We don’t know Annise Parker personally. And we have yet to get her home address to send out our holiday card. And while Houston’s community might be familiar with her from her city controller tenure, we’re just getting to know her. But simply watching Houston’s new mayor-elect, Parker strikes us as being two things: 1) Effortlessly confident in her ability; 2) Not gonna take shit from nobody. We’re not making a premature judgment call on how she’ll fare as Houston’s topper, but so far, consider us subscribed.
first impressions
Just What Kind of Houston Mayor Will Annise Parker Make?
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InExile
I agree, she seems like a strong confident woman who also has charisma. Reminds me a little of Hillary Clinton who of coarse won the popular vote in the last presidential primary. I bet she has a very bright political future and wish her all the best.
Chris
She is certainly happy to take gay money for her campaign but when asked in the first KHOU-TV debate about equal benefits for the city’s gay and lesbian workers she made no effort to sugar-coat her “no” response. She may be a lesbian but that doesn’t mean things will get better for the gay community of Houston. Everyone has their own agenda despite their minority group affiliations and hers seems to be all about money. Only time will tell.
Forrest
I don’t know….we could do well to study her successful campaign. She made no effort to hide her sexuality but at the same she ran as a candidate who is gay. Not a gay candidate. By not making the fact that she is a lesbian the predominant issue she let her opponents go the hate mongering route and it backfired on them. Big Time.
Parker may not have won if she had focused on a gay rights platform. Since Houston has already passed a ban on DP benefits she can’t overturn it in the near future anyway.
Overall, I see her victory as a major win for all of us nationwide.
AlwaysGay
She mentioned her victory was important for LGBT people. I hope she does right by gay people and manages the city well.
Keith Kimmel
“We could do well to study her successful campaign. She made no effort to hide her sexuality but at the same she ran as a candidate who is gay. Not a gay candidate. By not making the fact that she is a lesbian the predominant issue she let her opponents go the hate mongering route and it backfired on them. Big Time.”
Somebody else who gets it.