City to drop pastor subpoenas

The City of Houston will withdraw its controversial subpoenas of five pastors tied to a lawsuit over the city's equal rights ordinance, Mayor Annise Parker announced at a news conference Wednesday.

The announcement came amid a national firestorm about the subpoenas, which have prompted outrage among Christian conservatives. Parker said two meetings yesterday, one with local pastors and another with national clergy, persuaded her to pull the subpoenas altogether.

"The goal of the subpoenas is to defend against the lawsuit and not to provoke a public debate," Parker said.

She is ordering the subpoenas removed for the sake of Houston, not because the request were in any way illegal or intended to intrude on religious liberties, Parker said.

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

Parker's administration already had withdrawn its request for some of the pastors' sermons, which proved a particular flashpoint, and the clergy said Tuesday she seemed to be considering whether to remove the subpoenas altogether.

When news of the subpoenas first surfaced, Parker and City Attorney David Feldman said they did not know about the request for sermons and characterized the subpoena as "overly broad."

The subpoenas are part of a discovery phase in a suit filed by equal rights opponents, who largely take issue with the rights the law extends to gay and transgender residents.