Houstonians Move to Repeal LGBT Rights Ordinance

Equality opponents deliver twice the required amount of signatures needed to overturn an LGBT-inclusive ordinance.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

July 05 2014 6:56 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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No, you're not having a flashback to 2004: a group of conservatives helped deliver more than double the amount of signatures needed to force a vote on a gay and trans-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance passed in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city.

The political and religious leaders proudly delivered the roughly 50,000 signatures to city officials on Thursday. If verified, an election on the ordinance will happen in November.

"It has been shown and demonstrated that the people of the city do not want this ordinance," pastor Max Miller, of the Baptist Ministers Association of Houston and Vicinity, told the Houston Chronicle. "We simply say: Allow the people to vote on this ordinance."

Lesbian mayor Annise Parker promised to fight for the ordinance, which protects LGBT people, among other groups, from discrimination in housing and employment.