A big gay congratulations to Joel Burns! Despite some anti-gay folks' best efforts, the politico has become Fort Worth's first openly gay councilman!

Real estate agent Joel Burns defeated Fort Worth school trustee Juan Rangel Jr. in a runoff election Tuesday to represent District 9 on the Fort Worth City Council.

Burns will replace Wendy Davis, who resigned to run for the Texas Senate in 2008.

Burns won with 54 percent of the vote. About 14 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the runoff, down from 18 percent in the Nov. 6 election.

Burns' political turf includes downtown Fort Worth, the hospital and Texas Christian University.