Wednesday, the Houston City
Council and lesbian Mayor Annise Parker, by a vote of 11-6, approved the
controversial LGBT ordinance that has dogged the Council for weeks. The Council
was forced to delay action on the issue due to a flood of opposition amongst a
diverse group of citizens and local leaders and fear over the impact of
enforcement on public safety and the local economy. During public testimony
before the final vote, leading local African American pastors walked out of the
council chambers after homosexual advocates were given priority placement for
testimony at the beginning of the meeting, while the Mayor and some council
members voted to keep the pastors further down on the list.
Mayor Parker has conceded that the ordinance would apply to men who seek to use
women’s bathrooms. The city attorney has also admitted that the ordinance can
be used to prosecute photographers and private business owners who choose not
to participate in same sex ceremonies, when doing such causes them to violate their
conscience and/or religious beliefs. With this vote, the Houston City Council
has said that homosexual conduct trumps religious liberty and free speech.
“Today the Houston
City Council voted to have homosexual conduct trump religious liberty and free
speech with this ordinance,” said Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values Action. “This ill-advised power grab by Mayor Parker will be used a weapon to
attack people of Christian faith, and that’s a shame.”
Supporters of Texas
Values Action sent over 110,000 e-mail messages in opposition to the
ordinance have already been sent to the Council members in a matter of weeks,
more than the 98,000 votes Mayor Parker received in her re-election in 2013.
Breitbart reports that
there is now a movement to recall Mayor Parker.
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