What is it: The ordinance was intended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics in employment, services, housing and public accommodations. This ordinance would have ensured that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity would be illegal.
A bit of it's history: The ordinance was originally approved by the Houston City Council in May, 2014.
In April, 2015 an anti-HERO petition drive spearheaded by Dave Wilson (an anti-gay rights activist) was declared to have too few valid signatures in order to get a proposition to amend (or repeal) the ordinance on the November, 2015 election.
Subsequent to this, a Texas state judge upheld the finding that there were too few valid signatures.
In July, 2015 the Texas Supreme Court reversed the finding of the lower court - saying that the city must either repeal the ordinance, or put it on the November, 2015 ballot.
In August, 2015 the Texas Supreme Court further ruled that the city erred in choosing the language that will appear on the November ballot when the ordinance faces possible repeal.
You may have heard this ordinance referred to as the "bathroom ordinance". That is language used by the anti-gay rights faction opposed to giving people their civil rights.
So .... that's the background to the ordinance. The actual text of the ordinance is below the orange squiggle
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