But Polls Show Voters Favor Equal Rights Ordinance

With early voting less than a week away, supporters and opponents of Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance have released dueling TV ads focusing â€” naturally â€” on transgender people using public restrooms, aka,Â the issue ofÂ transgender bathroom use.Â

However, a new poll shows the debunked transgender bathroom myth may have less of an impact on the outcome of the election than the threat of Houston losing the 2016 NCAA Men’s Final Four and the 2017 Super Bowl if voters reject the ordinance.Â The poll is also the second in as many weeks showing that more Houston voters support the ordinance, which is known as HERO and will appear as Proposition 1 on the ballot, than oppose it.Â

Houston Unites, the coalition supporting the ordinance, released an ad Monday featuring Ed Gonzalez, a former Houston police officer of 18 years.Â

“As a former police officer and father of four girls Iâ€™m always in protection mode,” Gonzalez says. “Iâ€™ve heard concerns that Proposition 1 could put women and children at risk in restrooms. So I looked into it, and learned that in cities in Texas with similar laws thereâ€™s been no uptick in public safety incidences. Itâ€™s already illegal for men to go into a womenâ€™s bathroom to harm or harass someone. Proposition 1 wonâ€™t change that. The facts show that itâ€™ll keep people safe and protect all Houstonians from discrimination. Vote Yes on Proposition 1.”

Campaign for Houston, the conservativeÂ coalitionÂ headed byÂ Jared Woodfill, a 47-year old attorney and formerÂ Chairman of the Republican Party of Harris County, Texas isÂ opposing HERO. The group responded Tuesday with a fear-mongering ad suggesting the ordinance would allow sex offenders to enter women’s restrooms to prey on children.Â

“The ad depicts an uncomfortable situation when a minor female enters a women’s bathroom, only to suddenly find a man using the same facilities,” Campaign for Houston spokesman JaredÂ Woodfill said in an email announcing the ad. “In the TV spot, the female announcer says, ‘Any man at any time could enter a women’s bathroom simply by claiming to be a woman that day. No one is exempt. Even registered sex offenders could follow women, or young girls, into the bathroom.'”

While HERO opponents have built their campaign almost entirely around the trans bathroom myth, a poll released Monday shows only 15 percent of voters who support HERO would oppose the ordinance if they knewÂ it would “allow a man who identifies and dresses as a woman to use a woman’s restroom.”Â

That may seem like a large number, but the same poll showed 24 percent of voters who oppose HERO would support the ordinance if rejecting it would cost Houston the Final Four and Super Bowl.Â

“The rhetoric on the economic argument is quite salient,” Rice University political scientist told The Houston Chronicle.Â “Particularly among African-American women, that issue really moves voters.”

Overall, the KUHF/KHOU pollÂ found that 43 percent of voters support HERO, 37 oppose it, 18 percent are unsure, and 2 percent refused to answer.Â

Last week, a Houston Association of Realtors pollÂ found that 52 percent support HERO, 37Â percent oppose it, and 10 percent are undecided.

Meanwhile, the most recent campaign finance reportsÂ showed HERO supportersÂ had raised $1.26 million, more than twice as much as opponents.

After the council approved the ordinance last May, the city rejected a petition seeking to repeal it, saying it didn’t have enough valid signatures. Anti-LGBT activists filed a lawsuit, but a district judge upheld the city’s decision, saying the petition contained widespread forgery. However, HERO opponents eventually obtained a decision from the elected, all-Republican Texas Supreme Court, ordering the city to repeal the ordinance or place it on the ballot.Â

The ordinance would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and 13 other characteristics, including race.Â Houston is the largest city in the US that doesn’t currently have LGBT protections in employment, housing and public accommodations.Â

Early voting begins Oct. 19.Â

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Image: Screenshot via Campaign for Houston/YouTube