The Gayly Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 1, 1994 Page: 4 of 24
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^k\ Page 4 ▼ The GAYLY T Januaiy 1, ’94
Feature Story_
TURNING THE TABLES IN TEXAS
SCORE: CHRISTIAN RIGHT 0 - COMPUTER 1
"We did see a victory in Williamson
County," declares Kay Longcope, editor/pub-
lisher of the gay/lesbian Texas Triangle, add -
ing, “Jobs took precedence over prejudice."
On December 7, Williamson County Com-
missioners reversed their openly homopho-
bic decision to deny Apple Computer a
$750,000 tax break on building a plant near
Austin — simply because the company pro-
vides domestic partner benefits to its gay and
lesbian employees.
While next-door Austin is relatively pro-
gressive and gay-friendly, Williamson County
is not. The county is transforming itself from
a conservative rural area into a wealthy con-
servative bedroom community. Williamson
County’s relationship to Austin is like that of
Quentin’s Kopp to San Francisco: the proud,
irascible, conservative alternate.
On November 30, Williamson commis-
sioners voted three to two against Apple, j
Initially a defeat for the gay and lesbian
community, the decision quickly became a
liability for the Christian Right, as the state
government and business interests woke up
to the potential consequences of the
commission’s vote. The price was high: an
immediate loss of about 700 Apple jobs and
millions of dollars of future high-tech invest-
ments in Texas. While the Christian Right
preened over a victory for “Traditional Val-
ues" against the “Homosexual Agenda," a
significant portion of the Texas political and j
business establishment was preparing to
come down on Williamson like the proverbial :
ton of bricks.
“I think you would call this a full court
press from the governor’s office on down,"
declared Glen Maxey (D-Travis Co.), the only
openly gay Texas state representative. "There
were very few people in a position not to
influence this that did not get involved." Not
only did the Williamson County Chamber of
Commerce lobby to reverse the vote, so did
the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Texas
Chamber of Commerce, city and state gov-
ernment officials, and even the University of
Texas at Austin.
Their concern was warranted because
Apple was ready and willing to pull the plug.
Williamson County stood to lose an $80
million facility'. That meant the loss not only i
of all the Apple jobs, but also the loss of spin- I
ofTs — the subcontracting and the home-
building and service sector employment that
Apple’s investment would bring.
The good news, says Maxey, was that for
the first time the people ofWilliamson County
held to think about — and take a stand
against — overt bigotry that would otherwise
have cut into their pocketbooks. But, he
adds that “the dark side of getting people to
face their bigotry (was that it amounted to) a
case of huge financial blackmail. Economics
drove this debate."
Perhaps the most critical moment of the
entire affair was when Texas Governor Ann
Richards “ofTered" to mediate between Apple
and the county commissioner shortly after
the initial vote. As Sonny Hood, co-chair of
the Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus,
pointedly notes, “You don’t refuse an offer
from the governor. Just from what I know
about her, she sat ’em down and had a little
‘Come to Jesus’ talk."
“Their refusal was really a slap in the
face against her efforts to bring high-tech to
Texas," says Hood. “I am sure she made it
clear that Williamson County would not be
favored in the next legislative session." The
governor’s office, however, contends it was
the commissioners who requested Richards'
intervention.
Even Texas Republican state senators
were appalled by the decision. Senator Ike
Harris (R-Dallas) says, That first vote was
cast for the wrong reasons, and the (swing-
vote) commissioner (later) said he wished he
had not done it. It was charged emotionally,
and not practically. Whether Apple is there or
not, it won’t change their policies — county
commissioners will not have an effect on the
company."
By Saturday, December 4, a face-saving
resolution was arranged allowing Commis-
sioner David Hays — the swing vote in both
cases — to weasel out of his earlier position
and vote for Apple’s tax package on December
7. Apple will now pay taxes and be reim-
bursed over the next seven years, instead of
being granted an immediate tax rebate that
would come out of the county finances. Hays
justified his about-face in a written state-
ment thatread, “Last week 1 was asked to vote
to use tax-payer dollars to subsidize, and
therefore tacitly endorse, a benefits policy
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with which I disagree. Today’s vote does
nothing of the kind."
“It sounds like the same thing to me,"
said a sarcastic Sonny Hood, ridiculing Hays’
semantic gymnastics. “If it walks like a duck
and quacks like a duck...." But Hood was
gleeful about the victory: “This is the first
time gays and lesbians have had the upper
hand... I am very pleased about how Apple
has kept in touch with the gay and lesbian
community here and their own gay and les-
bian employees... I am very proud of Apple for
sticking to its guns."
