Houston's First Openly Gay Mayor

***Annise Parker, Houston's First openly gay mayor***

This just recently came out on the news wires but Houston, Texas elected its first openly gay mayor! Annise Parker won with about 54% of the votes, defeating her opponent, Gene Locke.

After Locke conceded defeat, Parker told reporters -

"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about,"

During her campaign, her opponent received support from anti-gay groups who sent out pamphlets to voters which condemned Parker for being a lesbian. Fortunately, her opponent distanced himself from these groups though I have a feeling the link unfortunately remained in the eyes of many.

Parker is now the mayor of the United States's fourth largest city. I'm really happy for Parker's win in this election. While Houston is predominately democratic, it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this will ultimately have on a larger scale. Hopefully this foreshadows steps forward for the gay community, especially in lieu of recent national and international events like Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill.

Read more! **or else ;)**

Houstons First Gay Mayor

Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill

In speaking about politicians, does anyone else think Representative Aaron Schock of Illinois is smokin? We just began a Congress project in government and he was my group's choice for "freshman member"

All the best,

JP