Post by Guadalupe on Oct 18, 2014 9:32:03 GMT -5
Eyewitness at Houston rally says community fighting 'bully tactics'
Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com) Friday, October 17, 2014
An attorney says he was an eyewitness Thursday at a rally in Houston, Texas to support local pastors in a legal fight against city government.
Kelly Shackleford of Liberty Institute was present at First Baptist Church in Houston, where he saw an overflow crowd was assembled as pastors stood in solidarity.
He believes the large crowd "sent a real strong message that this type of bully tactics by the mayor and the city are unconstitutional, and not a single pastor is going to let that happen."
The mayor of Houston is Annise Parker, a lesbian, who pushed for a homosexual-friendly "non-discrimination" ordinance for the city that was vocally opposed by the community, especially churches and their pastors.
After the "bathroom bill" ordinance passed 11-6 earlier this summer, Houston citizens responded with a petition drive to put the matter on a citywide ballot. Thousands of petition signatures were tossed out by the City of Houston due to alleged irregularities, and a group of citizens are suing the city over the rejected petition.
OneNewsNow has reported in past days that attorneys for city government are seeking sermon notes and numerous other information from five pastors – none of them involved in the lawsuit – who are suspected of opposing the city ordinance and later supporting the petition drive.
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the five pastors and is trying to quash the scope of the subpoenas in court.
David Welch, a Houston pastor who fought the ordinance, tells OneNewsNow that, from a legal standpoint, the subpoena for the pastors' sermons and communications is just harassment and intimidation.
"It's just the material faces of whether or not the over 50,000 signatures that we turned into the city were valid," he says. "And that's ultimately what leads us to the conclusion that this is simply an act of thuggery and harassment and intimidation by the city."
OneNewsNow has reported that the subpoena for one pastor, Steve Riggle, is 16 pages in length. Among the demands for court review are all documents or communications by Riggle that mention the following: the plaintiffs in the lawsuit; Mayor Parker and two other city officials; the petition and its signers, and any funding for the petition drive; any comments about 'restroom access;' any comments about "equal rights, homosexuality, gender identity;" any comments with ADF attorneys; and more.
Hans von Spakovsky, a former attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, says the City of Houston is clearly intimidating the pastors. He notes that Parker is now claiming she was unaware of the broad demands in the subpoenas.
"Her first reaction was they're entitled to them," he says, a claim that is backed up in a Houston Chronicle story quoting Parker and the city attorney.
www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2014/10/17/eyewitness-at-houston-rally-says-community-fighting-bully-tactics#.VEJ5vYvF_s4
Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com) Friday, October 17, 2014
An attorney says he was an eyewitness Thursday at a rally in Houston, Texas to support local pastors in a legal fight against city government.
Kelly Shackleford of Liberty Institute was present at First Baptist Church in Houston, where he saw an overflow crowd was assembled as pastors stood in solidarity.
He believes the large crowd "sent a real strong message that this type of bully tactics by the mayor and the city are unconstitutional, and not a single pastor is going to let that happen."
The mayor of Houston is Annise Parker, a lesbian, who pushed for a homosexual-friendly "non-discrimination" ordinance for the city that was vocally opposed by the community, especially churches and their pastors.
After the "bathroom bill" ordinance passed 11-6 earlier this summer, Houston citizens responded with a petition drive to put the matter on a citywide ballot. Thousands of petition signatures were tossed out by the City of Houston due to alleged irregularities, and a group of citizens are suing the city over the rejected petition.
OneNewsNow has reported in past days that attorneys for city government are seeking sermon notes and numerous other information from five pastors – none of them involved in the lawsuit – who are suspected of opposing the city ordinance and later supporting the petition drive.
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the five pastors and is trying to quash the scope of the subpoenas in court.
David Welch, a Houston pastor who fought the ordinance, tells OneNewsNow that, from a legal standpoint, the subpoena for the pastors' sermons and communications is just harassment and intimidation.
"It's just the material faces of whether or not the over 50,000 signatures that we turned into the city were valid," he says. "And that's ultimately what leads us to the conclusion that this is simply an act of thuggery and harassment and intimidation by the city."
OneNewsNow has reported that the subpoena for one pastor, Steve Riggle, is 16 pages in length. Among the demands for court review are all documents or communications by Riggle that mention the following: the plaintiffs in the lawsuit; Mayor Parker and two other city officials; the petition and its signers, and any funding for the petition drive; any comments about 'restroom access;' any comments about "equal rights, homosexuality, gender identity;" any comments with ADF attorneys; and more.
Hans von Spakovsky, a former attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, says the City of Houston is clearly intimidating the pastors. He notes that Parker is now claiming she was unaware of the broad demands in the subpoenas.
"Her first reaction was they're entitled to them," he says, a claim that is backed up in a Houston Chronicle story quoting Parker and the city attorney.
www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2014/10/17/eyewitness-at-houston-rally-says-community-fighting-bully-tactics#.VEJ5vYvF_s4