ADDENDUM::Texans Owner Donates $10,000 To Fight LGBT Protections In Houston | ThinkProgress

 There will be an update coming!!

Is Michael Sams correct, that anti-gay biases that still permeate the league?

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair has donated $10,000 to Campaign for Houston, an organization that opposes the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), a nondiscrimination law that’s up for vote on November 3rd.

While the ordinance provides wide-ranging nondiscrimination protections for Houston residents and visitors, including in cases of race, sexuality, gender, disability, nationality, and religion, the Campaign for Houston has centered in on LGBT protections, particularly the fact that this law allows trans women to use women’s restrooms and trans men to use men’s restrooms.

“We are Citizens of Houston of all races, creeds and political beliefs who feel there should be NO MEN IN WOMEN’S BATHROOMS,” the organization’s website reads.
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The NFL’s interest in Houston’s nondiscrimination ordinance goes beyond McNair, however: The city is set to host the Super Bowl in 2017. In 2014, Arizona was in the news due to the state’s Religious Freedoms Restoration Act, which allowed businesses the right to discriminate against customers and patrons based on their religious beliefs. The bill was considered a “license to discriminate” against LGBT customers.

At the time, the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury all spoke out against the law. The NFL even released a statement that said, “Our policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other improper standard.”

Many believed that the league would move the Super Bowl from Arizona if the bill was passed, but Gov. Jan Brewer (R) vetoed it before that became an issue. The same concern has been raised in Houston.

Texans Owner Donates $10,000 To Fight LGBT Protections In Houston | ThinkProgress

Houston Haters Launch Website, Release Disgusting Anti-LGBT Radio Ad: LISTEN - Towleroad

Last week, we told you how opponents of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) had resurrected the moniker from a disgusting, anti-gay crusade 30 years ago — the “Campaign for Houston” — during which one mayoral candidate said the best way to control AIDS would be to “shoot the queers.”

And so far, it appears the 2015 “Campaign for Houston” will be every bit as hateful as the 1985 version.

Opponents of HERO, which will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot, have unveiled the campaign’s website, featuring the image shown above, and released their first radio ad, in which a female narrator states:

“No men in women’s bathrooms. Let me tell you why. One day, I hope to be pregnant and deliver my beautiful baby right here in Houston, but I’m concerned because the city of Houston is proposing an ordinance that would allow men to use the women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. We are being told the ordinance will prevent discrimination against pregnant women. That makes absolutely no sense. There are already federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination against pregnant women, but this ordinance will allow men to freely go into women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and showers. That is filthy, that is disgusting and that is unsafe. Join me and other women in Houston as we vote ‘No’ on Mayor Parker’s bathroom ordnance. And again, let me make this very clear, on behalf of all moms, sisters and daughters, no men in women’s bathrooms.”

Houston Haters Launch Website, Release Disgusting Anti-LGBT Radio Ad: LISTEN - Towleroad

Court Nixes Houston Anti-LGBT Petition That Included Forged, Invalid Signatures | ThinkProgress

The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance passed last May banned discrimination in housing, employment, and city contracts, whether that discrimination is based on race, sex, sexual orientation or other factors. But a campaign to take down the law that honed in on its LGBT protections demonized it as a “bathroom bill” on the claim that allowing transgender individuals to use the women’s restroom would create a dangerous opportunity for sexual predators.

The so-called HERO law was on hold in the year since, after opponents submitted a referendum petition to have the law recalled that local officials found contained invalid signatures. Late Friday, a judge ruled in favor of the city, finding that the referendum did not have enough valid signatures to move forward. “[A]s a matter of fact and as a matter of law … the Referendum Petition is not valid or enforceable in all respects,” Judge Robert Schaffer found.

“Now all Houstonians have access to the same protections,” Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement. Houston was one of the largest cities in the country without any nondiscrimination law, and the ruling could signal the end of attempts to thwart the law, although the plaintiffs could appeal.

Court Nixes Houston Anti-LGBT Petition That Included Forged, Invalid Signatures | ThinkProgress

Houston declares Houston Equal Rights Ordinance repeal petition invalid | abc13.com

Houston officials say the city's non-discrimination ordinance will not be put on an election ballot after they deemed the ordinance's repeal petition invalid.

Houston City Attorney Dave Feldman says the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance repeal petition failed to garner the signatures to put the ordinance to vote.

"The charter requirements are in place to ensure a fair and credible process absent of fraud," Houston City Attorney Dave Feldman said. "In this instance ... this petition filed to repeal the HERO ordinance, there are simply too many documents with irregularities and problems to overlook. The petition is simply invalid, there is no other conclusion."

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Even though the petition failed, Mayor Annise Parker says the ordinance still won't be immediately enforced.

"I fully expect ... petitioners will to head to the courthouse. I'm confident that the courts will agree with the strict interpretation of the rules set out in the charter for the requirements and that the courts will protect the integrity of our petition process," Parker said. "Since I do have expectation that there will be some legal action, I'm going to delay implementation of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, not indefinitely but certainly to allow these issues to work their way out."

Parker is right. Opponents of the ordinance are promising a legal fight.

"All we are asking is for the public to have their say," said Pastor Dave Welch, head of the Houston Area Pastors Council and a driving force behind the petitions. "Unfortunately, this administration has once again excluded people. Complete lack of integrity. Which we're not surprised either, so we're going to pursue legal remedies and we'll see what form that takes." Welch and his supporters are expected to file a lawsuit. The exact date is unclear, though it could come as early as end of the week. (**The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow August 15 according to other sources.)

Houston declares Houston Equal Rights Ordinance repeal petition invalid | abc13.com