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Burnt Orange Report
Church Fighting Plano’s LGBT Non-Discrimination Ordinance Was Once Home To Minister Caught in Underage Sex Sting
By Katie Singh on JANUARY 14, 2015
Last month, the Plano City Council passed a non-discrimination ordinance that extended protection to its LGBT citizens. As we reported then, the measure has drawn the ire of many conservative Christians angry that the law doesn’t protect their right to be bigoted. Since the ordinance passed, they have been organizing in an effort to repeal the ordinance.
Opponents of the ordinance have launched a website to gather signatures for repeal, www.planoequalrights.com/, with the banner “Plano Citizens United: Equal Rights For All/Special Rights For None.” The site is home to lots of reactionary, discriminatory gems such as these:
“Under Plano’s new ordinance (2014-12-7) anything any business owner or employee says or does to another person regarding the person’s gender, sexuality, or “identity” may be a CRIME. Plano now CRIMINALIZES Christians’, Jews’, Muslims’, and others’ beliefs about men and women. City bureaucrats will determine whether citizens’ statements and actions are “unjust”. This policy subjects citizens to CRIMINAL SANCTIONS for our beliefs on topics affecting much of human interaction and is a direct threat to our freedoms of both speech and religion!”
As Towelroad reported, opponents of the ordinance will need 3,822 signatures by January 20 to qualify their repeal effort for the ballot. The efforts are being led by the Houston-based Texas Pastor Council, the same organization whose petition to repeal a similar ordinance was rejected due to invalid signatures, leading to a lawsuit.
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