Houston, Texas Proposition 1, 2015

Background

Neither U.S. federal law nor Texas statewide law specifically covers sexual orientation or gender identity in employment and housing discrimination and services. On May 28, 2014, the Houston City Council voted 11-6 to enact the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). The measure bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, family, marital, and military status. The ordinance applies to businesses that serve the public, private employers, housing, city employment and city contracting. Religious institutions would be exempt. Violators could be fined up to $5,000.

Shortly thereafter, opponents of HERO drafted a petition and began gathering signatures to add a ballot measure to the November 2014 ballot to repeal the ordinance. City law required 17,296 valid signatures from registered Houston voters for a successful veto referendum petition, which would require the city council to either rescind the targeted ordinance themselves or put it before voters. This requirement was calculated by taking 10 percent of the greatest number of votes cast for mayor in any of the three preceding years. Moreover, signatures had to be submitted before the ordinance was scheduled to take effect or within 30 days of the publication of the approved ordinance, whichever came first. Opponents of HERO presented about 50,000 signatures to the Houston city secretary’s office on July 3, 2014.

Although the city secretary found enough valid signatures to make the petition sufficient, the city attorney advised her of certain problems with enough of the petition sheets to invalidate the petition. These problems included signature gatherers who were not registered to vote and petition sheets that were not signed by the signature gatherer responsible for them, as well as other, more technical problems. In reaction, the groups supporting the repeal of the ordinance filed a lawsuit against the city.

The lawsuit went to trial on January 19, 2015. Feldman announced on December 19, 2014, his plans to resign from his position as Houston City Attorney shortly before the trial began. He said that the primary reason for his resignation was a desire to return to private practice. He also noted, however, that his decision to resign was related to the lawsuit as well, saying, "Being on the outside, I'm going to be a lot freer to tell the story and to explain it to people and to debunk the myth. There's also the question of the process that was followed. These guys are saying we somehow interfered and didn't have the right do it. I need to explain what it means to be city attorney and the ethical obligation I have to the city to make sure the ordinance is enforced." As reported by the Houston Chronicle, Feldman noted, too, that if he testified in the trial as the city attorney, it would prohibit other attorneys from the city's legal department from serving as counsel for the city.

On February 13, 2015, a jury issued a verdict saying that while the petitions did not contain instances of fraud, they did contain forgeries and instances of failure to follow proper procedure. District Judge Robert Schaffer then initiated a recounting process to determine whether or not opponents of HERO had gathered enough valid signatures to satisfy the threshold of 17,296. Following the verdict in February, both sides claimed victory. A definitive answer, however, did not emerge until Judge Schaffer's ruling on April 17, 2015, when he determined that the opponents of the ordinance had not gathered enough valid signatures.

In May 2015, opponents of the ordinance asked the Texas Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus against the city of Houston. On July 24, 2015, the court granted this petition and ruled that the Houston City Council should have honored the city secretary's initial signature count and must either repeal the ordinance or include it on the November 2015 ballot, writing in a per curiam opinion, "We agree ... 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. The legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored."

The appeal of Judge Schaffer's ruling is currently on hold in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, with further litigation still possible. On November 24, 2015, Jared Woodfill, the lead plaintiff who sued the city, asked the case to be dismissed as moot. On December 15, 2015, the Court of Appeals announced it would consider the motion to dismiss alongside the merits of the case. On January 12, 2016, the Court ordered Jared Woodfill to file a brief on the merits by February 8, or the appeal would be dismissed, allowing Schaffer's ruling to stand.

Yes on Proposition 1

Proposition 1 gained the support of many prominent leaders, companies and celebrities. Thanks to the large number of wealthy and famous people in support of the proposition, the "YES" side raised $1,918,552.01, compared to the "NO" side, which raised $398,471.76 (As of December 4, 2015).

No on Proposition 1

Opposition came from anti-LGBT individuals and organizations.

Criticism of the No on Proposition 1 campaign

On November 6, 2015, at the First in the South Candidates Forum, Hillary Clinton stated that what "the far right did, very successfully, is really engender a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety, and create this backlash against this ordinance. And they used the bathroom issue. And yet, you could go to another city in Texas, like San Antonio, and you would know that that was totally without merit, that there was no basis for it. I think this is a reminder that if you stand for equal rights, if you stand against discrimination, you don’t just do it once and you’re done." She also said: "You’ve got to keep fighting for it, you’ve got to keep standing up for it, you’ve got to keep moving forward."

Political

On November 10, President Barack Obama officially announced his support for the Equality Act of 2015.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker stated: "I fear that this will have stained Houston's reputation as a tolerant, welcoming, global city. I absolutely fear that there will be a direct economic backlash as a result of this ordinance going into defeat and that’s sad for Houston."

Sports

On November 22, 2015, the National Collegiate Athletic Association said it would reconsider procedures in how it selects host cities for tournaments and championship events to include protections for the LGBT community.

In reaction, the NFL announced it will not alter plans to have the city host Super Bowl LI. Website Outsports claimed that the outcome of the vote could mean that "Houston is no longer a 'safe place' for LGBT people to visit or do business, as they can be turned away from a hotel or by a waiter or cab driver, simply for 'looking or acting' gay or being trans".

Aftermath

Houston, Texas is now the largest city in the United States without an equal rights ordinance specifically for LGBT people.

2015 Houston mayoral runoff election

Sylvester Turner, who is running against Bill King in the 2015 Houston mayoral runoff election, stated he is "100 percent" committed to reenacting Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and attacked Bill King for saying he won't revisit the issue of HERO, along with his support from the Campaign for Houston. On December 12, 2015, Sylvester Turner beat Bill King and won the 2015 Houston mayoral runoff election..