In a unanimous opinion, the Texas supreme court ruled today that the Houston city council acted illegally when it refused to allow a voter referendum on its so-called equal-rights ordinance. Among other things, that ordinance requires that women’s restrooms be shared with men who identify as women.

The court ruled that the city secretary’s certification that the referendum petition had the requisite number of signatures triggered a ministerial duty on the city council’s part to put the ordinance to a popular vote. The court ordered the ordinance suspended. It further ordered the city council to reconsider the ordinance and either to repeal it by August 24 or to allow a referendum vote on it this November.

This is the latest episode in the saga over the Houston ordinance. As you may recall, last October Houston mayor Annise Parker and city attorney David Feldman served grossly overbroad subpoenas on five pastors who had supported the referendum petition to repeal the ordinance. After the ensuing explosion over the massive intrusion on religious liberty, Parke and Feldman withdrew the subpoenas.