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Chicago’s Next Mayor Accused Catholic Priest of ‘Hate’ Lesbian Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot wrote to Cdl. Cupich slamming Fr. Paul Kalchik CHICAGO (ChurchMilitant.com) - Church Militant has learned that Chicago's next mayor, a non-Catholic lesbian, wrote a letter complaining to Cdl. Blase Cupich about the burning of a blasphemous rainbow flag. Less than 24 hours after the complaint, Cdl. Cupich removed Fr. Paul Kalchik as pastor of his Catholic parish. Father Paul Kalchik was pastor of Resurrection parish in the archdiocese of Chicago. A previous pastor, Fr. Daniel Montalbano, was a known homosexual who was found dead in the rectory while attached to a masturbation machine...

Sometime in the near future, a transgender teenager in Texas will attempt suicide — and maybe succeed — because vilifying people for their gender identity remains politically acceptable in America. The hateful rhetoric of leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is the latest, ugliest example. Mr. Patrick was ebullient on Tuesday night after it became clear that Houston voters had decidedly rejected a broad equal rights ordinance that opponents maliciously and misleadingly characterized as a boon for cross-dressing sex offenders. [Snip] As opponents of the ordinance celebrate their victory this week, transgender people across...

The Texas Supreme Court gave Friday the Houston city council 30 days either to repeal a civil-rights ordinance allowing opposite-sex bathroom use or place it before the voters on the November ballot. The 12-page decision says that the council ran afoul of the city charter when it refused to act after the city secretary certified a year ago the signatures submitted by a pastor-led coalition, which had moved to force a vote on the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). Houston Mayor Annise Parker came under fire last year after the city moved to subpoena sermons and other documents from five...

It largely escaped the notice of the national media, but there has been a pretty big political story playing out in Houston the last few weeks. Well, it has been a big story, at least, for one very key GOP constituency. Here's the recap: The city of Houston a few weeks back subpoenaed the sermons of five pastors who opposed an ordinance that was aimed at increasing the rights and protections of LGBT residents of the city, which is home to the first openly lesbian mayor of a major American city, Annise Parker (D). The subpoenas were issued in response...

Houston recently passed an ordinance through its city council that has sparked quite a bit of controversy amongst conservative evangelicals. The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), a broad-sweeping, left-leaning law trumpeted by the City of Houston and its openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, is supposed to protect gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination. All well and good, but according to the Independent Journal Review, the ordinance to ensure nondiscrimination, discriminates against those of faith who oppose it. Five pastors, members of Houston's conservative, evangelical base, oppose HERO, as does the liberal Americans United for the Separation of Church and...

Houston’s power-mad Mayor Annise Parker has backtracked on those subpoenas that she had the city issue to five city pastors, at taxpayer expense. The mayor made the move as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter to Parker asking that she withdraw the subpoenas “immediately.” Attorney General Greg Abbott Asks Houston City Attorney to Withdraw Subpoenas Seeking Sermons, Other Documents from Houston-area Pastors AUSTIN — Attorney General Abbott today asked that the Houston City Attorney to immediately withdraw the subpoenas sent last month to several Houston-area pastors seeking sermons, notes and other information. In his letter to the city...

Churches have received subpoenas issued by the city of Houston demanding copies of sermons. Houston is probing opposition to a ballot referendum pertaining to an ordinance proposing a local discrimination law affecting gays. (Bryan Preston posted this summary of the lawlessness taking place in Houston.) Over 50,000 petition signatures were gathered opposing the ordinance. Now the city, run by the first openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, is retaliating and demanding that churches turn over sermons. You read that correctly. This is the sort of government behavior that used to be confined to two-bit third-world regimes. The gay rights movement was...

. 2014-10-15 Houston LGBT Mayor has EVERY LEGAL RIGHT to Prosecute Christian Churches for Political Activity First, I (Patton@Bastogne) am a pro-life anti-gay-marriage evangelical Christian. Second, (in today's news story reported by The Houston Chronicle, below) ... I am calling out the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and their attorney Christina Holcomb ... as "Despicable Liars". ADF attorneys KNOW FULL WELL that Churches' "voluntary" acceptance of the IRS 501-C3 "federal contract" means that Christian Churches SURRENDER their rights to ... First Admendment "Free Speech" ... when practiced behind a "tax-exempt church pulpit". Period. I openly challenge the deceptive ADF organization (and...

Officials with the city of Houston, Texas, who are defending a controversial ordinance that would allow men to use women’s restrooms now have demanded to see the sermons preached by several area pastors. The recent move came in a subpoena from the city to pastors for copies of their sermons and other communications in the city’s legal defense of a “non-discrimination” measure that allows “gender-confused” people to use public restrooms designated for the opposite sex. A lawsuit challenging Houston’s move alleges the city violated its own charter in its adoption of the Equal Rights Ordinance, which in May designated homosexuals...

Pastor Joel Osteen is open about his disapproval of gay marriage, but he does not want his opinion to define his whole ministry. During a talk with Osteen and his wife Victoria, HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill asked him if gay marriage goes against the rules of Christianity.

After nearly nine hours of chanting and tears from seas of opponents and supporters in color-coded T-shirts, Houston City Council passed an ordinance on Wednesday extending equal rights protections to gay and transgender residents.

Mayor Annise Parker lashed out at an controversial annual study released Monday that placed Houston among the most dangerous cities in the United States with a population of 500,000 or higher. "Crime Rankings 2010-2011," published by CQ Press, ranks Houston's crime as ninth-highest for big cities nationwide, placing it on a list with the likes of Detroit and Columbus, Ohio., although the city has less than half the crimes per capita of those atop the rankings. Violent crime in Houston fell 8 percent during the first half of this year and was on a pace to reach the lowest rate...