It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last.  But here in America it takes one’s breath away.  Here’s the story:

In the spring of 2014 the Houston City Council proposed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO).  It has been nicknamed the “bathroom bill” because it guarantees special rights for homosexuals, among them a provision that any person may use whichever public restroom he desires according to what he (or she) feels is his inner sexual identity.  In other words, if a man persuades himself that he is really a woman trapped in a male body, he can use the women’s restroom.  Never mind what one’s outer physical equipment proves, it’s what one perceives himself to be inside.  If a man considers himself to be a woman, no one may prevent him from going into the woman’s restroom.

The problems with this ordinance are obvious.  Women may not like the idea of having a man in their restroom.  Too bad.  Mothers (and fathers)may not be comfortable with their young daughters exposed to strange men when they are engaged in doing their very private business. There is practical, very real danger.  Any predator may now declare himself a woman and descend upon a women’s restroom, and there is no way to prevent his being there.  Add to that the robbery of a woman’s dignity.

Members of the Houston Area Pastor’s Council stepped up to oppose the ordinance based, among other things, on the principle of equal rights.  (HERO grants rights to homosexuals that others do not possess.) The pastors commissioned an opinion poll which revealed that 87 percent of the people of Houston opposed the ordinance.  The pastors presented those findings to Mayor Anise Parker and the City Council and asked that the proposed law not be adopted.  City Council adopted it anyway.

That prompted a petition to have the ordinance withdrawn and placed on a ballot for public approval or rejection.  To secure such a referendum requires 17,000 signatures.  Fifty-five thousand people signed on.  Should be a slam dunk, right?  No.  The mayor, who is openly Lesbian, and the city attorney threw out over half the names, allegedly because they were illegible.  The referendum was denied.

Accordingly, the pastors along with other citizens filed suit to protect the people’s right to vote.  During the discovery phase of the litigation, a few days ago, attorneys for the city issued a subpoena to five pastors demanding that they hand over seventeen different kinds of personal communications, including “all speeches, presentations, or sermons” if they referred to HERO, the petition, Mayor Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity.

And that’s where things stand.   The pastors have refused to surrender their papers, citing freedom of religion clauses in the U.S. Constitution.  One pastor, the Rev. Steve Riggle, who leads the Grace Community Church, explained, “They can have my sermons.  They are public anyway and are posted on the church’s website.  But other communications are protected by freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”  Clearly, what we have in Houston is an attempt to silence the pastors and to negate the uncomfortable influence of the Bible. 

Unfortunately, this is not the only case presently occurring in this country.  In Couer d’Alene, Idaho, Rev. Donald Knapp and his wife Evelyn run the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel.  Two days after same sex marriage became legal in Idaho a man called to inquire about scheduling a same sex wedding.  The Knapps refused, citing the Bible’s teaching on marriage and on homosexuality.  As this is written, the Knapps face 180 days in jail and a $1000 fine for every day they refuse to comply.  That could mean years in prison and financial bankruptcy.  Because the Knapps have said they will not back down.

I say to pastors and to Christians everywhere: you are looking at the future.  This is a conflict that permits no compromise.  Christians obey a higher law.  And God’s law is not ambiguous.  Homosexuality (among other sins) is morally condemned.  And marriage by definition is only between a man and a woman.  Wishing otherwise will not make it so.  Here is where Christians must stand.  Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” (John:8:31)  And he added, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 14:35)  Settled. Forever.

The foundations of Western civilization, as we have known it for 500 years, were set in concrete when Martin Luther stood defiant before the Diet of Worms.  The princes of the church and the realm pointed to copies of all his books and writings on the table before him.  They demanded that he recant and deny them.  Luther is famously said to have declared, “Unless I can be shown by Scripture or by reason from the Scriptures, here I stand!  I can do no other.  God help me!”  That was the cry that toppled the ruling powers and established the Word of God as the driving force behind the culture of Europe and the West.  In Houston, all of that is under attack.

Mayor Parker and the Houston City Council may think they are striking a blow for unequal equality and against the old morality.  They may congratulate themselves for (so far) winning a victory that stomps on the Word of God.  But in the end it will be they who pass away.  And the Word of God will remain. 

Dr. Rick Perrin is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and Chairman of the Board of World Reformed Fellowship..  He writes a weekly blog called ReTHINK which may be accessed at www.rethinkingnews.wordpress.com. He may be contacted directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Tags: Houston religious liberty homosexual>

Davi Gomes

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