Good.
A legion of Houston’s elected officials gathered at the Taft and Westheimer rainbow crosswalk Tuesday as a show of force against Gov. Greg Abbott’s call to remove it or risk the loss of state transportation funding, and some even floated the potential for legal action.
The crosswalks in Montrose were painted over weeks ago due to repaving work at the intersection, and were quickly restored to their original vibrancy after outcry from the community and elected officials.
But Abbott soon swooped in Wednesday to threaten to remove Texas Department of Transportation funding from cities that painted “political ideologies” on their streets unless they were removed. Abbott’s office called rainbow crosswalks a distraction, but Council Member Abbie Kamin said Tuesday the governor had “apparently entered the portion of the program where the state of Texas is now worried about paint.”
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Any notion the crosswalk was political was preposterous, Kamin said, and that Abbott had no premise to interfere in TxDOT funding to cities that didn’t comply with a “bigoted” directive. She added the move was a “hateful, bigoted” stunt that could reap consequences for not only the area’s LGBTQ+ community, but other vulnerable groups across Houston and the state.
Kamin went as far as calling the governor’s more unconstitutional since they couldn’t legally define what is or isn’t political ideology. She and others expressed worries that the governor’s call to paint over the sidewalk could extend to Black Lives Matter murals and others across the city.
“This is about content control. It’s big government overreach at its worst, and that is not the spirit of freedom we celebrate here in Texas,” Kamin said. “The governor is wasting time obsessing about paint colors while Texans are facing increasing grocery prices, skyrocketing home insurance rates, and over a million Texans are about to lose their health care coverage … We have real problems, and they deserve real leadership.”
Among those present at the news conference Tuesday were County Attorney Christian Menefee; state Sen. Molly Cook; Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones; former and County Judge candidate Mayor Annise Parker; Controller Chris Hollins; Council Member Mario Castillo; and state Reps. Gene Wu, Christina Morales, Lauren Ashley Simmons and John Rosenthal; as well as multiple representatives from neighborhood and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations.
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No one at the county level has filed a lawsuit to intervene in the crosswalk’s repainting, Menefee said Tuesday, but the county attorney’s office was looking into potential legal arguments. City Attorney Arturo Michel didn’t immediately return a request for comment on whether the city’s legal team would step in.
Kamin said she was speaking with legal organizations and attorneys to assess the city’s options. Menefee said Tuesday members of the commissioners were upset about the crosswalk and that his office was digging as deep as they could to make a case.
“If my tenure as county attorney has been marked by anything, it’s been fighting with a scalpel,” Menefee said. “So if we believe that we can win this, then I can guarantee you every dollar to be filed. If there’s a more appropriate party to bring the case, then we’ll turn over everything we have to them and aid them in getting it filed.”
See here for the background. I should note that despite Metro immediately saying they would paint over these crosswalks in obedience of Abbott’s diktat, as of yesterday this had not happened, and who knows, maybe now it won’t. I’m glad that a bunch of Dems stood up and called BS on this, because that’s what it is. A moment’s thought makes the free speech implications of this clear, just as the terms of Abbott’s “political ideologies” claim are vague and impossible to pin down. If a lawsuit is needed, either to prevent Metro from wielding its paintbrush or to ensure that funding isn’t interrupted, then I have confidence it will be in good hands. This is the way. Kudos to all for following it.
UPDATE: Whitmire speaks, finally.
Mayor John Whitmire spoke out on Wednesday against Gov. Greg Abbott’s call to remove Montrose’s iconic rainbow crosswalk, calling the governor’s move “man-made,” “manufactured” and “counterproductive.”
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As the issue unfolded, Whitmire remained silent and elected officials gathered in force to speak out against the governor’s move. The mayor was noticeably absent from a Tuesday news conference organized by Council Member Abbie Kamin that included countless area elected officials. While some officials floated legal action, neither the city or the county have filed any sort of lawsuit to interfere in the rainbow crosswalk’s removal. Kamin said Tuesday she was told Whitmire was meeting with local LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Whitmire broke that silence, and emphasized not only the importance of the crosswalk to Houston, but his work standing up for the LGBTQ+ community during his 52 years as a Texas senator and during his time as mayor. Whitmire is the winner of a Harvey Milk award and spent time as a legislator standing up for transgender families. He added he had been in talks with his LGBTQ+ advisory board, and that all his board appointments so far were about unity for Houston.
“To politicize something so important is just counterproductive,” Whitmire said of the crosswalk.
Whitmire added he was open to suggestions for what to do next, but said city officials would likely look at what they could add to private property instead of jeopardizing city departments by putting rainbows on public property.
“You can do away with the stripes, but you’re not going to do away with the issue or the people that are valuable citizens of Houston,” Whitmire said.
Welcome to the table. Maybe for starters tell Metro to slow its roll in the repainting department, at least until we’ve agreed on a strategy.