The city of Houston, Texas, demanded the content of sermons given by pastors who spoke against LGBTs, defying a local ordinance banning such discrimination. As a result, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) spoke at a Houston church, arguing that the city and mayor abused their power.

Cruz reminded his audience that America was founded by those trying to escape religious suppression. He said, according to a video of his speech, that the city of Houston and its mayor Annise Parker, who is gay, “has no power, no legal authority, to silence the church.”

Pastors from the Houston area showed their support by standing next to Sen. Cruz, who is likely to run in the 2016 presidential election, as he gave his speech.

The pastors are worried their speeches may be seen as violating an ordinance passed last May which consolidated preexisting bans on many types of discrimination and included more protection for gay and transgender residents. However, as reported by the Washington Times, the ordinance was intended to protect against wrongful discrimination in employment, service at hotels and restaurants, and housing, in particular allowing opposite-sex use of restrooms, and religious institutions are supposedly exempt.

However, five pastors were subpoenaed and all speeches, presentations, and sermons related to this new ordinance, the mayor, or gender identity were demanded from them.

Christian activists, in trying to repeal the ordinance, filed a lawsuit against city officials after they failed to get enough signatures on their petition to put the ordinance back on the ballot.

The sermons are to be used as evidence against the lawsuit put forward by these Christian activists. Mayor Parker and city attorney David Feldman said the subpoenas were written by an outside firm and may have been poorly written. Neither had read the documents before they were served and even claimed they were not aware of their existence.

Though these five pastors are fighting to keep their sermons from being used against them, Cruz assured, “If the mayor and the city attorney and the city government want to hear sermons, let me invite you come join us to hear the sermon Sunday morning.”