No one really cares much about Houston school-board elections, unfortunately, so incumbent Manuel Rodriguez Jr. was expected to win re-election because he wasn’t indicted or anything.
The Houston Chronicle endorsed him for re-election.
But apparently he was nervous about his chances, or he just really, really hates gays.
A flyer sent out in the last week of the campaign has done little but alert Democrats that Rodriguez is, apparently, more right-wing bigot than non-right-wing bigot.
Under reasons to “vote no for my opponent,” Rodriguez listed:
Program manager of minority male initiative at [Houston Community College.] His records show he spent years advocating for gay, bisexual lesbian, transgender rights….not kids.
The flyer also noticed the damning fact that he had been endorsed by Houston’s GLBT Caucus — and then it got subtle.
“54 years with no children,” it said. “Male partner.”
Oy, not to mention vey.
The Chron too kthe unusual step of retracting its endorsement:
With his hateful flier, Rodriguez perpetuates the kind of stereotypes that put our kids in danger. And he implies that all right-thinking people agree with him – an insult to his constituents, and precisely the kind of blithe, old-school homophobia that makes school hallways so treacherous.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2011.