North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce CEO Tony Vedda , left, Resource Center CEO Cece Cox, right
Campaign says bathroom bills disqualify Texas as an Amazon HQ site, even though the bills didn’t pass
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
An online campaign called “No Gay? No Way!” is encouraging Amazon to locate it’s new headquarters in a state that specifically prohibits anti-LGBT discrimination — and that does not include Texas.
Of the 20 cities on the list of finalists, 11 are in states that have no statewide LGBT protections. Texas is among the states where discrimination against LGBT people in housing, public accommodations and employment is not banned by state law.
However, finalist cities Austin and Dallas both have local ordinances that prohibit discrimination. In Dallas, in fact, voters amended the city charter to include those protections.
Although the bathroom bill died in the last session of the Texas Legislature, and in the special session that followed, Republicans have vowed to bring the issue back in the next session in 2019. And next session, House Speaker Joe Straus, who prevented that legislation from getting to the House floor, will be out of office.
Any laws passed by the Legislature would override local ordinances, just as a statewide fracking law overrode Denton’s local drilling ban and the new texting-while-driving law overrode even stricter local ordinances in some jurisdictions.
Amazon listed non-discrimination protections as one of the factors it will consider in its site selection process.
The “No Gay? No Way!” side would love Amazon to choose a city in a state with specific protections for LGBT people, and publicly shame Republicans in the Texas Legislature for the loss of 50,000 new jobs in Dallas or Austin.
Locally, some members of the LGBT community agree that Texas loses out on the Amazon HQ, blame would fall squarely on the shoulders of anti-LGBT lawmakers at the State Capitol. But local LGBT leaders don’t think the loss of Amazon would promote nondiscrimination.
North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce CEO Tony Vedda said he hopes whoever started this campaign has the best of intentions to advance equality, but he doesn’t believe this is the way to do it.
“Sure, we all want protections in our Constitution,” Vedda said. “Having a company like Amazon come to Texas will help this happen.”
He said he feels like this campaign is coming from the outside, from someone looking in but with no idea what’s going on in Texas.
Vedda even said that since gender identity and sexual orientation aren’t protected by federal laws, the campaign should urge Amazon to build its second headquarters in the one city on the finalist list that’s not in the U.S. — Toronto.
No one from the No Gay? No Way! campaign contacted any of the local or statewide groups to see if this was a campaign that would advance equality in Texas.
Dallas’ Amazon bid is considered one of the strongest, and Vedda said the city expected to be attacked. But he said this attack feels like it’s coming from within our own community.
Resource Center Communications and Advocacy Manager Rafael McDonnell pointed to Boeing, which picked Chicago over Dallas for its headquarters move. Nondiscrimination protection was one of the major reasons. That did nothing to encourage the Legislature to change laws that would attract business, McDonnell said.
And when Toyota chose Plano as its new U.S. headquarters, that city did add protections based on sexual orientation, although it hasn’t included gender identity in its policies.
Resource Center CEO Cece Cox said she is annoyed at the approach the No Gay? website takes.
“I think it’s detrimental to the efforts of activists and dismissive of the work getting done in these cities,” Cox said. “The campaign is not helpful to those of us doing the work on the ground.”
She called the campaign arrogant and imperious.
“This is flyover country,” she said. “Someone [else] is making decisions for us.”
Cox said the business community in Texas made it clear where it stands by helping defeat the bathroom bill twice in the last Legislature.
She also noted that since it’s not clear who’s behind the website, responding to it is difficult. Dallas Voice tried to contact the group through it’s website but didn’t receive a response.
Time for Texas Legislators To Defend The LGBTQ community.
