocal members from the Latino community came together to voice their displeasure regarding Rodriguez’s desperate tactic.
Rodriguez released what he called an apology, but for those in the protest, it was too little too late. Citing that the flyers were being delivered house-to-house, as well as at polling locations on election day, some felt the apology was empty.
The Chron had more from inside the meeting:
Inside the board meeting, Rodriguez did not address the campaign ad controversy during the open comment period for trustees. But his colleagues, trustees Anna Eastman and Juliet Stipeche did, without mentioning Rodriguez or the ad.
Stipeche read a list of names of children who committed suicide after being bullied.
“Living by the golden rule, we do not bully and we do not judge others for who they are,” Stipeche said, drawing a standing ovation from some in the audience.
And then this.
UPDATE (7:45 p.m.): After hearing from several impassioned speakers who called Rodriguez’s campaign ad unethical, the HISD trustees voted unanimously to work on revising their own ethics policy to forbid discrimination based on sexuality.
Trustee Anna Eastman proposed the revision. Rodriguez voted in favor of the change but did not make any comments.
Trustee Carol Mims Galloway joined her colleagues, Eastman and Stipeche, in condemning Rodriguez’s ad. Galloway said she was apologizing on Rodriguez’s behalf. She said she believed he supported the district’s anti-discrimination policy. “But I guess when it comes to politics, people forget,” Galloway added.
Rodriguez sure earned himself all of this. Galloway is correct, though. Politicians are usually immune after using hateful language, whether it is toward the LGBT community, the Latino or immigrant community, etc. It seems the politicians easily separate things because it’s just politics, as the Republican presidential debates have exhibited. This needs to change.
Throughout the morning it was difficult to ignore that 2012 is just around the corner as incumbent Democratic judges were working the room and meeting with Democratic loyalists who also serve as the first signers of their candidate petitions. As each trailblazer was honored, there was little doubt that victory in 2012 will occur through a united front which looked like the diversity in the hall.
It definitely was a memorable brunch which served as an unofficial kick-off for the political season. From now on, we’ve got the 2011 elections to finish, and a 2012 for which to plan. And I’m pretty sure all of us can use the hard work performed by the honorees as an example of what we must do to accomplish victory.
The State of Arizona and the Republicans continue to prove that being on the far-right is not enough unless they actually target whole groups of people–Americans. It is not enough that they want to pick up undocumented folks, they also want to pick up people who “look” undocumented–the definition of that still up in the air and up to individual cops, apparently. They go so far as to targeting the children of immigrants, demanding a change in the Constitution that blocks any child of an immigrant born an American from rights afforded to Americans.
Although there has been some legislative defense (and not much CIR offense), the bottom line is that it is the people who are fighting back. Although a diverse group of people fight back, theyhad not been as diverse as those involved in the marches and other actions around the U.S. this weekend. What was most important in sending a message to Congress, President Obama and the Republicans attackers was the fact that, ultimately, this is about the future of America–the kids.
At all of the marches, it was the messages sent by children that were most powerful, whether they held signs and marched, or showed an interest in politics by taking a pic with an Obama cut-out. The interest is there, the importance of self-determination is evident, and this is what is scariest to those who attack Latinos–at the border, in the halls of leadership, and through the ballot box.
It is equally important that our elected leaders and decision-makers take a stand against Arizona’s racial profiling law. We have heard from the Mayors of Phoenix, San Francisco, San Antonio, and other major cities. But we have yet to hear from Houston. It is time to act, Mayor Parker! These kids are watching.
