Posted on 12/14/2009 9:19:13 AM PST by flowerplough
A lesbian candidate won Houston's mayoral election Saturday night, a vote that made the city the largest in the U.S. to ever have an openly gay mayor.
"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," City Controller Annise Parker told supporters after former city attorney Gene Locke conceded defeat.
Parker got 53 percent of the vote. More than 152,000 residents turned out to cast ballots in the fourth largest U.S. city.
The campaign leading up to Saturday's balloting was marked by anti-gay rhetoric.
Locke congratulated Parker and urged the city to move on. "Here's what our city needs now: It needs unity. It needs us to come together and heal like we've never healed before, and to move forward under a new administration," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
This "gay woman" in Houston sounds exactly like the effeminate black man in Washington.
And "152,000 residents turned out to cast ballots in the fourth largest U.S. city"? population's over 2 million; only seven percent voted?
Wow, that kind of voter turnout is surprising. Houston, we have a problem!
Amazingly, some people still hold out hope for our country.
Only 7% voted in Houston? especially what is at stake..something does not make sense.
good thing she ran as a homosexual and not as a competent leader.
If you live in Houston, it’s about time to get your children out of the government schools.
Pronto.
Queer indoctrination will become a major part of the curriculum there soon, if it isn’t already.
We sure do. Why can’t repubs turn out a decent mayoral candidate? I guess the dems haven’t screwed things up enough yet.
There wasn’t a conservative in this runoff, and the extremely conservative Houston suburbs of The Woodlands, Cypress, Friendswood, and Katy cannot vote in city elections.
She very well may have been the lesser of two evils.
SnakeDoc
The choice was between a gay white female democrat and a black male democrat. Not knowing either of them or the situation in Houston—on the face of it, it did not seem like much of a choice—boned either way.
The fact her first statement was all about “changing the world”...”transforming the lives of all”...”come together and heal like we’ve never healed before”...etc. does not lead me to conclude that school reform, crime-fighting, tansportation, sewerage, trash pickup and all those ooky unglamorous issues will be high on her list of priorities.
The incorporated part of Houston is heavily ethnic, and heavily Democrat. Its the suburbs that turn Harris County into a conservative outpost. The suburbs can’t vote in the mayoral election.
SnakeDoc
Exactly. Her sexual orientation is not normally an issue, only her competence and policies. Making the election about her sexual preference is just wrong.
Take a look at both candidates and you will know why the voter turnout was so low.
I’ll bet Carpetland stock goes through the roof now.
Is Houston the San Francisco of Texas?
Could Hurricane Katrina have something to do with this?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13979111
Great to know a mayoral administration will be about welcoming the gay community, rather than getting the city out of the red, if it’s doing that poor financially.
From what I read about her opponent they probably made a good choice.It was her or an Obama clone.
They really never had much to choose from and I believe that is backed by the amount of people who chose to stay home.
However if she believes her election is an endorsement of her homosexuality she is dreaming.The world hasnt changed because of her election, in fact I doubt Houston has changed much because of it, she is having delusions of Grandeur.
Of course they cannot vote in Houston elections, just as people in Amarillo and El Paso cannot vote in Houston elections.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.