News & Reporting

Update (Sept. 17): Baptist Press reports on the first likely casualty of San Antonio's new policy: major meetings by Southern Baptists at the city's convention center.

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Update (Sept. 9): Religion Clause clarifies the details of San Antonio's expanded non-discrimination policy.

The controversial "word or deed" portion was amended to no longer focus on past statements by city officials. The final wording:

No appointed official or member of a board or commission shall engage in discrimination or demonstrate a bias, by word or deed, against any person, group of persons, or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age or disability, while acting in their official capacity while in such public position.

The ordinance also states, "Nothing herein shall be construed as requiring any person or organization to support or advocate any particular lifestyle or religious view, or advance any particular message or idea."

Baptist Press offers more on the free speech and religious freedom concerns of the ordinance's critics.

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Nearly 200 cities nationwide ban discriminatory actions against LGBT residents. But yesterday, San Antonio—the seventh-largest city in America—became the first to prohibit the election of city council members who have demonstrated a past bias against gay and transgender people by their spoken words, not just their deeds.

The city council's new anti-discrimination ordinance states, "No person shall be appointed to a position if the City Council finds that such person has, prior to such proposed appointment, engaged in discrimination or demonstrated a bias, by word or deed, against any person, group or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, or disability."

The New York Times reports more details:

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