Mayor's decision to drop subpoenas fails to quell criticism Mayor says rights issue didn't belong in middle of religious freedom fight

Mayor Annise Parker announces Wednesday morning that the city of Houston will withdraw subpoenas of five pastors in the lawsuit over the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. Mayor Annise Parker announces Wednesday morning that the city of Houston will withdraw subpoenas of five pastors in the lawsuit over the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. Photo: Billy Smith II / Houston Chronicle Photo: Billy Smith II / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 26 Caption Close Mayor's decision to drop subpoenas fails to quell criticism 1 / 26 Back to Gallery

Convinced by clergymen from across the country that she had entered a raging national debate on religious freedom she wanted no part of, Mayor Annise Parker on Wednesday agreed to withdraw controversial subpoenas the city issued to five local pastors in connection with a lawsuit over Houston's equal rights ordinance.

The mayor's announcement came amid an unabated firestorm over the subpoenas, particularly among Christian conservatives and Republican politicians, who blasted Parker for trying to "silence the church."

Parker's decision represented the only viable political option, said University of Virginia law professor Douglas Laycock, a specialist in religious liberty law. Seeking so much material was inflammatory, he said, adding that much of what the city seeks can be obtained by other means.

"There was so little that seemed relevant and legitimate," he said, "they were better to just completely withdraw them."

Southern Methodist University political scientist Matthew Wilson said the mayor was bound to take flak locally for disqualifying a petition that sought to force a referendum on the ordinance, triggering the lawsuit. However, the subpoenas engaged a vocal group of national foes.

"The city can stop some of the bleeding," he said. "But much of the damage is already done."

Parker two weeks ago had left the subpoenas in place with any mention of "sermons" removed. However, the mayor said calm, respectful meetings on Tuesday with local and national pastors persuaded her to drop the requests for documents altogether.

The move is in the best interest of Houston, she said, and is not an admission that the requests were in any way illegal or intruded on religious liberties.

"I didn't do this to satisfy them," Parker said of critics. "I did it because it was not serving Houston."

Regardless, the mayor's critics were not quieted. Grace Community Church pastor Steve Riggle, who was among the subpoenaed pastors, said, "If the mayor thought the subpoenas were wrong, she would have pulled them immediately, not waited until she was forced to by national outrage."

The subpoenas were part of the discovery phase in a lawsuit filed by opponents of the equal rights ordinance, who largely take issue with the rights the non-discrimination law extends to gay and transgender residents.

Opponents filed the lawsuit after the city rejected their petition seeking a repeal referendum, saying a failure to adhere to rules in the city charter left it short of the number of signatures needed to get on the November ballot. The case is set for trial in January.

Defense of ordinance

Parker said she was persuaded, in part, by the demeanor of the clergymen she met with Tuesday, saying they were concerned not about the ordinance or politics but about the subpoenas' impact on the ongoing national discussion of religious freedoms.

"That was the most persuasive argument, because to me it was, 'What is the goal of the subpoenas?' The goal of the subpoenas is to defend against a lawsuit and not to provoke a public debate," Parker said. "I don't want to have a national debate about freedom of religion when my whole purpose is to defend a strong and wonderful and appropriate city ordinance against local attack."

Among the seven pastors who flew to Houston to meet with Parker was the Rev. Myke Crowder, of Christian Life Church in Layton, Utah. He described the meeting as "honest, respectful and serious," and said it focused not on politics but on the theological implication of the subpoenas. While the group left the meeting unsure whether Parker would pull the subpoenas, Crowder said they were confident she was taking it under consideration.

"What we did was to simply, respectfully articulate our concerns," Crowder said. "And I believe what we did was help her to understand a broader picture than what she might have seen before. She honestly listened, she asked hard questions, fair questions, and we gave her fair and honest answers."

When news of the subpoenas surfaced two weeks ago, Parker and City Attorney David Feldman said they did not know about the request for sermons and said the wording of the documents was "overly broad." That led to the wording being narrowed, which did little to dampen the outcry.

Parker admitted she is concerned that withdrawing the subpoenas could impede the city's legal defense but said the city will work the case aggressively.

A 'head fake'

The plaintiffs' attorney, Andy Taylor, called Parker's announcement a "head fake," and challenged her to not only pull down the subpoenas but to drop the city's defense of the lawsuit and put the ordinance to a vote.

"The truth is, she's using this litigation to try to squelch the voting rights of over a million well-intentioned voters here in the city of Houston," Taylor said. "It's very simple why we filed a lawsuit: Because they won't do what the city constitutional charter requires them to do."

Plaintiff and conservative activist Jared Woodfill said he was glad the subpoenas were dropped, but he and others said a planned protest rally Sunday at Riggle's church will proceed.

Though Parker has spoken of seeking statewide office as early as 2018, Wilson said the mayor's political prospects are limited, suggesting the decision to drop the subpoenas was made to shield the city from ongoing blowback rather than to smooth the path for a future campaign.

The issue may dent any future Parker political efforts, Rice University political scientist Mark Jones added, but does not necessarily preclude them. "The mayor herself did not make the initial decision to issue the subpoena, but she is making the decision to drop it," he said. "That's an important political distinction. It does show she's open to being convinced or reasoned with."

Still, Jones said, the immediate impact should not be understated, given that the issue has been used to mobilize conservatives to the polls against Parker's fellow Democrats locally and beyond.

"Regardless of how she viewed the purpose of the subpoena, it was being interpreted by others in a completely different way," Jones said, "And that interpretation was sufficiently negative that the best option was to withdraw it."