Houston Passes Wide-Reaching Non-Discrimination Ordinance

Hope for Texas?

Houston Passes Wide-Reaching Non-Discrimination Ordinance

by David Badash on May 28, 2014


The Houston city council this evening passed an historic non-discrimination ordinance that bans discrimination on the basis of “sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or pregnancy.” Houston, a city of more than 2.1 million people and America’s fourth-largest, had been the only major U.S. city without a non-discrimination ordinance. The vote was 11-6.

City council members, led by Mayor Annise Parker (above), heard testimony from over 200 citizens supporting and opposed to the legislation, for more than ten hours. The vast majority who testified today were in support of the ordinance.

Supporters, many wearing red, called the ordinance #HERO, for Houston Equal Rights ordinance.

Opponents, mostly religious, like Pastor Ed Young, earlier had claimed the ordinance “discriminates against people, like you and me, who want to live by our own personal convictions.”

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