Sunday, December 13, 2009

A gay mayor...in Texas?!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_houston_mayor

So, when I first saw this article on Yahoo today, I was like WHAT?! Houston elected a lesbian mayor?! This is in Texas!

Now, let me get this straight. I love Texas. Everyone knows this. BUT, no one can argue against the fact that Texas is a very traditional, Republican state. I mean, sure, Texas has its liberal hotspots, like Austin, but I'm sure that everyone agrees with me when I say that same-sex marriage will most likely not be legalized in Texas until the Supreme Court rules that it must.

Anyways, I personally believe that the LGBTQ movement is the civil rights movement of our generation, so I am sure that you can imagine what my reaction was. I quickly clicked on the article and just gobbled it up.

Here are the facts:
Annise Parker is Houston's newly elected mayor. Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect a openly gay mayor when it did so on December 12th.
There were two main candidates running on Saturday's run-off election: Parker and Locke, both Democrats. Parker edged out Locked with 53.6% of the vote.

Granted, the election only had 16.5% turnout. And neither campaign made Parker's sexual orientation the focus of their campaign, which is how it should be. I commend both candidates for doing so. (And I'm sure both candidates also did so for their own self-interest, but let's just give them some credit now.)

But still, good job Houston! Kudos to you!

Leave your comments below. I'd love to hear what you think about this election. :)

4 comments:

  1. It's to be expected. The socio-economic dynamic of Houston as a whole has changed thus pushing it in the direction of cities such as Austin or other counterparts. The key to electing liberal or even "progressive" candidates from either party has a lot to do with the education statistics. The University of Houston along with others and the industrialization of Houston's non-oil related markets has made it the second most secularly educated major city in Texas.

    The hilarity of the whole realization is that political correctness has made our society so overly conscious that we are falling in the exact opposite direction (which is just as dangerous or in my eyes even more so) to the same extent. By congratulating Houston for electing a gay mayor you politicized sexuality which is a slippery slope in itself. (Much like reverse racism.)

    - Eric

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  2. Having lived in Houston, I can say that it's the least Texan city in Texas... if anything, it's a mini L.A. in the middle of the state. That being said, it's the city in which gay people are the most openly accepted, so much so that when there is a hate crime of any sort they get an abrupt "shut the hell up, we love your kind".

    Accepting all of the above, one cannot look to any single accomplishment and declare a struggle over... Instead, we must look to this as another step on a road in which a city in Texas having a gay mayor is about as important to the general public as Darrian Carroll's choice in women.

    (If you found yourself wondering who at my last point, you understand the statement I was trying to make)

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  3. Eric, concerning the political correctness of this post, I was actually thinking that as I was writing this... It's a very good point. But, I believe that the election of a gay mayor is not enough of a common occurrence that, maybe although should not be arguably "congratulated," should definitely be recognized. And, I'm tired of being politically correct.

    And both, Chris and Eric, I have to admit that I don't know much about Houston, which added to my surprise.

    And Chris, although this may not be a super important accomplishment, I do think it is a step in the right direction. Besides, it's interesting! :)

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  4. Being impartial to the politiks,
    I just want to let you know that
    Once upon a time,
    During my early youth,
    My mother fed me Kimchi
    and I disliked it severely.


    -fesuY!

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