A few weeks ago I posted video of Houston City Councilwoman Wanda Adams tearfully responding to allegations that she’s anti-gay. The allegations were made after Adams, who represents the city’s heavily gay Montrose area, skipped out on a council vote about whether to fund a facility that provides housing for poeple with HIV/AIDS. Now, a reliable gay source in Houston reports that Adams has skipped out on another matter of significant interest to the LGBT community. Here’s a report from the source, who’s asked to remain anonymous:
In a move that has the Houston LGBT community asking “Where’s Wanda?” Houston City Councilmember Wanda Adams was absent Friday, June 11 from a meeting to discuss housing for homeless transgender youth. The latest absence comes just over a week after Adams was publicly chastised by the chair of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus for walking out on a City Council vote to fund AIDS housing.
The meeting, which had been scheduled for over a week, had been set up between transgender community leaders and Covenant House, a faith-based housing program for homeless youth in Adams’ city council district. Covenant House receives funds from the City of Houston. Their policy against allowing transgender clients to dress as their identified gender has long been a frustration for transgender advocates.
Adams mentioned the meeting during a radio interview with the program “Queer Voices” last Monday, in which she defended her record with the LGBT community and claimed to be surprised at the anger caused when she walked out of council chambers just before the vote to extend city funding for Marjo House, a facility offering housing for people with AIDS.
The Covenant House meeting was scheduled to start at 11 o’clock. A few minutes after 11 Adams (who was previously employed by Covenant House) called to say she would be running late. At about 12:30 p.m. a staffer for her office arrived and explained that she would not arrive.
The good news is that Covenant House has agreed to work with the Houston transgender community to revise their policies. The bad news is that “Absentee Adams” has missed another opportunity to represent her constituents.
I was just listening to a interview with Wanda Adams on Houston’s Queer Voices. It’s the June 7th edition. You should check it out.
@Tisha: Yes I believe this post references that appearance.
oops…should read all the way through 🙂
Uh oh! Now for her next trick. Make her votes disappear!
There’s a few things going on here. Councilwoman Adams set up the meeting. The outcome of this meeting had nothing to do with her so there was no reason to reschedule it when she had a funeral to attend at the same time. We should be thanking her for doing this for us.
Adams’ explanation is curious – Council Member Jolanda Jones attended the same funeral she did, but somehow managed to attend the meeting. Funny how that works. Adams’ interview on Queer Voices was also nothing but lies. Her claim that no one in the community made any contact with her until Kris Banks showed up at Council is total BS. She is trying to make herself out to be the victim in all this – that somehow not making a decision was “a very difficult decision.” She committed to numerous people before the meeting she would vote yes, but it was all lies, and she kept on lying when she rolled into KPFT.
Here’s something for Walk-out Wanda to think about – gays have a VERY long memory, and we don’t just keep phone numbers in our little black books. I can think of at least one prominent African American in our community who lives in District D, would make an excellent Council member, and has access to lots of high dollar donors. The community can also start lobbying to be removed from District D and put back in District C. With either scenario, Wanda loses a TON of votes, and she should, because a liar like her doesn’t deserve to be re-elected.