Sign of the times...

Houston. Annise Parker. 12/12/09.

My hometown. The new mayor. History.

Why, you ask? Miss Parker is an out and proud lesbian. After more than a month of intense campaigning during a hotly contested runoff, Annise Parker has been elected as the first openly gay mayor of the city of Houston, defeating former city attorney Gene Locke in a solid victory. Houston is also the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor. Several smaller cities have openly gay mayors, including Portland, Ore., Providence, R.I., and Cambridge, Mass.

While I applaud this major victory for the GLBT community, especially in Houston as it shows we are moving forward, I have to admit that my support was for Locke. Yes, Locke is a black man and Parker is a lesbian, however, although some Houstonians may have casted their votes based on those two factors alone, I didn't care about that as neither of those were reasons for the direction of my vote. For me, it was about the future of my hometown and who I saw as a better fit for mayor, and that was Gene Locke. I look forward to seeing mayor-elect Parker in action over the next two years. I'm glad that I was able to witness such an historic victory for our community.

History, pride and victory is now the celebration. Let's hope this will bring U.N.I.T.Y. and not the ignorance in people, and we can move on and help Annise Parker make this city better.

"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."

-Annise Parker, Houston's 1st openly gay mayor