EARLY COUNT: Houston Residents Vote Down LGBT Equal Rights Measure
(CHRON) – Early voting results show Houston’s equal rights ordinance failing by a wide margin, with 62.5 percent of voters opting to repeal the law and 37.5 percent supporting the embattled ordinance.
Those results include 134,074 early voting and mail ballots but do not reflect turnout at the polls Tuesday.
The hotly contested election has spurred national attention, drawing comment from the White House and the state’s top officials. Largely conservative opponents of the law allege that it would allow men dressed as women, including sexual predators, to enter women’s restrooms. Supporters of the law, including Mayor Annise Parker, argue that it extends an important local recourse for a range of protected classes to respond to discrimination.
At opponents’ watch party in the Galleria, campaign spokesman Jared Woodfill and others erupted in cheers as the early voting results were posted.
“It’s going down,” Woodfill said. ” It’s over. Our message worked.”
In the minutes before the results, supporters said they expected to be trailing slightly in early voting but anticipated a surge in Tuesday’s results.
The ordinance bans discrimination based not just on gender identity and sexual orientation, but also 13 classes already protected under federal law: sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status.
Businesses that serve the public, private employers, housing and city contracting are all subject to the law and face up to $5,000 in fines for violations. Religious institutions, however, are exempt. The ordinance was in effect for only three months between extensive legal challenges.
City Council passed the law 11-6 in May last year, but conservative foes launched an effort to force a repeal referendum that spanned more than one year of legal challenges. In July, the Texas Supreme Court ordered the city to either repeal the law or place in the ballot. By a 12-5 vote, City Council opted for the latter, officially unleashing two dueling campaigns.
Political scientists expected the law to drive turnout, though without complete results it’s not clear to what extent that has happened. But in early voting, approximately 130,000 city voters cast ballots, more than doubling pre-election day turnout in Houston’s last open-seat mayor’s race six years ago.
http://www.chron.com/politics/election/local/article/HERO-results-6608562.php
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