A petition to repeal Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations has failed to gather the necessary signatures to appear on November's ballot.
The ordinance was signed into law back in May by Mayor Annise Parker.
Lone Star Q reports:
The petition needed at least 17,269 valid signatures from registered Houston voters to put a repeal of the ordinance before voters in November.
Opponents of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) claimed to have at least 30,000 valid signatures when they submitted the petition last month. However, a group supporting the ordinance that independently reviewed the signatures determined that it had a maximum of 16,500 valid signatures.
Opponents of the ordinance have vowed to take the city to court if officials determined their petition didn't have enough valid signatures.
