Yes, Houston just voted in the first gay mayor to ever oversee a major city in the U.S. – we are the fourth largest, though I doubt that holds up if you count the “undocumented” population.
While this will give the national media something to talk about for a day or two (presumably inciting countless stories and rumors going ’round about how Houston must be going really liberal) I feel compelled to pre-emptively dismount any exaggerated notions, and clarify exactly what happened here in the last two months of 2009.
There was not a strong conservative contender in the race – period. This year’s mayoral race was, by many accounts, the strangest Houston has seen in decades. In one corner there was a wealthy, old, white, liberal architect. In another was a wealthy, black, liberal, lobbyist/lawyer. In the third corner was Parker, a politically moderate lesbian.
Then there was the “lone conservative” Roy Morales, who had no money, little name recognition, irrelevant work experience, and nothing to say that would provide any distinction from other candidates. Well, there was the whole “I was fired from my last job, but that was political” and there was also the “I ran a printing company where we made calendars featuring half-naked women and military equipment” thing… but I really don’t think those helped. [quotes embellished, events accurate]
In the weeks before the election it was clear that Morales was a bad investment. The real race was between the “black guy” and the “white guy,” with Parker trailing as a close third. For some reason or another the voters had a sudden change of heart on election day, putting Parker in the run-off elections against the lawyer – Gene Locke.
Locke loves Houston. We know this because he reminds us every time he opens his mouth. As I type this, he is on my television giving his concession speech, saying that the city needs unity. That’s nice. Unity is about as magical as hope and change. Listen up Obama 2012 campaign team. Other than the fact that he seems to stand for nothing, his career has been spent as a high profile lawyer and lobbyist, and he’s a big supporter of many wasteful spending projects at a time when Houston needs to focus on crime and economic growth. He has been rated “D” by the Texas Conservative Review.
Annise Parker, on the other hand, received a “B”, stating that she “scores at the top on fiscal issues.” She is a self-described fiscal conservative who has worked on City Council, and recently as City Controller, where her record buttresses such claims. Is she the perfect candidate? No. Will she butt heads with conservatives on a number of issues? Yes. But we are left with few choices, and pretending the voting booth doesn’t exist isn’t going to make them better.
Many locals who opposed Annise Parker did so out of fear that we are sending the wrong message. Others opposed her simply because they “don’t want no gays running things.” In all fairness, everyone has the right to their concerns, and to vote according to their own convictions, but we should be slow to judge the reality of the situation, lest we make a greater mistake. From whence comes the larger threat? Many people who voted against Parker by casting one for Locke failed to consider that Locke’s views on gay issues are no different than Parker’s. On pure policy, there are few differences. On management, however, the differences are vast. And when it comes to the issue of homosexual marriage, Texas constitutionally banned it several years ago. It’s off the table.
I’m not excited about Parker’s election, and I can bet that the thousands of conservatives who had to vote for her in order to land a victory feel the same. The mayor of Houston is one of the most powerful in the country, and we would prefer a leader who shared our values. Can conservatives expect any gains in reducing illegal immigration, cutting taxes or supporting private education? Not at all. But what we can expect is a reasonable handling of the budget, support for law enforcement, and a few decent appointments for department heads in the city – or at least more so than we could with Locke.
The national news outlets will be pounding on this tomorrow, but the world should know that Houston has only one opinion on this, with a 3 million strong concerted voice: …”meh.”
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