Houston’s Mayor Backtracks on Church Subpoenas, Tosses Her Own Lawyers Under the Bus

◼ Houston’s power-mad Mayor Annise Parker has backtracked on those subpoenas that she had the city issue to five city pastors, at taxpayer expense. - Bryan Preston/PJMedia

The mayor made the move as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter to Parker asking that she withdraw the subpoenas “immediately.”

Attorney General Greg Abbott Asks Houston City Attorney to Withdraw Subpoenas Seeking Sermons, Other Documents from Houston-area Pastors

AUSTIN — Attorney General Abbott today asked that the Houston City Attorney to immediately withdraw the subpoenas sent last month to several Houston-area pastors seeking sermons, notes and other information.

In his letter to the city attorney, Attorney General Abbott said, “Whether you intend it to be so or not, your action is a direct assault on the religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment. The people of Houston and their religious leaders must be absolutely secure in the knowledge that their religious affairs are beyond the reach of the government.”

Houston’s ◼ KTRH radio reports that Parker is shifting her position.

The mayor says the subpoenas were too broad, and should not have included actual sermons.

“It’s not about what did you preach on last Sunday,” Parker told reporters Wednesday. “It should have been clarified, it will be clarified.”

Actually it was very much about what pastors preached, and how they communicate with each other and with ministry staff.

◼ The subpoenas

Background:
◼ City of Houston demands pastors turn over sermons - FOX

The city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor. And those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court.

“The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Christina Holcomb said in a statement. “The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.”

...The subpoenas are just the latest twist in an ongoing saga over the Houston’s new non-discrimination ordinance. The law, among other things, would allow men to use the ladies room and vice versa. The city council approved the law in June.

◼ An Open Letter to Houston Mayor Annise Parker from a Pastor - Titus Live
◼ Is Houston’s Lesbian Mayor Really Out to Get Conservative Preachers? - NY Magazine
◼ Mayor, city attorney distance themselves from sermon subpoenas - Houston Chronicle