THE PROTEST AGAINST THE HISD SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER!

Manuel Rodriguez

Students, teachers, and voters of Texas' largest school district – including students from every high school in Rodriguez’s district – will continue the fight against the homophobic and reprehensible actions of HISD District III Trustee Manuel Rodriguez Thursday, December 8th, at 4:30 p.m., in front of the Houston Independent School District Administration Building at 4400 West 18th Street.

Rodriguez displayed what the Houston Chronicle called "appalling homophobia" in his recent bid for re-election to the Board by distributing campaign literature that encouraged citizens of the district to vote against his challenger, Ramiro Fonseca, simply because he is gay. He also questioned why his challenger, a man who has worked in several capacities as a longtime community advocate and activist in Houston's East End, would want "access to our children" as a trustee of our school district. After these revelations of his bigotry against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of his district, constituents voted against Rodriguez on Election Day. However, Rodriguez had enough of a lead from early voting and mail ballots, before showing his true face, that he still managed a slim 25-vote margin of victory.

Residents of the District voiced their outrage at the HISD School Board meeting two days after the election, and will return Thursday to continue to demand that HISD prohibit on its board the homophobic attacks that it prohibits in its schools. When anti-bullying is a top priority for the Texas House and Senate, and when suicides among LGBT teens are on the rise, it is simply unacceptable that a sitting Trustee of the state's largest school district engage in such damaging hateful actions. Students from the Gay-Straight Alliances of the two high schools in District III, Chavez and Milby, will be in attendance at therally, adding their voices to the calls for action from the HISD Board.

We demand a Trustee for District III who will represent and protect ALL of the students in his or her district, and who will not engage in the bullying behavior that he or she purports to condemn.