NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 (Photo: Staff Sgt. Bradley Lail, USAF, via Wikimedia Commons).
Despite pressure from LGBT activists following the overwhelming defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) on Tuesday, the National Football League is not budging on its decision to hold the 51st Super Bowl in Houston in 2017.
“This will not affect our plans for Super Bowl LI in 2017,” Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman, told NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk. “We will work closely with the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee to make sure all fans feel welcomed at our events. Our policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard.”
HERO, which would have prohibited discrimination against a number of protected classes, including LGBT people, was passed in May 2014 by the Houston City Council. Opponents tried to petition it to the ballot, but failed to garner enough valid signatures. The Texas Supreme Court later interceded and forced the ordinance to be placed on the ballot. HERO was eventually defeated, garnering only 39 percent of the vote to opponents’ 61 percent.
Supporters of the LGBT community launched a petition at Change.org soon after the election results came in, arguing that the NFL should move the Super Bowl from Houston. As of mid-day Thursday, the petition had received 2,287 signatures.
Some had speculated that the NFL might be pressured to change the venue for the Super Bowl due to the influence of the LGBT community, in the same way that it seriously considered moving the 2015 Super Bowl from Arizona after lawmakers attempted to pass a law that would allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That measure was eventually killed with a veto from then-Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican.
But while the NFL is refusing to budge on the 2017 Super Bowl, supporters of equality can take a small measure of solace that there might be at least some form of karmic justice. On Wednesday, Houston lost three separate bids to host the College Football Championship game for 2018, 2019 and 2020. As LGBT sports website OutSports notes, the three cities that Houston lost two — Atlanta, San Francisco, and New Orleans — all have nondiscrimination protections for LGBT individuals enacted into law.
A young woman was severely beaten and robbed at a suburban Chicago McDonald's after being confronted about her sexual orientation by two men.
The incident occurred on May 13 at a McDonald's restaurant in Carpentersville, Illinois. According to a news release from the village's chief of police, the incident began when two males -- one adult, one juvenile -- made derogatory comments to the victim about her sexuality.
The verbal confrontation escalated into a fight, with the men beating the victim, later identified as Kady Grass.
The altercation left the 19-year-old badly beaten and bruised, suffering from severe injuries. She was transported to a local hospital, where she was treated for leg bruises, facial injuries, a hemorrhage to her eye, and a fractured nose, reported Chicago ABC affiliate WLS.
"One of the things about me is that I don't hear 'No,'" says Kimberley Bush, the executive director of the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center. "I do everything I can to make a 'Yes,' whether that means making a place at the table, or pulling the chair out at the table. I'll always find a way."
Born and raised in Yonkers, N.Y., Bush grew up extremely close to her parents, especially her mother, whom she describes as her best friend. After her parents divorced when she was in high school, and her mother, who worked at AT&T, was forced to relocate due to her job, the family moved to the D.C. area, where she has spent most of her adult life.
Gina Ortiz Jones was elected mayor of San Antonio in a runoff election on June 7.
The victory was historic, as Jones is not only San Antonio's first out LGBTQ mayor but the first Asian-American female mayor of a major city in Texas and the first female mayor in Texas to have served in a war.
(She's a former Air Force officer and Iraq War veteran who previously served as Under Secretary of the Air Force during the Biden administration.)
Jones is also the first mayor since 2005 to not have previously served on the city council and will serve a four-year term.
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