In The Courts Again

Down in Huston HERO is back in the courts and this time we lost. The case was heard in the Texas Supreme Court,

Texas Supreme Court Throws Out Houston's LGBT Protections
The ruling comes three months after a judge ruled that opponents of Houston's controversial non-discrimination ordinance failed to force a repeal referendum.
The Advocate
By Dawn Ennis
July 24, 2015

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that city leaders must either repeal its controversial equal rights ordinance, enacted in May 2014, or place it on the November ballot, reports the Houston Chronicle.

"We agree with the Relators that the City Secretary certified their petition and thereby invoked the City Council's ministerial duty to reconsider and repeal the ordinance or submit it to popular vote," said the Texas Supreme Court, in what is called a per curiam opinion. "The legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored."
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Texas's high court sided with City Secretary Anna Russell who earlier said enough signatures were gathered to force a repeal measure on HERO be placed on an upcoming ballot. The city's out mayor, Annise Parker, disagreed with Russell and said many of the signatures were invalid.

The media in Huston has been against us, the Huffington Post writes,

The "sexual predator" talking point has been thoroughly debunked by law enforcement experts, government officials, and advocates for sexual assault victims in states and cities that have had laws like HERO on their books for years. Non-discrimination laws don't make sexual assault legal, and sexual predators don't decide to act based on whether a local non-discrimination ordinance exists.

That kind of irresponsible coverage continued after HERO's passage, as the push to put the ordinance on the ballot gave way to an intense legal battle. Houston's Fox affiliate continued to uncritically repeat the bogus "bathroom" myth, and before long, Fox News' national network took notice. Led by Mike Huckabee, the network turned the fight in Houston into a national conservative rallying cry, peddling myths about HERO and misrepresenting legal proceedings to stoke outrage. Presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined Huckabee in using the controversy to establish his social conservative bona fides. By November of 2014, thousands of activists were descending on Houston to rally against HERO and demand a public vote.

But that didn't stop local media outlets in Houston from uncritically repeating the "bathroom" myth in their reporting on HERO. Opponents' talking points permeated local news coverage of the ordinance, resulting in a public debate that focused on conservative fearmongering rather than anti-LGBT discrimination…
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That kind of irresponsible coverage continued after HERO's passage, as the push to put the ordinance on the ballot gave way to an intense legal battle. Houston's Fox affiliate continued to uncritically repeat the bogus "bathroom" myth, and before long, Fox News' national network took notice. Led by Mike Huckabee, the network turned the fight in Houston into a national conservative rallying cry, peddling myths about HERO and misrepresenting legal proceedings to stoke outrage. Presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined Huckabee in using the controversy to establish his social conservative bona fides. By November of 2014, thousands of activists were descending on Houston to rally against HERO and demand a public vote.

I have said many times that human rights should never be put to a popular vote because they tend to impose bigotry on a marginalized minority. There is a history of ballot referendum taking away basic human rights, in the majority of states where women suffrage was on the ballot it was voted down, marriage equality was made illegal by constitutional referendums in states, and non-=discrimination laws were repealed by referendums. Will the citizens of Huston do the right thing or will the bigots win?