Houston City Councilmember Wanda Adams Walks Out on LGBT Community… AgainIn a move that has the Houston LGBT community asking “Where’s Wanda?” Houston City Councilmember Wanda Adams was absent Friday from a meeting to discuss housing for homeless transgender youth. The latest absence comes just over a week after Adams was publicly chastised by the chair of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus for walking out on a City Council vote to fund AIDS housing. Video right >
The meeting, which had been scheduled for over a week, had been set up between Transgender community leaders and Covenant House, a faith-based housing program for homeless youth in Adams’ city council district. Covenant House receives funds from the City of Houston. Their policy against allowing Transgender clients to dress as their identified gender has long been a frustration for Transgender advocates.
Adams mentioned the meeting during a radio interview with the program “Queer Voices” last Monday, in which she defended her record with the LGBT community and claimed to be surprised at the anger caused when she walked out of council chambers just before the vote to extend city funding for Marjo House, a facility offering housing for people with AIDS.
The Covenant House meeting was scheduled to start at eleven o’clock. A few minutes after eleven Adams (who was previously employed by Covenant House) called to say she would be running late. At about 12:30 a staffer for her office arrived and explained that she would not arrive.
The good news is that Covenant House has agreed to work with the Houston Transgender community to revise their policies. The bad news is that ‘Absentee Adams’ has missed another opportunity to represent her constituents.
By: Anonymous,
Houston Texas
June 14,2009
2 comments:
She seems genuine in her speech but I don't know. Maybe it really was about management? I don't know this politician or her history.
This article was sent to me by a personal friend with whom I have the utmost confidence in.
He said he needed the story to be told. I don't know the politician or anything about the management of the Aids project other than what was written.
It appears from the outrage of the health activists and the LGBT politicians they felt abandoned and wronged by Adams absenteeism during the vote.
It angers me that Adams cares so little about transgender children that she allows a city funded religious organization to operate in her district a shelter that that does not allow transgender youth to present in there proper gender.
How does she get away with it? Once again absenteeism.
When the next transgender youth dies because they are unwelcome at the city funded shelter or when the next young transgender woman is murdered in the Montrose because she has been denied dignity and hope at the Covenant house I hope she will not do their memories a disservice by attending the TDOR.
Then her absence would be appreciated.
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