Mike Heiligenstein, the Williamson
County commissioner who originally pro-
posed Apple’s incentive package, was “ec-
static" about the final vote. And Apple spokes-
person Bill Keegan was equally effusive: “The
vast majority of people supported us. We
were looking at a very vocal minority here
that reared its ugly head. We are glad cooler
heads prevailed." Keegan says Apple stayed
in close touch with David Smith of the Na-
tional Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF),
coordinating media spin all through a frantic j
week of tough negotiations and media insan-
I ity. “We are glad this has come to a resolu- I
tion. It was kind of an early Christmas
present for us."
David Hays and the two commissioners
who voted against Apple have been unavail-
able for comment.
A Very, Very Close Call
Commissioner Mike Heiligenstein walked
into the November 30 meeting convinced he
had the three votes needed for a majority to
pass Apple’s tax abatement plan. But in the
middle of the meeting, Commissioner Hays
had a sudden change of heart and voted
against the proposal. Hays was later quoted
in the New York Times saying, “If I had voted
yes... I would have had to walk into my
church with people saying There is the man
who brought homosexuality to Williamson
County.”
Hays’vote stunned observers. The deci-
sion was "a freak accident out of the blue,"
says Cathy Bonner, director of the Texas
Department of Commerce. Until then, she
said, Hays had been a strong supporter of |
Apple’s tax abatement scheme. Bonner even I
says Hays had written an op-ed piece backing !
the plan: ‘He all but took an ad out in the
paper saying that he supported the deal!"
What happened? Apparently hundreds
of phone calls from good, conservative Chris-
tians, some serious arm-twisting by Baptists
in Hays’ own church congregation, and a
determined campaign by Concerned Texans
— a new Christian Right group in Austin with
ties to Colorado for Family Values. “He came
under some pressure," says Heiligenstein
dryly, “and frankly did hold up."
The about-face was hardly the freak
accident it may have at first appeared. “Con-
cerned Texans is behind the Williamson ef-
fort," declares Diane Hardy-Gareia, the Aus-
tin-based director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights
Lobby ofTexas. She believes political inexpe-
rience among the commissioners contrib-
uted to the first anti-Apple vote.
“They get 100 calls and they immediately
thought everyone was doing this family val-
ues campaign and thought we would do the
same," she said.
“They would throw away (700) jobs, be
cause maybe three were gays and lesbians
going for (domestic partnerl insurance."
Williamson County is a prime target for
right wing organizing, says Sean Thompson,
board chair of the gay and lesbian Capital
Center. They are always using family values
and traditional values to discriminate." Chris-
tian Right stealth candidates have already
taken over one school board there and fired
the School Superintendent. Williamson
County Christian fundamentalists were only
too happy to wade in against Apple.
David Smith of the NGLTF says what
happened to Hays has fingerprints of the
Christian Right all over it. Smith’s analysis of
their strategy is that they select the weakest
link in the eleetoral chain and hammer away:
flood the target’s office with phone zaps,
letters and personal contact until he or she
| caves in.
But Michael Brandes, a spokesperson
for Concerned Texans in Austin, flatly denies
his group had anything to do with the Apple
vote: “There is no connection between us...
That was a Williamson County deal They
have their own circumstances and wc have
ours down here.”
When confronted with Brandes' denied,
Sonny Hood groaned. “Oh, Puh-leezel" Her
sources at the commission told her that Rev.
Charles Bullock, founder of Concerned Tex-
ans, drew up a phone list to badger county
commissioners with demands to vote against
Apple. On December 3 the Denver Post
reported that EJullock had called friends in
Williamson County, encouraging them to
oppose the Apple deal because of Apple’s
domestic partnership policy. Other Austin
gay activists back 1 lood's allegations and say
Bullock was spotted at the December 7 meet-
ing.
Organizing a
Domestic Partners Backlash
On September 2 the Austin City Council
passed its own domestic partnership policy,
and local Christian fundamentalists have
been fulminating ever since. “The minute
(domestic partners] hit, people went ballis-
tic," says Hardy-Garcia. “At the same time
the religious Right has been ... speculating
about what to do down here." The domestic
pcuuici i»»uc provided the perfect opening.
Despite denials from Concerned Texans,
political Austinites see the vote against Apple
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Shaffer, Ron & Hawkins, Don. The Gayly Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 1, 1994, newspaper, January 1, 1994; Oklahoma City, Okla.. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc825271/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.