A demand that pastors hand over sermons that mentioned homosexuality to lawyers acting for the lesbian mayor of Houston, Texas was withdrawn on 29 October.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker said that as important as it is to protect the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), the subpoenas became a distraction. The law had called for ‘all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession’.
The row stems from Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) – a law which aims to ‘prohibit discrimination’.