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Mayor Parker revises, narrows sermon subpoena request
By Mike Morris | October 17, 2014 | Updated: October 17, 2014 12:23pm
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Photo By Cody Duty/StaffProtestors gather outside of City Hall after Mayor Annise Parker and supporters of her proposed nondiscrimination ordinance announced a compromise, Tuesday, May 13, 2014, in Houston. The proposed change in the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance would specify that no business open to the public could deny a transgender person entry to the restroom consistent with his or her gender identity. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle)
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Photo By Marie DeJesus / Houston ChronicleSen. Ted Cruz speaks out against Houston City Hall's subpoena request for the sermons of certain ministers opposed to the city's equal rights ordinance. Cruz spoke Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, at First Baptist Church, 7401 Katy Freeway.
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Photo By Marie D. De Jesus/StaffSupporters of the equal rights ordinance encourage speakers in favor of the proposal on Wednesday.
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Photo By Marie D. De Jesus/Houston ChronicleProtestors against the equal rights ordinance gather outside the Houston City Hall during the city council meeting in which the future of the ordinance will be decided, Wednesday, May 28, 2014, in Houston.
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Photo By Melissa Phillip/StaffJared Woodfill, left, David Welch, right, and others with a group seeking to repeal Houston's equal rights ordinance delivered boxes of signatures to the office of the Houston city secretary on July 3.
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Photo By Thomas B. Shea/For The ChronicleFormer city councilor Jolanda Jones speaks about Equal Rights Ordinance on August 15, 2014 at 201 Caroline St. in Houston, TX.
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Photo By Thomas B. Shea/For The ChronicleMarcus Smith with University of Houston NAACP speaks about Equal Rights Ordinance on August 15, 2014 at 201 Caroline St. in Houston, TX.
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Photo By Thomas B. Shea/For The ChronicleRev. Michael Diaz speaks about Equal Rights Ordinance on August 15, 2014 at 201 Caroline St. in Houston, TX.
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Photo By Thomas B. Shea/For The ChroniclePeople listen as former city councilor Jolanda Jones speaks about Equal Rights Ordinance on August 15, 2014 at 201 Caroline St. in Houston, TX.
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Photo By Thomas B. Shea/For The ChronicleMahpreet Singh speaks about Equal Rights Ordinance on August 15, 2014 at 201 Caroline St. in Houston, TX.
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Photo By Thomas B. Shea/For The ChronicleAttorney Danyahel Norris speaks about Equal Rights Ordinance on August 15, 2014 at 201 Caroline St. in Houston, TX.
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Photo By Thomas B. Shea/For The ChronicleLou Weaver speaks about Equal Rights Ordinance on August 15, 2014 at 201 Caroline St. in Houston, TX.
Mayor Annise Parker on Friday followed through on her pledge to narrow the scope of subpoenas sent to local pastors who led opposition to the city's equal rights ordinance earlier this year.
Though the subpoena's new wording removes any mention of "sermons" — a reference that created a firestorm among Christian conservative groups and politicians, including Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who accused Parker of trying "to silence the church" — the mayor acknowledged the new subpoenas do not explicitly preclude sermons from being produced.
"We don't need to intrude on matters of faith to have equal rights in Houston, and it was never the intention of the city of Houston to intrude on any matters of faith or to get between a pastor and their parishioners," Parker said. "We don't want their sermons, we want the instructions on the petition process. That's always what we wanted and, again, they knew that's what we wanted because that's the subject of the lawsuit."
Opponents took advantage of the broad original language, Parker said, to deliberately misinterpret the city's intent and spur what City Attorney David Feldman called a "media circus."
The lawsuit, set for trial in January, was filed by opponents of a nondiscrimination measure City Council passed in May. Known as HERO, for Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, the law bans discrimination among businesses that serve the public, private employers, in housing and in city employment and city contracting. Religious institutions are exempt. The city has suspended enforcement of the ordinance until the case is resolved.
Opponents had mounted a petition drive to force a vote to repeal the ordinance, but city officials ruled thousands of signatures ineligible and did not place the item on the ballot, triggering the suit.
The subpoenas now seek "all speeches or presentations related to HERO or the Petition" the pastors delivered, revised, approved or have on hand. Previously, the wording, also had mentioned "sermons" as well as "homosexuality, or gender identity," protected classes that were covered in the city ordinance but are not listed in state or federal laws.
Though the subpoenas still cover speeches or presentations related to HERO, Parker stressed the filing was "not about HERO, it's about the petitions."
"If during the course of the sermon — and I doubt this very much — a pastor took 15 or 20 minutes to go into detail about how the petition process goes, then that's part of the discovery," she said. "But that's not about preaching a sermon on anybody's religious beliefs, it's not conveying a religious message, that's part of the petition process, and all we're interested in is the petition process."