Best Couple of 2010: Annise Parker and Joel Osteen

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-04 20:25:00 UTC
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Annise ParkerShe's the recently elected openly lesbian mayor of Houston. He's the megachurch pastor of one of the biggest houses of worship in the entire country, if not the world. Put them together, and you get an inauguration ceremony that makes President Obama's dance with Rick Warren last year seem almost bland.

Annise Parker's win in the Houston mayoral election is shaping up to be the early breakthrough story of 2010. Her private inauguration happened this past weekend, and her public inauguration happened today. Instantly she becomes one of the most influential LGBT politicians in the country, guiding a city that is the largest in Texas, and the fourth largest in the country.

Her election was a groundbreaking moment for LGBT politicians. But could it also have an impact on the relationship between LGBT circles and evangelical circles? Maybe. Mega-evangelist Joel Osteen, based in Houston, was on hand today to congratulate Mayor Parker, and bless her leadership of the city. Talk about an odd couple. Annise Parker has been championing LGBT rights since the 1980s, while Joel Osteen has gone on television to say that homosexuality wasn't one of God's best creations.

Politics makes strange bedfellows. And sometimes politics is joyfully surprising. Count today's Parker/Osteen connection among them.

Joel Osteen gave the invocation at the inauguration for Parker, giving thanks to God for giving Houston its mayor.

"God, we just thank you for raising her up. We honor her today and other elected officials," Osteen prayed. "We count it a joy and an honor to be here."

Joel Osteen just said it was a joyous occasion that Houston elected its first openly lesbian mayor? Somewhere Chicken Little must be wondering if the sky is falling. Or maybe this is just one of those moments that transcends partisan politics and religious divides, where two sides can come together to recognize history.

For her part, Annise Parker didn't disappoint with her inauguration speech. She recognized that her election made history not just in Houston, not just in Texas, and not just in the U.S., but around the globe.

"Houstonians weren't very surprised that a gay woman was elected. We have a tradition of electing mayors not for who they are but for what they believe we can do as a city," Parker said. "We rise or we fall together, we succeed or we fail together."

Or in other words, we're all in the same boat, from the Joel Osteens of this world to the Annise Parkers. Days when both sides come together are all too rare -- sometimes, perhaps, for good reason. But give both Osteen and Parker some credit. Today was a day for the history books for LGBT politicians, and also a day where a socially conservative evangelical leader and a progressive lesbian mayor found some common ground in celebrating a victory.

And that feels good to see.

(Photo courtesy of David Ortez's photostream on Flickr)

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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