A ballot proposition put forth by the El PasoCity Council that would prohibit any discrimination toward gays, lesbians, and transsexuals has one local bishop speaking out.

"We don't think that people who practice homosexual sex need government endorsement of their sexual practices, or governmental protection as a class," said Bishop Tom Brown, of the Word of Life Church.

The amendment was one of several put forth by the City Council that will appear before voters on a May 11 ballot.

"The amendment essentially says that you can't discriminate based on sexual orientation, so when making an employment decision, if somebody is as qualified as anybody else, you couldn't prohibit him or her from participating or being employed because of his or her sexual orientation," said Susie Byrd, an El Paso city council representative from District Two. "We want the best qualified person and you can't exclude somebody because of some stereotypical thinking that you might have."

Brown told KFOX14 that he is worried that women will lose their privacy because the amendment includes transsexuals.

"That would mean that men who claim to be transsexuals, whether they are or aren't, can go into women's restrooms, and we don't think that's right," he said.

Byrd rejected that idea immediately.

"I think that Pastor Brown has a unique obsession that creates a lot of very odd, delusional thinking," she said.

"The whole concept of marriage between a man and a woman goes back to the book of Genesis, and is confirmed by Jesus, so this amendment basically is undermining that entire concept, which is the bedrock of our society," Brown said.

KFOX14 asked Brown why he interprets the Bible so closely regarding the topic of homosexuality, when it also forbids the eating of shellfish, pork, the cutting of a man's beard and hair, and getting tattoos.

"The Bible says that homosexuality is an abomination," Brown replied. "The idea of shellfish and cutting the hair, those are ceremonial laws that we find in the Mosaic Covenant, however, the concept of God making us male and female precedes the fall of man, precedes any law or any regulations. You could not compare homosexuality with the forbidding of eating shellfish as if they are in the same category, they definitely are not."

Brown told KFOX14 that he feels the City Council doesn't respect democracy.

"El Pasoans already voted on this issue, they said they don't want special benefits given to unmarried partners of city employees whether they're gay or straight, but the council threw out the votes and now they want to add insult to injury by pushing its anti-traditional marriage views onto the public," he said. "It's important that ElPasoans send another message to the council, saying that they're not going to allow this to be shoved down their throats. We are going to stand for marriage, marriage is what's important, and the state of Texas, the Bible, nature, common sense, tradition, they all say that marriage is between a man and a woman."

But Byrd believes Brown only has himself to blame for the votes being nullified last time.

"He wrote a very poorly-worded ordinance that many people that I spoke to, including many educated voters, didn't understand what they were voting on, and quite frankly, what he was asking to do was discriminatory," Byrd said.