One of the sad outcomes of Election Day is the repeal of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), a city ordinance that stops discrimination on the basis of 15 different characteristics including sex, sexual orientation, race, and gender identity. In a recent piece on HuffPost Gay Voices, LGBT program director of Media Matters feels that there’s one person responsible for this not passing, and her name is Beyonce:
Beyoncé has repeatedly refused the opportunity to speak out against the legalization of discrimination against LGBT people in her hometown. And as hard as it is to say this, her refusal should raise serious questions about her support for her gay, bisexual and transgender fans. … Being an artist doesn’t require someone to also be a social justice warrior, and Beyoncé is entitled to avoid political disputes in the name of protecting her public brand. … HERO is gone, now. And for her queer fans who watched and waited while Beyoncé decided it wasn’t in her brand’s interests to speak out in defense of her hometown’s non-discrimination law, all there’s left to do is ask “why not?”
While it is incredibly disappointing HERO has been repealed, it is ludicrous to hold someone who has never been a crusader for a cause as the reason for why something fails.
Team Blackness also discussed why four boys are in solitary confinement in South Carolina, the man who is responsible for the bomb that went off at a Colorado Springs NAACP gets 5 years of prison time, and the story of the Illinois cop whose shooting sparked national outrage actually killed himself.
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Houston Equal Rights Ordinance Is Repealed. Media Director Blames…Beyonce?Post + Comments (63)