Caught in a firestorm of criticism from religious groups and prominent politicians, Houston's mayor is backing down from a subpoena request for the sermons of ministers opposed to the city's equal rights law, saying it was "overly broad."
"It's not about what did you preach on last Sunday," Mayor Annise Parker said, according to
Houston news radio station KTRH.
"It should have been clarified, it will be clarified," she said.
The subpoenas to hand over all sermons and emails dealing with the issue of homosexuality or that mention Parker, the city's lesbian mayor, was slapped on five pastors and religious leaders last month — but only came to light this week when lawyers for the pastors filed a motion to quash the request,
the Houston Chronicle reports.
The response was immediate — and fiercely critical, with politicians including Texas Republican
Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas
Gov. Mike Huckabee blasting the order, and the Christian organization
Faith Driven Consumer attempting to come to the pastors' defense with a Twitter petition campaign.
The conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom filed a motion to stop the subpoenas earlier this week, the Chronicle reports.
On Wednesday, City Attorney David Feldman and Parker conceded the wording of the subpoenas was bungled, claiming they didn't know about it until this week because it had been written by outside lawyers, the Chronicle reports.
"There's no question the wording was overly broad," Parker said, the Chronicle reports.
"But I also think there was some misinterpretation on the other side," the mayor said, adding: "Let me just say that one word in a very long legal document which I know nothing about and would never have read and I'm vilified coast to coast," said Parker. "It's a normal day at the office for me."
Added Feldman: "I would not have worded it that way myself. It's unfortunate that it has been construed as some effort to infringe upon religious liberty," KTRH reports.
Feldman said the subpoena was intended to obtain communications between pastors about the signature-gathering instructions, a key part of a lawsuit opponents have brought against the city.
Critics filed suit after Feldman announced they had failed to gather enough valid signatures to force a repeal referendum, claiming the city attorney illegally inserted himself in the signature verification process, the Chronicle reports.
Still,
Breitbart news reports, it's not clear how the city officials will address other concerns of the pastors regarding their free speech and religious liberty issues with the rest of the items requested by the subpoena.
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