In Sandra Bland’s Death, Echos of LGBT History

This post originally appeared on the Equality Texas Blog

On March 8th, 1970, New York Police raided the Snake Pit Bar, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, arresting all 167 patrons and staff present.

Diego Vinales, a 23-year old undocumented Argentinian immigrant was one of those arrested. Depending on which account you believe Vinales either, fearing deportation, jumped from a 2nd story window in an attempt to escape and was impaled on the wrought iron fence below, or was pushed out of the window by police officers.

In a flyer protesting the police violence against Vinales the Gay Activist Alliance said “Any way you look at it, Diego Vinales was pushed. We are all being pushed… Anyone who calls himself a human being, who has the guts to stand up to this horror, join us.”

If this narrative sounds familiar to you: the story of someone arrested while disputably breaking the law then horrifically brutalized in police custody with a dispute ensuing over whether the brutality was self-inflicted or not – it should.

On July 10, 2015, a State Trooper pulled over a woman driving in Waller County, arresting her.

The woman arrested was Sandra Bland, a 28-year old business woman and civil rights activist from Illinois. Depending on which account you believe Bland either hung herself after being kept in a cell for five days following a minor traffic violation, or was hung by police.

Any way you look at it, Sandra Bland was pushed. We are all being pushed.

Tomorrow , July 30, the Texas House County Affairs Committee will convene hearings on “jail standards, procedures with regards to potentially mentally ill persons in county jails, as well as issues stemming from interactions between the general public and peace officers.” Thursday’s hearing begins at 2 pm in hearing room E1.026 at the Texas Capitol in Austin. If you are able to attend in solidarity, please do.
Anyone who calls themselves a human being, who has the guts to stand up to this horror, join us.

Houston City Council Testimony

In which Daniel abandons his prepared remarks and returns to his tent-revival roots.

Five Things to Know About Today's Texas Supreme Court's Writ on the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance

1. This was not a court ruling.

The court did not hear arguments or issue a ruling. The court issued what's called a "writ of mandamus" which is an order to a governmental body to perform a function of government - in this case to the Houston City Council to either repeal the ordinance, or put it on the Nov. ballot.


2. The writ is not about the merits of HERO.

The court did not consider whether HERO was good policy, nor did it consider the negative effect it's repeal would have on the people of Houston or the city's international and business reputation. If someone tries to tell you the Supreme Court ruled against HERO, they are wrong.
 
3. The writ is not about the validity of the repeal petitions.
 
A state court has already found that many of the petitions calling for the repeal of HERO were forged and that still more were improperly filled out. SCOTX did not consider any of that in today's order - in fact, the order specifically states that they did not consider the validity of the petitions.
 
4. The writ hinges on a specific and narrow interpretation of a single word.
 
The city secretary, in her report to city council, stated that she could "certify" a certain number of signatures, but that - on consultation with the city attorney - not enough of the certified signatures were valid for the repeal petition to qualify. The Texas Supreme court has interpreted the Houston City Charter to say that, since the city secretary said that she could "certify" enough signatures for the repeal to qualify, city council must act by either repealing or putting HERO on the ballot. Despite the very same document saying that not enough of the "certified" signatures were valid to qualify.
 
5. NONE OF THAT MATTERS
 
There is still some legal wranglering to do by the legal wranglers, but the whos, whats and details of the SCOTX writ don't really matter any more. What matters is that HERO protects Houstonians from discrimination based on 15 different attributes and that those protections will be on the ballot in Nov. We have four months to defend the Houston values of fairness and opportunity from the people who want to take away those protections. The time is NOW to start having difficult conversations, to educate your friends, family and neighbors about the need for HERO and to register everyone to vote in the November election and make sure they get to the polls.

A Poem: July 26, 2015

July 26, 2015

For a long time we were afraid, and we hid.

There was a time before we hid, when we were warriors and leaders, but we don't remember it well.
We remember the hiding. The long, long time of hiding.

Every once in a while one of us would get tired of hiding and stop.
They would hang him.
Or one of us would get tired of hiding and sing!
They would burn her.

