Ailey O’Toole
   Staff Writer

Earlier in October, there was a drawn-out argument between Houston’s popular lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, and several conservative pastors. After this showdown, voters in Houston will soon decide whether or not to establish nondiscrimination protections for gay and transgender citizens.

This is not a new argument. Nationwide, different states have long argued over what kind of rights LGBTQIA+ people should have.

To my own chagrin and many others’, this issue is stupidly influenced by people’s religious beliefs, as seen in the Houston debates. After the June 26 decision of the Supreme Court of the U.S. that legalized same-sex marriage across the country, a verdict that made my heart soar with joy, nondiscrimination against members of the LGBTQIA+ has become the number one priority for this movement.

The contested Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is a broad decision that would bring together bans that already exist on discrimination tied to race, sex, religion and other categories; this ordinance would affect discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations and extend those protections to include all members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Campaign for Houston, what I would consider a legitimately ignorant group of people, has spoken out against the ordinance with the argument that there should be “No Men In Women’s Bathrooms,” in reference to transgender women.

“Even registered sex offenders could follow women or young girls into the bathroom,” an ad produced by the campaign read.

It is important to understand and recognize that transgender women are not men. It is of the utmost importance that we respect and recognize the gender that people identify as.

You wouldn’t tell someone what religion he or she must follow based on what the person looks like or based on the religion his or her parents followed when he or she was born; so why would you force certain genders on gender queer people based on what gender he or she looks like?

In May of 2014, opponents to the nondiscrimination ordinance in Houston sued the city in an ill attempt to enforce a referendum. City attorneys attempted to support their case by subpoenaing sermons from five different pastors.

I would like to know what happened to separation of church and state. In what world is it okay to enforce discriminatory and harmful political ordinances based on a religion that is not universally followed?

It disgusts me that these politicians, who have sworn to uphold the rights of its citizens, would believe it is okay to force their religious beliefs on people. If they don’t want other’s beliefs on various social issues shoved in their faces, then they absolutely should not be forcing their religious beliefs others.

Currently, Texas is one of 28 states that does not have statewide protections for LGBTQIA+ people, although many municipalities in different states have adopted local nondiscrimination ordinances. Among the other 27 states without such ordinances, 17 prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in only employment and housing and public accommodations. Needless to say, those services are not the only ones where queer people face discrimination.

LGBTQIA+ activists are working to replace these random laws with a universal federal nondiscrimination law, currently referred to as the Equality Act, a measure introduced this past July. It currently has been given no chance to be passed in the Republican-controlled congress because of its more than 200 co-sponsors, none of them are from the GOP.

This is silly because it begs a question: why do all Republicans have to be against rights for members of the LGBTQIA+ community?

I don’t understand why there is such pressure for all members of the GOP to adhere to those beliefs. Do you truly think that absolutely none of the members of Congress who are from the GOP support queer people? That is an absurd statement.

Republicans are simply scared to speak out about their support for LGBTQIA+ people because they are worried that no one else in their party would agree with them; they are worried that they will face discrimination from their own peers and colleagues.

Now there is something I would like to see; let’s flip the tables around and force the discrimination right back on them. Let’s force unequal rights under the law because of their political beliefs. Maybe then they will understand how queer people are suffering.

The opposition the Houston nondiscrimination ordinance is facing is absurd and unnecessary. No one is trying to give guns to sex offenders or allow murderers to get out of jail in no time.

No, the Mayor of Houston just wants to give all of her citizens, specifically LGBTQIA+ people, equal rights, and I don’t see what is so wrong with that.