San Antonio Progresses, Backlash Against Red Regression

After much contention and debate we hear the fate of the San Antonio non-discrimination ordinance.

 

A few weeks ago Elisa Chan had come under fire for calling gays disgusting and saying they shouldn’t adopt children, she tried to take a traditional road by saying she has nothing against gays but when you’re calling us disgusting and ridiculing our families, that’s like messing with Mama Bear’s cubs. You will lose…BIG. Supporters of the ordinance wore red shirts and the opponents wore blue as they were given one more chance to give an impassioned plea to support or reject the ordinance. Republicans from Greg Abbot who’s running to replace Rick Perry weighed in and is seeing what they can do to counter the measure. This is an issue of life and death for a woman named Dee Villarubia, 67, said she's a former Air Force officer whose landlord at a San Antonio apartment evicted her two years ago because she is gay.

"When I say the pledge of allegiance, I say `justice for some' because there's an asterisk that means not me," Villarubia said. "Today, I would take that asterisk away and finally say `justice for all.'" This has real life consequences like saying you can’t evict a woman from her home because she’s a lesbian. Of course opponents of this measure cite religious freedoms will be infringed but the only thing being infringed on is the sense of superiority when you can do whatever you can to gay people as you please. OF course the Religious Groups are opposing this phantom oppression. As for what the ordinance (which passed 8-3) does

San Antonio City Attorney Michael Bernard told the council the ordinance would apply to most city contracts and contractors. It prohibits council members from discriminating in their official capacity and forbids workers in public accommodation jobs, such as at restaurants or hotels, from refusing to serve customers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is a great step in a state that has been lambasted along with Art Pope and the Government of North Carolina, and on an up note the state of TX has passed a DREAM Act that gives financial aid to DREAMers who were brought here when they were young. So this shows to me that TX is a bit of a wild card aside from their bright red stripes. Julian Castro, who is the mayor of San Antonio gave a dazzling speech about how he came from poverty to experience the American Dream and instead of holding a mop, he can hold a microphone and tell his story. This is what ALEC is trying to destroy and we see it working as well as receiving resistance and negative press (i.e. picketing at their Chicago Conference) We’ve also seen a blacklash in North Carolina as well as the Republican stronghold of Texas. This is not just a reactionary thing, this is people saying ENOUGH! We are sick of the mess, the lack of governing, the fact that TX can’t afford to pave its roads, that NC cut unemployment benefits. After TX filibuster by Wendy Davis urged on by Senate Democrats and later a PEOPLE’S filibuster we claimed an important if small victory. In WI even police officers are sick of the mess that is created by Walker and the complete red government of those states. We see people taken out by state troopers in all of those states for exercising their 4^th Amendment rights and even being SILENT and holding their mouths to protest the silencing of singers who did so to protest the Governor’s policies. Troopers were called in to combat the silent menace

this is a small victory in a sea of red. However, we are not only a sea of red in TX, but are SEEING red everywhere from people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired. I can only imagine what will happen as the VIVA Act in NC unfolds and people make their disappointment known since now 100 counties of NC are all controlled by Republicans. One little slip in 2010 was a great mess, but we are now seeing the MASSIVE difference between the two parties. Yes, Democrats disappoint me. But when we see what is happening even in NC with Moral Mondays, the People’s Filibuster in TX the arrests of the WI protestors, I am glad to see little victories against the ones who are pushing oppression. This shows that there can be bright spots in a sea of hurt; there can be little victories that we can rejoice in before we hit the polls and register people ahead of the 2014 midterms. We could see a repeat of the 2006 elections and hope that some of the Red Chambers (Where Republicans control both chambers of the state Legislature and the Governorship) will have at least one chamber go blue and start bringing some progress to the table. We can’t afford to be bipartisan with a group of people who says what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable. That is what lost in San Antonio and though it’s just a city in a huge state that you can travel a full day and never leave the state, it’s one worth celebrating. I sigh with the thought of seeing TX go blue in the next few election cycles. We’ve seen it in Nevada and Colorado even New Mexico was a bit of a…what? That state’s a safe blue? 2014 will gear up to be an interesting election year as well as this current year for Virginia as it elects its governor. VA is a bellweather state and takes the temperature for what people are feeling in the nation, so on Election Day this year, I will be online and refreshing the results from the VA Secretary of State’s Website to hopefully see Terry McAuliffe elected Governor in 2 months. I’m watching and waiting