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Blog - Amplify your voice

Standing Up for My Community
by:  JamesMLee
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 10:53:00 AM EST
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This past Tuesday was a momentous victory for the LGBT community in Houston. Among the victors were Mayor Annise Parker, Ellen Cohen, and the first gay man elected to city council, Mike Laster. There was, however, one loss that stood out. Houston Independent School District Board Member Manuel Rodriguez Jr had been in a tight race with challenger Ramiro Fonseca, when in a last minute attempt to put himself over the edge Rodriguez issued an anti-gay mailer to his constituents. The mailer highlighted Fonseca's history of advocacy for the LGBT community and an endorsement given by the Houston GLBT Political Caucus. Rodriguez's brochure went on to claim that Fronseca had "spent years advocating for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender rights … not kids." As if the brochure was not enough, Rodriguez had been quoted as referring to the LGBT community as "those people." Seeing as how just this past year Rodriguez had voted in favor of changing HISD's non-discrimination policy to better protect LGBT students, many within the community were shocked. 

Rodriguez won his re-election by 24 votes. The community was outraged. This past Thursday leaders within the LGBT community of Houston rallied HISD Gay Straight Alliance students and spoke before the Board Members. Along with others, I had decided it was my duty as an LGBT youth leader to speak up against this horrendous act. 

This is my speech. 
My name is James Lee, I’m a student leader at the University of Houston. Though my name may not give it away, I'm Latino. Here in Texas, especially in Houston, our community has a strong and respected presence but it wasn’t always this way. There was a time when Latinos were the target of blatant bigotry, and as you heard from students earlier, there are still those who discriminate against us today.

Though I am Latino I also identify with a second community, the LGBT community. Just as the Latino community continues to defend itself from those who seek to demean or degrade us by referring to us as "those people", so too does the LGBT community.

Growing up, my mother and father always taught me to be respectful of others and when in a competition “focus on the issues.” Earlier this week, a brochure that singled out the LGBT community was distributed to voters. Since the incident occurred, there has been questioning as to why it was perceived as offensive.

Just as it would be inappropriate to list his Latino identity as a reason for voters not to support your opponent, so too would it be inappropriate to list their identity as a member of the LGBT community.

This incident is exactly the type of petty politics our city should avoid. I can see this kind of behavior happening on the school yard but to have it occur between those who seek to lead our schools, that is unacceptable.
We must lead by example, and if we expect our students to respect one another in a city as diverse as ours we must start from the top. Members, I implore you, help unite our communities by becoming the solution, not the problem.
Many have called for his resignation and Board Members have called for modifications to their ethics policies in order to ensure this kind of behavior is never allowed on the Board again. The fate of Manuel Rodriguez's political future has yet to be determined.

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