The Texas Supreme Court Friday overturned the ruling of a district state court and said opponents of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) had gathered enough signatures to put it on the November ballot.
The measure—which protects people from housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status—originally passed the Houston City Council last year by a vote of 11-6.
The Supreme Court said the city council can either repeal the law within 30 days or place it on the ballot, report Rebecca Elliott and Mike Morris.
"We agree with the Relators 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 Texas Supreme Court wrote in a per curiam opinion. "The legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored." [...]
Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, who helped rally votes for the measure's passage at council, said she remains concerned that the spectacle of a political debate over the topic could, as similar debates have in other states, harm local businesses, cause the cancellation of events or conventions, and make firms less likely to relocate to Houston.
"I'm disappointed," Cohen said. "Frankly, in this day and age, particularly with the recent (U.S.) Supreme Court decision (legalizing gay marriage), I think it's a real shame that we're going to have to be debating equal rights in the fourth largest city in the United States."
In a previous version of this article, I incorrectly identified Roy Moore as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He is Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. I regret the error.