Annise Parker, the City Controller of Houston,is the current frontrunner to become the next Mayor of Houston. She finished first in a crowded field of candidates on November 3rd and is in a runoff election with African American City Treasurer Gene Locke scheduled to be held December 15. She is also openly gay. She's been elected citywide five times in the last dozen years or so.
Now there comes reports of a concerted effort being made by conservatives to scuttle her chances of making history as the first openly-LGBT elected mayor of a major American city (with apologies to Portland, Oregon's Sam Adams).
TowleRoad quotes from the Houston Chronicle
Oh, and it turns out that Parker's rival for the Mayoralty of Houston is Black."The group is motivated by concerns about a 'gay takeover' of City Hall, given that two other candidates in the five remaining City Council races are also openly gay, as well as national interest driven by the possibility that Houston could become the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay woman. Another primary concern is that Parker or other elected officials would seek to overturn a 2001 city charter amendment that prohibits the city from providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees. 'The bottom line is that we didn't pick the battle, she did, when she made her agenda and sexual preference a central part of her campaign,' said Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council, numbering more than 200 senior pastors in the Greater Houston area. 'National gay and lesbian activists see this as a historic opportunity. The reality is that's because they're promoting an agenda which we believe to be contrary to the concerns of the community and destructive to the family.'"Parker, however, has not made these issues a central part of her campaign: "Parker has tread carefully in her candidacy for mayor, stressing frequently that she is running not as a gay candidate but as a qualified city official who's won election six times. In a televised debate last month, she voiced 'no current plans' to revisit the city charter amendment if elected, although she said the city will need to offer benefits to the same-sex partners of its employees 'at some point.'"
So, here we go again: Black versus Gays! This race will almost definitely get more coverage as the end of the year approaches. See the CNN profile on Annise Parker from earlier this year.
