
Recently Houston enacted a city ordinance which provided special protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) persons against discrimination. And while the openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, was the spark for this action, she enraged many Christians by adding a provision which would allow someone to choose which restroom facility they wanted to use in public facilities based upon their "feelings" at the time they wanted to use them. This would be applied to all public facilities, including schools with community shower rooms, something that clearly enraged parents. This has happened in a number of communities where left wing leaders have pushed the envelope and it was soon challenged.
A group of Christians decided they wanted to place their challenge on the ballot in an upcoming election and they gathered over 50,000 thousand petitition signatures to do just that. Less than 18,000 were needed to do so and they felt they had accomplished their goal. But the city attorney determined that most of the signatures were not representative of legal voters and denied it, also indicating that he needed to show no evidence of his finding.
Enraged, many Christians spoke out, including a number of pastors from the pulpits of their churches and, in retaliation, Mayor Parker subpoenaed the sermons from five noted area pastors who, while not directly involved in the ballot gathering, had voiced their concerns. The pastors vowed not to comply and gained an extensive outpouring of support from the Christian community both in Houston, the state of Texas and many other parts of the country.
The mayor relented last night, realizing that public opinion was not on her side and that she would lose in any court proceeding. You see, folks, left wing extremists of all types think they don't have to comply with the Constitution and its provisions. They think that freedom of religion, just like general freedom of speech and such things as the right to bear arms are just trivial things they can ignore. But when Americans speak out as they did in this particular issue, they are forced to back off and it is our duty, as Constitution supporting, law abiding citizens to stand for the law of the land whenever it is challenged.
This is encouraging because it shows that there indeed is a huge silent majority out there who, when it speaks, has great power. And it makes me wonder when this same majority will speak out in huge numbers against other forms of tyranny at other levels of government. I think everyone knows what and of whom I am speaking.
Stand with God and stand by our Constitution and always demand our freedom. We Christians are the most tolerant people on earth, and isn't it strange that a particular group of people, a group which stated it only wanted to be treated with tolerance, is unwilling to respond in kind? It just proves that we must never sell out our soul and remain loyal to our values and our God for he is the ultimate authority. It's what is expected of us.
So we've won one small battle, but there are many more similar ones which will arise. Are you ready to meet the challenge ahead?