The Houston city ordinance that would have permitted transgenders to use women's bathrooms has been defeated by a wide margin by the voters.
The ordinance was backed by openly gay Houston Mayor Annise Parker, which was passed by the City Council 11 to 6 last year.
The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), lost in the city votes with over 62 percent residents rejecting it.
Over the course of the year after it was introduced, the anti-discriminatory laws expanded, such that the use of common bathroom by transgenders and women came to be understood as expression of equal rights in the ordinance.
Washington-based Family Research Council was one of the organizations that was at the forefront of the raging debate over the issue.
"Houstonians' religious freedom, freedom of speech, and the right to petition their government have won the day, but much more work remains to be done to safeguard these freedoms across the nation," said Tony Perkins, FRC President.
"Houston has become a rallying cry for Americans tired of seeing their freedoms trampled in a politically correct stampede to redefine marriage and sexuality," Perkins added.
Activists in support of repealing the ordinance also said that the law may put many Christian business owners liable to pay huge fines for refusing to let men use women's bathrooms.
There was strong opposition from the Houston government to let the ordinance be put to popular vote. Even after 55,000 signatures were submitted to the city council, more than the 17,269 needed to put it on referendum, the officials were reluctant to pass it on to public voting. But the Texas Supreme court ruled in July that "the legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored," and so the ordinance was put on ballot.
"The City Council is directed to comply with its duties, as specified in the City Charter, that arise when the City Secretary certifies that a referendum petition has a sufficient number of valid signatures. Any enforcement of the [Equal Rights] ordinance will be suspended. If the City Council does not repeal the ordinance by August 24, 2015, then by that date the City Council must order that the ordinance be put to popular vote during the November 2015 election," said the high court decision.
Supporters of the ordinance said that the provision benefited transgenders as they were not comfortable using men's bathroom.
"No one's rights should be subject to a popular vote. I absolutely fear there will be a direct economic backlash," said Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
An anti-ordinance group started by a former Astros player Lance Berkman, Campaign for Houston, asked the voters to say 'no' to the ordinance on its website: "Campaign for Houston is made up of parents and family members who do not want their daughters, sisters or mothers forced to share restrooms in public facilities with gender-confused men, who - under this ordinance - can call themselves 'women' on a whim and use women's restrooms whenever they wish. This 'bathroom ordinance' therefore is an attempt to re-structure society to fit a societal vision we simply do not share or can support."
