A Potential Lesbian Mayor in Houston has the Right-Wing Up in Arms
History was made in Houston on Election Day 2009, when Mayoral candidate Annise Parker finished ahead of a slate of candidates to qualify for a December run-off ballot. Parker, who is currently the Houston City Controller, is also openly lesbian, and if she's elected in her run-off campaign against candidate Gene Locke, she'll become the first openly LGBT mayor of a major, top-ten in size U.S. city.
That possibility has anti-gay activists in a tizzy. They are calling Parker's candidacy a "Gay Takeover" of the city of Houston, and said that her leadership would be a direct threat to Houston families. They're particularly worried that Parker is going to ban straight people from all public facilities, close down churches and turn them into bath houses, change the logo of the Houston Astros so that it has a more rainbow feel, and make "The Golden Girls" (which we all know turns young people gay) mandatory screening in all Houston elementary schools.
</sarcasm> Seriously, though, the "Gay Takeover" line is all truth, and it's another sign that right-wing activists in Houston have no good policy arguments against Parker's candidacy. So instead of throwing debates over substance at her, they're appealing to people's worst fears in order to stop Parker from becoming mayor.
Worse, it seems, is that her opponent, Gene Locke, is trying to cultivate religious conservatives in Houston who think the possibility of a lesbian mayor is a sign of the end of days. Locke, who in the past actually distanced himself from anti-gay attacks on Parker, is now courting the endorsement of one of Houston's anti-gay ringleaders, Steven Hotze. Two decades ago, Mr. Hotze recruited eight Houston city council candidates to run on a solely anti-gay platform, and has continued to raise massive amounts of money for social conservative candidates, including Mike "I don't dig sodomy" Huckabee.
The decent thing for Locke to do is condemn these anti-gay attacks on Parker's candidacy. It would take little to no effort for Locke to say, "Hey Houston, we don't have a problem here. Though I'd rather be elected mayor, if Annise Parker wins, it will be a fine day for this city. No one should worry about having an LGBT leader." Case closed.
The ironic thing in all of this is that Parker has made her sexual orientation a non-issue this campaign. She's been open about who she is, and she doesn't hide the fact that she has a partner of 20 years and two children. But the fact that she's a lesbian only makes up about .00557% of her campaign. As David Taffet of the Dallas Voice put it, "What bothers these ministers is that she doesn’t lie. She doesn’t hide. She’s open and honest about who she is. Interesting that these qualities bother ministers."
And that's exactly the point. These anti-gay ministers are scared because Annise Parker threatens their grip on homophobia. God forbid that Houstonians and people around the country see that an LGBT person can not only lead a city, but also tear down walls of discrimination. If people start to see that, then these ministers are out of a job.
Michael Jones
is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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