Campaign To Repeal Houston LGBT Rights Ordinance Fails Petition Count

Despite the great show and fanfare that they put on as they delivered supposedly 50,000 signatures on petitions seeking to put the repeal of Houston, Texas' LGBT rights ordinance on the ballot, the animus inspired hate merchants failed to produce enough valid signatures to put the measure up to a popular vote.  Despite the self-proclaimed "godliness" of the opponents to the LGBT rights ordinance, more than half of the signatures turned in were not valid (actually, roughly 69% were invalid).  That's right, they flawed and/or fraudulent.  As I have stated many times before, no one is more dishonest that the "godly Christian" crowd.  Here are highlights from the Houston Chronicle about the failed effort of the Christofascists and their allies:

Opponents of Houston's new non-discrimination ordinance did not get enough valid signatures to force a November repeal referendum, Mayor Annise Parker and City Attorney David Feldman announced Monday.

"With respect to the referendum petition filed to repeal the 'HERO' ordinance, there are simply too many documents with irregularities and problems to overlook," Feldman said. "The petition is simply invalid. There is no other conclusion."

The council approved the ordinance on an 11-6 vote in May. Opponents who took issue with the protections extended to gay and transgender people under the ordinance promised to send the issue to the voters. On July 3, they claimed to have delivered more than 50,000 signatures to the city secretary's office.

Opponents needed a minimum of 17,269 valid signatures - 10 percent of the ballots cast in the last mayoral election - to put a referendum on the November ballot. Feldman said some of the petition gatherers did not satisfy the requirements set out for such petitions in the city charter, such as by not being registered Houston voters or by not signing the petition themselves. If such requirements were not met, he said, all the signatures the circulator gathered were invalid.

Less than half of the more than 5,000 pages opponents submitted were valid, Feldman said, leaving the final valid tally at 15,249 signatures.

 Dave Welch of the Houston Area Pastor Council helped lead the repeal petition effort. He pledged to fight the Parker's decision in court.

"It is what it is," she [Mayor Parker] said. "As I've said throughout this process, I fully expected there would be legal pressure from one side or the other, however the issue came out. I fully expected it to end up on a ballot, and we would win. If it does not wind up on a ballot, it saves the city a significant amount of money and effort mounting a legal campaign, in addition to the community's efforts on both sides to wage that campaign."

Note how Welsh and his cohorts simply cannot admit (i) that they turned in bogus petitions and (ii) the days of Christofascists forcing their beliefs on all are over, even in red states like Texas.  They may win a few rear guard actions, but they have lost the war.  They are becoming more akin to failed segregationists of yesteryear with every passing day.  They cannot stand that they are quickly becoming irrelevant.