Posted on 07/29/2015 7:16:45 PM PDT by conservativejoy
This is a fantastic victory for conservatives in Texas! I couldn’t believe it when Mayor Parker of Houston shoved through the HERO ordinance against the wishes of the voters there. Over 50,000 petition signatures were gathered and Parker threw them out saying she didn’t care, that HERO would stand. The gay rights mandate allowed for both sexes to use each other’s restrooms and locker rooms, opening the door for sexual predators. Then Parker violated religious rights profoundly by subpoenaing several pastors who were not parties to the litigation, ordering them to turn over all communications regarding the ordinance, the mayor, homosexuality and other related issues, including sermons regarding these topics. This forces the halt of HERO and will put it on the ballot for a vote by the people next November. No more dictator tactics for Parker allowed.
From the Christian Post:
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.
“We will now get to vote on Mayor Parker’s personal, liberal, LGBT agenda this November!” Jared Woodfill, former Harris County Republican Party chief and ones of the plaintiffs, wrote in a blog post.
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 by the city in a lawsuit.
The suit against the city argued that the ballot petition was incorrectly thrown out. The Houston Five were not a party in the suit but did publicly support the petition.
The city’s lawyers at the time demanded that the pastors turn over all communications 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,” Wordfill 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.”
Woodfill wrote that Mayor Parker should apologize to the people of the city “for the huge amount of resources spent on this litigation.”
“Additionally, the city is now potentially liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees,” he added. “It is now time to gear up for the battle that lies ahead in November. Mayer Parker and her liberal allies will do everything they can to promote her personal LGBT agenda at the ballot box this November.”
Jonathan Saenz, the president of Texas Values Action, called the court order a “total victory.”
“This is a total victory for the people of Houston, for free speech, and a major loss for Mayor Parker and LGBT advocates who fought so hard to silence the people’s voice,” Saenz said in a statement. “We are thrilled that the rogue and dictator style tactics of lesbian Mayor Annise Parker and her crew have been stopped by the rule of law and the persistence of faith-based leaders in Houston. The Texas Supreme Court got it right on this one.”
Correction: July 27, 2015
A July 26, 2015 article incorrectly stated that the “Houston Five” pastors were a party in the lawsuit against the city of Houston. They were not a party in the suit.
Mayor Parker broke the law and did a two-step on the Constitution in the name of gay rights. The Texas Supreme Court just slapped her hands with this and it is deeply gratifying. The Liberal fascist tactics of Parker and others must be stopped. They are not the ruling class and the voters have a right to have their say. Now, it is the conservatives’ job to make sure people understand what is at stake here and to vote for what they believe in come November. It’s one thing to implement such legislation after a fair vote, it’s quite another to force it on everyone and then willfully disregard the voice of the people. Mary Parker should have to personally pay all related fees to this and apologize to the citizenry publicly. But alas, that won’t happen. We’ll have to settle for her throwing a tantrum in November. Dinner and a show
Until another court throws it out probably
Nope. It is going on the ballot!
Houston wasn’t the only city pushing for this ordinance. Homofacsists have been pushing this agenda nationally but it is always treated as a local story. who’s funding the lobbying?
Also Anus Pucker did this same crap when voters wanted to get rid of red light shakedown racket cameras.
If the voters challenge her, they are told ‘go screw yourselves’.
She had a reputation of saying nasty things about the black pastors while she was sitting on city council. Michael Berry was a councilman with her at the time. She needed their votes to win elections but she didn’t think much of them and still doesn’t.
I hope so!
She’ll have grown men in the middle girl showers after PE soon enough.
So? Courts have set aside voter decisions several times when those decisions go against the wishes of the homosexual lobby.
Wow, evil fascist overreach is our friend, who knew?!
Don’t Mess with Texas, Mayor 0bama Acolyte!
At least they are fighting back. If they face another court challenge, the Supreme Court will have to rule on whether what this mayor did was a violation of the separation of Church and State.
cant wait to step up to the urinal in a mixed bathroom and unload some nasty noisy flatulence while grunting with pleasure as i empty my bladder.
todo es bueno.
That a mayor can get away with pushing this (anything really - this is not just about gay rights - gay rights is just the vehicle) this far, illegally, is remarkable (remarkably unbelievable), and suggests that while we just scored a field goal, freedom and the rule of law is now only losing 56 to 3.
Some day the public will learn not to vote for the underdog, the odd-ball, the outsider simply because it makes them feel ohsopure and morally superior - some people really do deserve to be underdogs and outsiders......
exactly. their side can get tired and also exhaust their money supplies to, and the smaller the bullies the less moneyand energy they have, justby scale.
This was laughable on its face, but cost Houston plenty for voting in the fool as a mayor, and then paying her/his legal bills after playing tyrant for a day. Stupid is as stupid does, comes to mind.
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