Some Houston pastors are standing up to government tyranny.

Here’s the story: The city’s lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, violated the city charter by refusing to heed a petition citizens brought forth against an unpopular Equal Rights Ordinance — Houston’s now-infamous “bathroom bill.” In adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the city’s non-discrimination provision, the ordinance, pushed by the mayor and passed by the city council, allows full use of public accommodations, including restrooms, by people who say they are one gender, when they were born another.

Let me put this bluntly. The LGBT movement has gone way beyond asking for tolerance for their proclivities. In this case they have demanded — and received the so-called civil right for men to present themselves as women and use the ladies’ facilities. Maybe that man really is transgendered, either surgically, or just tragically confused. But Houston citizens don’t want to elevate that sad situation over their privacy. And they really don’t want to provide a legal opportunity for men to dress as women and ogle, expose themselves to, or attack their daughters in the ladies room.

A petition drive to get a ballot initiative to overturn the “bathroom law” drew 55,000 signatures. The city attorney refused to honor 38,000 of those already-legally-certified petitions. The petition organizers sued. In response, the city subpoenaed certain pastors’ sermons and other communications.

Houston’s attempt at sermon oversight hasn’t gone down well. Hundreds gathered at a rally featuring the pastors and led by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, whose dad is a pastor. The day after the rally, the city filed a revised subpoena that did not include the word “sermons.”

The pastors’ counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom said, “The city of Houston still doesn’t get it ….That solves nothing. Even though the pastors are not parties in this lawsuit, the subpoenas still demand from them 17 different categories of information – information that encompasses speeches made by the pastors and private communications with their church members.”

Houston seeks to review the communications of pastors who have merely voiced their opinion on a law they believe to be unjust.

Folks, what happens in Houston will not stay in Houston. This is pure political intimidation and God-fearing Americans must stand against it. In defense of her subpoenas, Mayor Parker, who refers to her partner as “the first lady,” tweeted “Pastors are fair game.”

We’ve got to be proud of these pastors and hope that this serves as a wake up call to others. There’s a dangerous challenge to their liberty to spread biblical truth. In Texas, there was a wave of support we might not see in more liberal states. So pastors across the nation must gird their loins and be ready.

As Senator Ted Cruz said at the rally, “Caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit.” Sometimes, we have to stand up and fight for our constitutional rights to make sure it stays that way.