I don't need a HERO

I hate to admit it because so many dear friends are working to fight against the Houston's HERO proposition on the November ballot, but I hate the way most of the campaign is being handled. It's primarily been a target to get the religious right out to vote and targeting fear about men being allowed in women's restrooms. I'm sure this is effective in some ways, but I think there is a larger target that should be hit. They are missing out on speaking to people that care about liberty and freedom of small businesses.

One of the ordinances under HERO (which is a phenomenal name) is that it would require businesses to allow all customers to use the restrooms of their chosen gender. Personally, I couldn't care less if a transgender woman wants to wait in those long women's restroom lines. What does grind my gears is that can we really get anymore big government intrusion than controlling a business's restroom policy? Is there some massive epidemic of people being kicked out of bathrooms that I don't know about?

There is certainly more to the ordinance than just the bathroom issue. It's an overall anti-discrimination proposition, but that really makes little difference. Members of the LGBT community are not automatically victims and that card is too overplayed. This idea that we need the government involved in every area of the world to protect us is absurd. I want a free society, a society where I can live my life as I choose free from physical harm and discriminatory laws. We don't need to be saved from discriminatory people. All people face discrimination and all government regulations are discriminatory. If you try to protect LGBT people from someone whose faith won't allow them to participate in a gay ceremony then you've moved the discrimination towards them, and fighting government discrimination, as most LGBT people know, is a lot harder than dealing with individuals one on one.

If I don't like a business's policies, there are many ways to let my feelings be known and usually another option for me to choose. If a bakery or florist doesn't want to serve a gay wedding then who cares? There are plenty of gay florists or others happy to accept business. There are also many review sites, blogs, and other resources to voice my opposition. I can also organize a business boycott. Requiring the use of governmental force is absurd.

A government that is powerful enough to stop me from being discriminated against is also powerful enough to take my rights away when the winds of culture blow another way. One of the greatest evils of the 20th century, Jim Crow laws, were not evil because they allowed discrimination, but rather because they forced it upon businesses.

Discrimination is a horrible thing. Whether you're trying to use government to tell people how to live based on their sexuality or their religion, it is the opposite side of the same big government coin. This is a land of plenty with options for everyone. We can all live the lives we desire without government force. To quote Scandal's Olivia Pope, “I don't need to be rescued. I find it offensive.” And I certainly don't need a HERO.

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