Houston, TX – Years after a Jewish couple in Houston were fined for displaying a mezuzah on the door frame of the condo they rented in the Heights, a new Texas law prohibits home owners’ associations from banning such religious objects.
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The bill was one of the final pieces of legislation signed by Gov. Rick Perry at the end of the session Friday and prevents restrictions against “displaying or affixing on the entry to the owner’s or resident’s dwelling one or more religious items the display of which is motivated by the owner’s or resident’s sincere religious belief.” (An association may still put rules in place to restrict the size of an item or ban objects with offensive imagery or language. Full text of the bill is available here.)
“People assume that religious freedom is something you just have, and they take it for granted. It’s good to know that these laws are out there,” said Monica Lundeen Smith, whose case led Rep. Garnet Coleman, of Houston, to push the bill through the Texas legislature. Similar laws are on the books in Illinois and Florida, both responses to mezuzah cases.
The Torah instructs Jews to keep God’s commandments “upon the doorposts of thy house,” so Jewish homes and businesses hang small boxes containing a tiny Torah scroll by entrance doors, called mezuzot. They serve as a reminder of God’s laws and some believe they also provide blessings and protection to the dwelling.
Lundeen Smith, a Conservative Jew who grew up at Congregation Brith Shalom and later attended Congregation Beth Yeshurun, had hung a mezuzah at every place she’d lived, so she didn’t even think twice about hanging the few-inch long object outside their condo.
Even though the hallway of the complex was littered with doormats, Christmas decorations, plants and other décor, “we got a letter four months in saying to take the ‘item’ down. We thought, ‘OK, they must not know what it is, we’ll just explain it to them,’” she said.
But it wasn’t that easy. As renters, they were unable to negotiate the terms of a lease they’d already signed, even if it was to resist religious discrimination.
The Heights at Madison Park fine them for not removing the object and the couple, with the help of Lundeen Smith’s lawyer parents, sued and countersued. They lost the case and moved out of the complex when their lease was up. In 2009, the Lundeens reached out to Coleman, their representative, to keep their case from happening to other people of faith.
“I filed this bill to extend religious freedom in situations where it may not exist. In this situation it was very clear that this couple was singled out because of their faith. Thanks to this family’s courage and willingness to share their story, other Texans will not have to go through a similar experience,” said Coleman.