Often the ones who stopped hiding were the best of us, the smartest and most talented. That's when they got the most angry.
One time one of us stopped hiding. They made him pick up and set down heavy things till his body stopped working.
Another time one of us stopped hiding.
They pumped his body with poison until he wanted it to stop working.
There are many stories like this.

Then, several of us decided to stop hiding and they said that that would be OK, as long as we went over there and didn't leave or ask for anything.

Over there wasn't great, but it was better than hiding so we made over there better. We painted things bright colors and sang bright songs and planted bright flowers.

Later they would see our colors and hear our songs and smell our flowers and they would want to take them for themselves because we made over there a good place, but that would take a long time and mostly over there was only better than hiding - still not good.

Sometimes those of us in hiding would learn about over there and yearn, and sometimes those of us over there would think about hiding and miss. Sometimes one of us would leave hiding and join us over there and we should have been nice to them but we weren't always because we were sad a lot.

Then some of us got tired of being over there. We wanted to ask for things, we wanted to go places, we wanted to take our paintings and songs and flowers and bring them places other than over there and some of us thought that was good but a lot of us said no, we didn't want to make them angry.

Then one of us threw a doughnut.
They beat her.
Then one of us threw a coffee cup.
They beat her.
Then one of us threw a shoe.
They beat her.
They beat a lot of us. They threw one of us out a window.

Some of us said stop! We're making them angry! It will get worse! But we didn't stop.

We threw bright parties. We marched bright marches - and things did get worse but they mostly got better.

One of us said that we should all work together and get the power to stop them from beating us.
They shot him.

We got really angry. We marched brighter marches and threw brighter parties, we painted brighter paintings and sang brighter songs and planted brighter flowers.

Some of us got sick.
Some of us got really sick.
Some of our bodies stopped working.

We didn't know what to do so we all got together and marched many very bright marches, we threw many very bright parties, we painted very bright paintings and sang very bright songs and planted very bright flowers.
So many of us! We looked around. We had never seen so many of us before, not over there, not hiding.

They said we got sick because of our brightness. They said we should go back over there and be quite again and not ask for things, they said we should hide again.
But now we knew better.
They tried to make us go back over there, but now that wasn't allowed.
They remembered that we used to hide and tried to make us do that again but now that wasn't allowed.
The said that they loved us and tried to damp our bright colors; they said they didn't hate us and tried to mute our bright songs; they said we were hurting them and tried to kill our bright flowers.

So we marched the brightest march yet, two by two we marched and now that is not allowed.

Some of us are still sick.
Some of us still have bodies that do not work well.
Some of us are still not kind when we should be.
Some of us are still sad a lot.
Some of us still have not discovered their bright colors.
Some of us still have to throw things.
Some of us are still afraid.

We are not done yet, but we will not go back.

2015 "FED" Talk

Legislative Update for April 25: The Good, The Bad and the Legislative

In your legislative update this week: Two bad bills and one good one make it out of committee - with 38 days left in the session the next couple of weeks are crucial!

Take Action!

Tell your lawmaker to support equalizing the Romeo and Juliet defense: http://bit.ly/1Dygwf8
To oppose tax-payer funded discrimination: http://bit.ly/1I9bh7W
and to support the freedom to marry: http://bit.ly/19Pe3kS

Transcript:

Legislative Update for April 17: Just 45 days to go!

This week in your Legislative Update: With just 45 days to go a lot of things are happening at once: Birth Certificates, Homeless Youth, Transgender Bounties and Indiana-style Religious Liberty bills are just the highlights of this week's update.

Watch the latest Legislative Update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNqMC...

Tell your lawmakers to support accurate birth certificates for all Texas children at bit.ly/1wZtsJE

Tell your State Senator to support homeless youth at bit.ly/1DF4Qre

Tell the members of the House State Affairs Committee to oppose HB 2801 and protect Trans students at bit.ly/1DoRTjO

Learn more about the legislation we're working on at the LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION CENTER.
http://www.equalitytexas.org/legislat...

Thank you for your support! Together, we are Building a State of Equality in Texas.

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