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| Anise Parker and her partner |
The measure bans discrimination based not just on sexual orientation and gender identity but also, as federal laws do, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status.
This ordinance unlawfully punished those for practicing their faith beliefs of marriage between a man and woman and that anything other than that was a sin and in some faiths not just a sin, but mortal sin. In addition it prevented those with faith believes or any sense of morality from expressing themselves.
The ordinance applies to businesses that serve the public,
private employers, housing, city employment and city contracting. Violators could be fined up to $5,000.
On August 7th, 2014, HERO was placed on hold after opponents of
the ordinance filed suit against the city with the help of the Alliance
Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group focused
largely on opposing same-sex marriage and abortion. The following month city
attorneys subpoenaed sermons given by local pastors who oppose the law and are
tied to the conservative Christian activists who have sued the city.
The subpoenas a were
an infringement on religious liberties, they were intended to "punish and
intimidate those who dared to step-up and oppose the city council," and
that the specific and seemingly unrelated nature of the subpoenaed material
suggests the discovery investigation is really about a crackdown on political
or anti-homosexual and anti-abortion preaching in city churches.
Now May of 2015 Houston, Texas and surrounding communities are seeing record flooding of unprecedented proportions. Houston has been the bullseye of this storm system receiving the most rain per the National Weather Service.
Ron,
ReplyDeletePlease give an example of how the Houston ordinance punished someone for practicing their faith or prevented freedom of expression.