Welcome to the table, fellas.
Three major local business and hospitality groups are warning voters that the city’s economy could take a hit if Houston’s embattled equal rights ordinance is repealed in November, boosting supporters’ attempts to cast the law as not only a moral issue but also a practical one.
The Greater Houston Partnership, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau and Hotel and Lodging Association of Greater Houston released a joint statement Thursday backing the ordinance and calling Houston “a diverse and welcoming city.”
“Discrimination of any kind is not a Houston value; it’s bad for the people of our city and it’s bad for our economy,” the statement read.
[…]
Though the Partnership originally expressed reservations about early drafts of the law, it eventually publicly supported the ordinance before City Council passed it 11-6 last year. A.J. Mistretta, a spokesman for the Visitors Bureau, said Partnership President Bob Harvey encouraged the group to issue the joint statement.
Houston Unites campaign manager Richard Carlbom said the groups’ support demonstrates a desire in the business community to remain competitive with other large cities that already have similar nondiscrimination policies in place.
“If this gets repealed, I think a lot of folks will look at Houston and wonder if they should send employees here or hold conferences here,” Carlbom said. “They will wonder whether or not there are the appropriate protections in place.”
The argument is not new. Mayor Annise Parker and other officials long have warned that Houston’s selection to host the 2017 Super Bowl and the 2016 NCAA Final Four, for instance, could be in jeopardy if the law is repealed.
“Houston simply isn’t the City it was 20 or 30 years ago,” Parker said last month. “It is this open and inclusive atmosphere that helps make Houston attractive to new residents, new business, major sporting events like the Super Bowl and more. The ongoing effort by this group threatens to hurt that image and our progress.”
Gotta say, I was a little afraid that the GHP was going to sit on its hands during the campaign, and let others do the heavy lifting. I’m delighted to be proven wrong about that, though I hope this statement isn’t the extent of their involvement. And again, however you feel about HERO, if you think there won’t be consequences if it gets repealed, you’re kidding yourself. We can argue about what the extent of the consequences might be, and whether or not the Super Bowl and Final Four are really in jeopardy – I personally don’t think the NFL or NCAA would move them on that short notice, but for sure we’d be out of the running for future events like those, and other already-scheduled events could get canceled – but the question is not “if” but “how much”. I would like for the GHP to reinforce that message as much as possible. And just as a reminder, despite what the likes of Jared Woodfill and Ben Hall would like you to believe, HERO is about a lot more than bathrooms.
Well that is not a surprise. As far as the GHP is concerned how about we stop giving them tax dollars. Puppets.
I am sorry. One more time for the Greater Houston Partnership:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liKhLNY5GYI
Paul, I think this song by Tom Wait’s is more appropriate;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9mhsW5aWJM
How about people stop patronizing the businesses that are members of the GHP?
Yvonne, that sounds good in theory. It always scares businesses when Liberals threaten a boycott. I can remember how Chik fil a cratered.
I read that chik fil a recently stopped giving money to anti gay groups and is now committed to the equal and fair treatment of all people.