Unlike Barack Obama‘s presidential inauguration, the mayoral inauguration of Houston’s Annise Parker did not include any flubbed lines. Except for for anti-gay ridiculous person Pastor Joel Osteen, at an opening prayer, praising god for “lifting up our new mayor, Annise Parker.”
Following her swearing in, she addressed the LGBTs directly at a reception: “I understand what this day means to you. I can feel your excitement and your joy, but I can also feel your apprehension and your longing for acceptance. I will gladly carry you forward, but today is simply one day toward a tomorrow of greater justice. And when the time comes I will gladly pass the torch to the next in waiting, and I will cheer for them as you do for me. Your bravery in the face of threats, your bravery in the face of insults sustains me. We will support each other. Do not fear to dream big dreams. Bring your whole self to everything you do. Face the world with dignity and integrity. I promise you, the pain is worth the reward.”
terrwill
Wait, you mean the entire city of Houston did not
spontaniously combust upon Mayor Parker placing her
hand on the bible???????? WTF????
KirilleXXI
Houston? Texas? Not just a woman mayor, but a lesbian mayor?
Wow, I did not see that coming. My eyes popped out of my eyepits!
And the sign in the end: “Houston becomes the largest city with an openly-gay mayor” o_0
Texas? I mean, TEXAS??? Well, way to go!
Now remove that horrible ban from your constitution, people… you know, the one that was meant to say “no marriage for gay people,” but actually said “no marriage for anyone in the great state of Texas.” You’re gonna have to correct that little ambiguity anyway, why not just remove it completely? What? You say, “Let lesbians be mayors, but don’t let them marry!”? You say, “We can’t change the definition of marriage just because some gays wanna have s(o|a)me rights!”? YES, WE CAN! And YES, WE WILL!
edgyguy1426
So why didn’t she grab as much heat for having Osteen give the opening prayer as Obama did with Warner.
terrwill
No. 3 · edgyguy1426: That one slipped right by me…….WTF is with these Gays who feel the need to find “common ground” with those who do nothing but spew vile hatred towards our community?
Joel Oralsex and Prick Warren are even more frightning than the old fire and brimstone evnagelical preachers. These new model smiling lunatics adopt a persona which makes them seem non threatning and simply doing gods work, all the while meeting with ugandan savages engineering Gay genocide……….
Lukas P.
Bring on the Dental Dams!! If Parker had ANY say in the matter, then Brillcreem Osteen was a terrible choice to swear her in. Surely someone from her campaign could have found more gyno-sappho-centrically friendly ministers or ministeresses?
Shout outs to Edgy & TerrW for pointing out the inanity of Botticelli Osteen being the designated representative of God and Gaylessness on Earth. Yeeesh.
p.s. Wanna bet she starts holding monthly potlucks or puts dental dams in the Womens’ bathrooms? –kidding!–I wish her well.
terrwill
When did any of the rightwing lunatics reach out to Bishop Eugene Robinson for an opening prayer??? Why must Gays always be the one to do the reaching out? Whilst I wish Mayor Parker success, she is going to get as much in return from breaking bread with Joel Oralsex as the Gay activists received from meeting with Buju Banton……….
hardmannyc
Osteen’s a big deal in Houston. She was elected to represent all Houstonians, not just the ones who agree with her. Nice to sit on your big fat butts making judgements, but if you were democratically elected to govern a metropolis, you’d do the same thing.
Lukas P.
@ (#7) FLACCID-DOOD-NYC.
We’re sorry to hear that you didn’t receive the news, but we can confirm that your mouth measures 218% percent larger and more laden with excrement than any of the “big fat butts” you reference in your post.
We wish you luck as you attempt the G.E.D. for the fourth time.
reason
It shows how little some know about Texas, doing a little homework before jumping on the bandwagon would serve a lot of people well. When some think of Texas, they assume it is a hyper racists, homophobic, misogynistic backwards southern state which couldn’t be further from the truth. An African American Lee Brown one three elections and was term limited right before our previous mayor Bill White here in Houston. The fact that someone would be surprised that a women is in office in Texas is baffling since the first women Governor took office in 1925 and Ann Richards a democrat was elected in 1991. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson has been serving in the U.S Senate since 1993, and was first elected to political office in 1972. We also have three African American Congressmen/women currently serving in the U.S. Congress. Obama pulled a lot more money out of Texas than Mccain and won 5 percentage points more than Kerry. Texas is an economic powerhouse with a diverse set of social and political views. I apologize for my rant, but the disingenuous attacks on my birth state, especially after attending college up north, quickly turned stale.
Lukas P.
@#9 Reason–I think/hope your beef was directed at Queerty and at least one of the first couple posters, but I haven’t seen much anti-Texan ranting since then, have you? I don’t care for Joel O.; but that’s not a slam at the whole state. I hope Ms Parker has success as Mayor and opens up some minds, too!
Jon
Mayor Parker addressed the glbt community at a reception the night before her public swearing in. But the lines you quote aren’t from the speech she gave there — they were from her inaugural address, delivered on camera and to the city as a whole.
And I’m not a fan of Joel Osteen’s theology, but it’s hard to classify him as some horrible homophobe. When pressed, he may say that he believes God doesn’t want people to be gay, but he only says things like that if someone pushes to get him on the record. He doesn’t preach about homosexuality, doesn’t get involved in politics, and doesn’t raise funds by villifying us. And I haven’t seen much sign that he spends time associating with the hard-core homophobes who are to the right of him.
(It’s also important to note that another prayer was delivered by Rudy Rasmus of St. John’s United Methodist Church, whose manifesto reads in part, “I will not be a part of an institution or religion that judges or marginalizes a person based on race, abilities, gender, orientation, identity, or social status…” It was a radically inclusive prayer, and much better delivered than Joel Osteen’s.)
reason
No. 10 · Lukas P: My comments were directed at the first few post not at you. On the topic of Osteen, I have sat through Joel’s church, and while he seemed a little full of himself he tends to avoid falling into political frays or discussing contentious topics. I believe he answered a question about gay marriage by stating that he was for everyone; he was reprimanded by followers afterward.
Brady
I was so excited to hear about this, being a young gay men who spent almost his entire childhood in the Houston area, until I stumbled upon this: a website a Christian group in Amarillo created to attack this new direction. http://www.boycotthouston.com is actually raising money and taking signatures to impose economic sanctions on the city of Houston not only for its election of a homosexual mayor, but also because they have made plans to build the largest Planned Parenthood facility in the nation there. Go to the website and read all about it if you wish, all it did for me was make me quite angry. Just thought you guys might want to know about it. :/