Defeat of Houston LGBT-rights measure may have broad impact

By a 61-to-39-percent margin, voters in America's fourth largest city on Tuesday rejected a broad equal-rights ordinance — extending protections in employment, housing and public spaces on the basis of race, sexual orientation, gender identity and other categories.

Opponents prevailed with a campaign that dubbed the measure "the bathroom ordinance" and raised the specter of male sexual predators invading women's restrooms.

The outcome was "a devastating blow to equality," said the Human Rights Campaign, a national group advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The ordinance lost despite strong support from many major businesses, and despite its supporters' arguments that serious problems with bathroom access have been virtually nonexistent in the 17 states and scores of cities that have banned discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations.

Since they can no longer stop same-sex couples from getting married, this is the next page in their attempts to discriminate against the LGBT community.

Ordinance supporters, including the Greater Houston Partnership, an influential business group, had warned that defeat of the measure might trigger economic boycotts or endanger plans for Houston to host the Super Bowl in 2017 or the NCAA Final Four in 2016.

In Palatine, Illinois, for example, school officials are at odds with the U.S. Education Department after being told they're violating federal law by denying a transgender student unrestricted access to a girls' high school locker room.