HOUSTON – Polls show that a majority of Americans oppose discrimination against anyone due to race, religion, gender or personal characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity.

But polls also show that people have a problem with allowing transgender males to use female restroom and shower facilities, and vice-versa.

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As 70-year-old Loyce Johnson of Houston was quoted as saying in the Washington Post, “Anybody with a penis, I don’t want them in the ladies’ restroom.”

That’s the issue in a hotly contested election today over the controversial Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO).

The originally proposed ordinance included language that specifically gave transgender people the right to use public restrooms and shower facilities of their choice, apparently even in schools.

That specific language resulted in an uproar, and was taken out before the ordinance became law in May 2014.

Now the ordinance is going before voters, due to an order from the Texas Supreme Court. It certainly stands a better chance of passing without specific the transgender language.

As one voter told the Washington Post after casting and early ballot, “I’m for equal rights. There wasn’t anything in there about bathrooms.”

But voters like that are apparently being misled.

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The ordinance, if approved by voters, would still have the same practical impact of allowing transgender people to use public restrooms or shower facilities of their choice, according to numerous sources.

“The gender identity provision is still in there, and theoretically still has the same effect,” Houston Public Media reporter Florian Martin told the Texas Standard. “You can’t block someone from going into a bathroom that conforms with their gender identity.”

As Metabunk.org explained it, “Parents and others expressed concerns that transgender people would be allowed to use public restrooms of the gender in which they identify themselves. The clause was ultimately removed, but transgender people can still file a discrimination complaint under the process outlined for all protected classes.”

Houston Annise Parker, a major proponent of the law, was well aware that the transgender/restroom issue would still be addressed by the ordinance.

“Under pressure, Parker removed the measure despite opposition from its supporters,” TexaxMonthly.com reported. “Following that, however, she sent a tweet that called into question the significance of the change: ‘To my trans sisters/brothers: you’re still fully protected in Equal Rights Ordinance. We’re simply removing language that singled you out.-A.’

The original HERO ordinance, as proposed by the Houston City Council in 2014, contained the following controversial language.

“It shall be unlawful for any place of public accommodation or any employee or agent thereof to intentionally deny any person entry to any restroom, shower room, or similar facility if that facility is consistent with and appropriate to that person’s expression of gender identity.”

Despite the removal of that specific language, many conservatives were not fooled.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a current Republican candidate for president, was outspoken in his opposition to the ordinance and called for protests at Houston City Hall.

A group of area pastors started a petition drive to put the issue on the city ballot in November, 2014, but the city attorney eventually ruled that too many petition signatures were invalid, according to various news sources.

Several plaintiffs responded with a lawsuit over the legitimacy of the petitions and the case found its way to the Texas Supreme Court.

In July, 2015 the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs:

“The legislative power reserved to the people is not being honored…,” the court ruled, according to TexasMonthly.com. “Any enforcement of the ordinance shall be suspended, and the City Council shall reconsider the ordinance. 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.”

The transgender issue remains at the forefront of the campaign to defeat Proposition 1, on the even of the election. While earlier polls showed the proposal having a good chance to pass, the election is now considered too close to call.

Several organizations and thousands of citizens have been urging the public to defeat Proposition 1, because they understand the full implications.

“Vote no on Proposition One,” former Houston Astros star Lance Berkman says in an ad. “No men in women’s bathrooms, no boys in girls’ showers or locker rooms.”

“Houston voters do not want men in their women’s bathrooms,” said the Rev. Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastors’ Council. “It’s an invasion of privacy, an invasion of a safe space for women and girls.”

The “Campaign for Houston” is also fighting against Proposition 1, because its members believe that it could infringe on the “privacy and safety” of citizens – particularly women – using public restrooms and/or shower facilities.

The group’s website notes that there are more than 8,000 registered convicted sex criminals in Harris County, where Houston is located. It also points out that the ordinance would impact young students as well as adult citizens.

“If passed, Houston’s Proposition 1, the so-called ‘equal rights’ ordinance which is the ‘bathroom ordinance,’ would allow troubled men and sexual predators who claim to be women to enter women’s public accommodations, including bathrooms and showers.

“It would also allow boys to share shower and locker room facilities with girls in the schools, just as it has happened in California and other states.

“Would you agree that men should not be allowed to use women’s public bathrooms, showers or locker rooms just because they say they ‘feel’ like a woman? Feelings do not change the facts. A man who says he is a transgender female is still a man, no matter what he says he is.”