Berkman jab at Houston Equal Rights Ordinance draws fire

HOUSTON (AP) — Former Houston Astros star Lance Berkman's public opposition to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is drawing fire from the city's mayor.

In one of a series of Twitter messages, Mayor Annise Parker, who is openly gay, called her fellow Rice University alumnus a "hypocrite" over a television commercial Berkman recorded for the anti-HERO Campaign for Houston PAC.

The ordinance, which awaits voter approval Nov. 3, bans discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. In the spot, Berkman attacks what he calls the "bathroom ordinance" that he says "would allow troubled men to enter women's public restrooms, showers and locker rooms." Berkman, who notes he has a wife and four daughters, says the ordinance would "put them in harm's way" and is "just wrong."