Posted on 07/26/2015 6:04:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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 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."
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."
Why have “Mens” or “Womens” rooms - just say “Bathroom”, if this actually passes?
And the first time someone is robbed by someone of the opposite sex, raped, or murdered in these bathrooms, will the building owner be liable? And if city owned, will the taxpayers?
Hell, I’m ALMOST up for a DNA test before entering the bathroom - if it says your XX you HAVE to go into a woman’s, regardless of your identity/preference, and if you’re XY, you HAVE to go into a men’s. Period, end of story. Then I don’t care if you have “add-a-dick-to-me” or the “lop-a-dick-offa-me” surgery, whatever you’re born, is what you are.
RE: Why have Mens or Womens rooms - just say Bathroom, if this actually passes?
Here’s the thing — in many restaurants today, there is only BATHROOM and both men and women can use it.
However, in huge venues like malls or theaters or sporting arenas, they DO separate men and women’s bathrooms and yes, that disadvantages the women who have to queue longer as the men’s urinals are quite different.
Are they now going to have MIXED bathrooms for even such venues?
Oh, I’ve seen a woman squat at a urinal in a bar. No foolin’... hiked up her dress, squat, peed, grab some hand towels, wiped, pulled down her dress, flushed, washed hands and left.
Only then did I realize she wasn’t wearing panties.
I work in IT, and at almost EVERY conference I’ve attended (Cisco LIVE, Ignite, splunk.conf) it’s just like that.
LOL! I concur.
So, why don’t they just allow those queueing to use the other bathroom if they are unused?
Sorta like task scheduling in an operating system ....
C’mon, this is IT isn’t it?
Or "Load Balancing" on a Web Cluster.
Would you want a bunch of IT nerds going into the women’s bathroom?
Don’t ask me. I don’t live in that stink hole. Did back in the early 70’s but I got smart and left it in the dust.
End sovereign immunity and these guys lose their agenda making abilities. They should have a personal stake in their politics.
I don’t think “Blow” is in her vocabulary...
So what you are saying is you do not believe there is going to be a turnout so ready to utterly disintegrate this BS policy???
I mean I do agree we should not count the chickens before they hatch...
But you do not believe those of us who do live in the city limits are going to get this done???
Lets revisit this in November...
Why hasn't this freak been arrested yet? Our politicians break laws without
any jurisprudence or legal recourse against them. This must change.
You are fine. I do not ever use the word gay on them. It is either homosexual, queer, lesbian, fag, sodomite, or deviant. Depends on my mood and if they are an activist agenda pusher or someone who just wants to live their life quietly.
Permit me to point out that Lesbo Parker was elected not once, not twice, but three times, in spite of whatever efforts those of you "who do live in the city" may have made???
Why not --- there are only two outcomes that would result:
(1) - They wouldn't even notice or understand the difference if they did notice.
(2) - Their hearts couldn't stand the excitement and would immediately seize up and explode.
Wow, you know, you are absolutely right...Damn, WTF was I thinking???
And you know what...I can almost guarantee you no Republican candidate will win that seat, especially with some of the smaller Republican groups around town trying to wrap around the idea of supporting the lesser of the evils out there making hay with the voting block on the democrat (liberal) side...
Now, you wanna tell me how utterly fudged up that is???
Or you wanna tell me something more riveting Capt. Obvious???
;-)
When those people sit there and discuss all the plus’s and minuses with a couple of the “R’s” running, and all they see is all the faults, and then quickly look at Adrian Garcia, and Sylvester Turner??? Seriously looking at them...
I kinda wanna throw up...
Nice try...
I’ll tell you this...It will probably take Houston going fuggin’ bankrupt in a couple of years, for the voters to rebel and maybe get it done then...
But I know I will probably not hold my breath even then...
I also believe it may be political nirvana where you hang you hat though...
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