Since 2009, Texans between the ages of 18 and 29 have increasingly supported same-sex marriage at a faster rate than that of the general population. In June 2009, the University of Texas found that 49% of that age group supported same-sex marriage as opposed to 29% of the general population. In February 2013, it found that 59% of them did so while only 37% of the general population had the same opinion. Opposition from Texans between the ages of 18 and 29 dropped 12 points in the same period, from 28 to 16%. At the same time, opposition from the general population in Texas dropped 5 points, from 52.7% to 47.5%.[145] Glengariff Group, Inc., in conjunction with the pro-LGBT rights Equality Texas Foundation, found that support in that age group rose from 53.6% in 2010 to 67.9% in 2013 while within the general population in Texas, support rose from 42.7% to 47.9%.
More recent polls have found that a majority of Texans support same-sex marriage.[147]
Texas State law
Texas state law does not protect employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Since at least 1999, no bill prohibiting discrimination by employers based on sexual orientation or gender identity has made it out of the committee stage in the Texas Legislature. During the Legislature’s 2013 regular session, House Bill 238, introduced by Representative Mike Villarreal, House Bill 1146, introduced by Representative Eric Johnson, and Senate Bill 237, introduced by Senator Leticia Van de Putte would have prohibited this kind of discrimination; however, all these bills died in their respective committees.
Texas state law does not protect persons from housing or public accommodations discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. House Bill 2215, introduced by Representative Jessica Farrar in the Legislature’s 2009, regular session would have prohibited this kind of discrimination; however, the bill died in the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence committee of the House of Representatives. Texas state law also does not protect persons from insurance discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. During the Legislature’s 2013 regular session, House Bill 206, introduced by Representative Senfronia Thompson, House Bill 541, introduced by Representative Robert Alonzo, and Senate Bill 73, introduced by Senator Rodney Ellis would have prohibited this kind of discrimination; however, all these bills died in their respective committees.
Counties with LGBT protections:
Dallas County – Sexual orientation and gender identity, Private employment, county employment and county contractors
Walker County – Sexual orientation and gender identity County employment
The following Texas cities have ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, public accommodations, city employment, private employment and city contractors.
Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and San Antonio prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in private and public employment, housing and public accommodations.
Denton – has protections for sexual orientation and gender identity for housing, public accommodations, city employment and city contractors.
El Paso – has protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity for public accommodations and city employment.
Arlington, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Houston, Mesquite and Waco – have protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity for city employment only.
Grand Prairie, McAllen and Round Rock have a city policy prohibiting city employment and city contractor discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation only.
School districts with LGBT inclusive policies
The following school districts have both employee welfare and student welfare policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression: Dallas ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Austin ISD, and Houston ISD.
El Paso ISD has similar protections, worded as “gender stereotyping and perceived sexuality.”
Cedar Hill ISD has protections for sexual orientation only.
University LGBT non-discrimination policies
The following universities have non-discrimination policies for students and employees based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression: Texas A&M Commerce, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, West Texas A&M, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas San Antonio, University of Texas at Dallas, University of Texas Pan American, University of Houston (all locations), University of North Texas (all locations), Texas State University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, Georgetown University and Our Lady of the Lake (employee protections only).
The following universities have non-discrimination policies for students and employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity:
University of Texas El Paso, Sam Houston State University and Lamar University.
The following universities have non-discrimination policies for students and employees based on sexual orientation only: Texas A&M International University, Prairie View A&M, Texas A&M Galveston, University of Texas Arlington, University of Texas Tyler, University of Texas Brownsville, University of Texas Permian Basin, Texas Tech University, Texas Women’s University (student protections only), Texas Southern University, Angelo State University, Midwestern State University (student protections only) and Southwestern University.
The following universities have non-discrimination statements for sexual orientation for on-campus housing: Texas A&M College Station, University of Texas at Dallas, University of North Texas (all campuses), Southern Methodist University, University of Texas El Paso, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M International University, Texas A&M Galveston, Texas Tech University, Angelo State University, Southwestern University, Texas Women’s University, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Texas A&M University Texarkana and Tarleton University.
The following universities have non-discrimination statements for roommate selection/roommate requests based on sexual orientation: Texas A&M University- Commerce, University of Texas- San Antonio, Texas State University, Georgetown University, Rice University, Lamar University and University of Texas-Tyler.