Fox News peddled a new lie about Houston, TX's LGBT non-discrimination ordinance, blaming the measure for unrelated subpoenas issued against a number of local anti-gay pastors.

On October 10, the city of Houston subpoenaed documents related its recently-passed Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) from five local pastors who had opposed the law. The subpoenas are part of the discovery phase of a lawsuit filed by opponents of the ordinance who allege that the city wrongly disqualified petition signatures supporting a repeal referendum. Conservative media outlets, led by Fox News, have inaccurately accused the city of attempting to “harass” and “bully” the anti-gay pastors, depicting the subpoenas as an assault on religious liberty. 

During the October 17 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Anna Kooiman falsely stated that the subpoenas were actually “part” of the non-discrimination ordinance:

KOOIMAN: The city now being accused of ordering its pastors to “show us your sermons” or be held in contempt of court. The move, part of an ordinance aimed at ending discrimination against the LGBT community but critics say it actually stifles religious liberty. [emphasis added]

Kooiman's lie was echoed during the same day's edition of Fox News' Outnumbered. Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers attacked the ordinance, accusing the measure of trying to “legislate speech”:

POWERS: This is such a blatant violation of the First Amendment. It's so chilling. And these anti-discrimination statutes, the way that they're being implemented is very scary and very chilling as well because it's basically, they're deciding what your views are supposed to be on certain things and they're now trying to legislate it. And they're trying to legislate speech.  [emphasis added]

The subpoenas have nothing to do with the implementation of the city's non-discrimination ordinance. The ordinance isn't even in effect yet - Houston Mayor Annise Parker agreed to delay enforcement until HERO's opponents' lawsuit is resolved. Churches are exempt from HERO, and the ordinance does not regulate anti-gay speech. HERO merely prohibits discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

Fox News' lies about Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance are part of the network's ongoing effort to smear LGBT non-discrimination laws as threats to religious liberty. Houston's entirely unrelated subpoenas against a handful of anti-gay pastors represent routine, basic lawyering, but the network is using them to invent the next front in its “fight for faith.”