Houston has a gay mayor and is a pretty liberal democrat town, but this was a bridge too far for even them. Hillary Clinton endorsed the ordinance.
The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance was rejected after a nearly 18-month battle that spawned rallies, legal fights and accusations of both religious intolerance and demonization of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Supporters of the ordinance had said it would have offered increased protections for gay and transgender people, as well as protections against discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion and other categories.
Opponents of the ordinance, including a coalition of conservative pastors, said it infringed on their religious beliefs regarding homosexuality. But in the months leading up to Tuesday's vote, opponents focused their campaign on highlighting one part of the ordinance related to the use of public bathrooms by transgender men and women that opponents alleged would open the door for sexual predators to go into women's restrooms.
Democratic Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who is gay, and other supporters of the ordinance had called this "bathroom ordinance" strategy highly misleading and a scare tactic.
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