Texas Supreme Court Tells Houston: Repeal Gay Rights Ordinance or Put It to VoteBY ANUGRAH KUMAR , CHRISTIAN POST CONTRIBUTOR
July 26, 2015|11:27 am
There is now near certainty that Houston's controversial equal rights ordinance, known as HERO, will appear on the November ballot, as Texas Supreme Court has suspended it, ruling that City Council must repeal it by August 24 or put it to popular vote.
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The gay rights ordinance, which, among other things, allows members of the opposite sex to use each other's restrooms, hit the headlines after a group of conservative pastors, known as the Houston Five, were subpoenaed after they sued the city saying their effort towards placing it on the ballot last November was incorrectly thrown out.
The city's lawyers at the time demanded that the pastors turn over all sermons addressing homosexuality, gender identity or the city's first openly lesbian mayor, Annise Parker. Although the mayor later withdrew the subpoenas, it was not before she received national scrutiny for doing so.
Opponents of the ordinance launched a petition that generated more than 50,000 signatures which was well above the 17,269 signatures needed to put the ordinance on the ballot. City Secretary Anna Russell also determined there were enough valid signatures. "Mayor Parker decided to ignore the will of the people and the city charter, and unlawfully rejected the almost 55,000 signatures," Worrdfill said.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that "the legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored."
The state's highest civil court's ruling stated, "The City Council is directed to comply with its duties, as specified in the City Charter, that arise when the City Secretary certifies that a referendum petition has a sufficient number of valid signatures. Any enforcement of the [Equal Rights] ordinance will be suspended... If the City Council does not repeal the ordinance by August 24, 2015, then by that date the City Council must order that the ordinance be put to popular vote during the November 2015 election."
So the petition organizers' lawsuit has succeeded. This could get interesting. The TSC ordered the Houston City Council either to repeal the statute or put it on the ballot for a city-wide vote. And perhaps the City Council will do one, the other, or both, Somehow I have an easier time believing that Mayor Parker and the City Council who knowingly violated Texas' constitution would have no problem ignoring the court's decision, and either do nothing or cobble together another "different", sham, ordinance, and pass that to take the place of the one the TSC struck down.
