Monday, December 14, 2009

And the Big News Down Here...

Houston has elected a lesbian as mayor.

Indeed, the world is on its head.

Added: Or as Jon Stewart said, Hell has frozen over; so much for global warming.

Or maybe Houston isn't as hopeless as I thought.

There's still a lot more of Texas, but I'll take this one as a major plus for the Houston area.

Molly Ivins would be pleased as punch.

Annise Parker scored a 53-47 victory over her opponent, Gene Locke. The City Controller stressed her budget experience and fiscal competence, and never planned to make her sexuality an issue. The election was significant in other ways because Parker was the first Houston Mayor in a generation not handpicked by the business community. But Parker’s status as a lesbian played a role and galvanized the LGBT community, after she became subject to hateful anti-gay attacks by Republican operatives. And her opponent, an African-American Democrat, never repudiated such support.

[...]

It has become gospel among social conservatives – such as the National Organization for Marriage – that this largely white, Republican movement can expand its base by working with the African-American community. [...] [They] hope to exploit homophobia by driving a wedge in the progressive community. And the Houston mayoral run-off between two Democrats – a black man and a white lesbian – offered them a chance to try it out.

Beyond Chron

FAIL.


6 comments:

  1. we have an issue here in California,the UC-Hastings law school(part of the UC system)has a group called the Christian Legal Society.All UC facilities and orgs have to abide by non-discrimination rules.the CLS asked for an exception,to ban gays. UC said no, CLS sued and lost.They took it to the 9th circuit and lost. Now it's going to the Supremes in March of next year.
    I don't get it. I'm Christian, no better than anybody else and actually kind of as asshole at times.So I got the right to discriminate against anyone,because of my religion ?
    Molly Ivins was great by the way.

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  2. boy, oso, you obviously weren't raised in a fundamentalist religion (like i was). they do in fact feel special. they are the ones with a direct line to god, after all. not only can christians discriminate, they are obligated to. and i think i know why - at least partially. they don't have any faith in their ability to live in reality with all its complexities and contradictions to their beliefs. people with different beliefs are a threat to their delusions. reason has no place in religion.

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  3. I can't wait to hear more of Annise Parker. I'm sure there will be more to her political career. I don't think there's better news coming out of the entire state Texas than her ascendence!

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  4. yes, i hope she's half as sharp as molly and half as colorful as ann richards. i heard on the radio that only 16% of eligible voters actually voted. i'm not sure what that says.

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  5. Fundies must have been at church.

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  6. perhaps they couldn't decide which was worse - a black man or a lesbian woman - and sat this one out.

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