As most political and legal advocates are aware by now, Houston voters went to the polls last week and overwhelmingly repealed the city’s anti-discrimination law, Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), or as it is better known, the “bathroom bill.” It is hard to imagine in these days of equality winning out over discrimination most times that the LGBT community would lose this particular ballot measure, especially by a landslide. What is even more unfortunate is the law aimed to extend civil rights protections to 15 different classes including housing, employment and public facilities (in all senses of the term) regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, marital or military status, as well as sexuality and gender identity. It’s the very last item on the list that defeated the measure and opponents did so by pulling public discussion about the law out of the realm of civil rights and into a murky world of religious liberty and possible threats posed by sexual predators.

Houston’s city council passed HERO 11-6 in May last year. Amid protests by Republicans and church leaders, the lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, who is in her third term, removed language stating that no business could deny a transgender person access to the restroom consistent with his or her gender identity. The outcome of a lawsuit that went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court stated the city had to repeal the measure or put it to a referendum.

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