Maine, Washington, Kalamazoo … Houston? Lesbian Mayor Hopeful’s Big Day
Think Maine, Washington, and a Michigan city are the only races that need your attention today? Zoom in on Houston, where Annise Parker — a Hillary Clinton body double — is hoping to become the first openly lesbian mayor of America’s fourth-largest city. The Times reports she’s “in a close three-way race that many political professionals here say is one of the most unusual in the city’s history, not because it has been bitterly fought but because it has been relatively tame.” Parker, the sitting city controller, is facing off against two fellow Democrats: lawyer Gene Locke and architect Peter Brown. The Republican challenger Roy Morales has been “trailing badly,” which means conservative voters might be up for grabs today. Which might explain why Parker, who has been with her partner for 19 years and has two adopted children, isn’t planning on making gay waves. Asked whether she plans to promote a same-sex benefits measure, she said she has “no current plan to offer that for a referendum. … Personally it’s very important, but, as mayor of Houston, do I want to engage resources in fighting that battle, or do I want to tackle the budget? Do I want to tackle drainage? Do I want to try to put more police officers on the street? It’s the difference between the personal and what this city needs.”
From CNN yesterday:
Go Houston! Not even New York, oh, why bother?
“Maine, Washington, Kalamazoo … Houston?”
Being surprised that the residents of Houston are capable of electing a lesbian mayor is nothing but ignorance…. and maybe a touch of NYC arrogance. Houston has had a thriving gay community since the 1960s. We’re not so different below the Mason-Dixon line.
I grew up in Houston, and have been living in NYC for the past three years, and I gotta say, I’ll take Houston’s gay community (and, sometimes, the rest of the city) over NYC anyday. The gay community in Houston is progressive, intelligent, open, and for the most part, accepting. New York’s has been a WHOLE lot of attitude, drugs, and body image problems. Yeah, I’m gonna get that everywhere, but at least in Houston, you didn’t get weird looks for NOT buying into the body dysmorphia. Of course, I haven’t seen the entirety of the NYC crowd yet.