Houston's Mayoral Election: Jeff Weiss

The people of Houston have elected their first openly gay mayor, and now just about everyone is saying that it's “no big deal” and that “it shouldn't matter” or that “elections should be based on qualifications” not race, gender, or sexual preference. It's so easy to say things like that, because it's what we want to believe. Reality, however, often proves otherwise.

Just a few weeks ago, postcards were mailed to residents of Houston touting Gene Locke for mayor. Not much was said about qualifications, but it did say that “God judges” the “sin of homosexuality” and that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” Emails were sent out by a church pastor to potential voters stating that if elected, Parker would legalize same-sex marriage, order public schools to teach homosexuality to kindergarten students, relax laws against pedophilia, and encourage cross-dressing at the workplace. And guess what? Some people believed it.

About 18 months ago, there was a very active email campaign suggesting that African American presidential candidate Barack Obama was an active Muslim extremist who demanded to be sworn in as a Senator with a Quran as opposed to a Bible. A woman actually called Obama a “terrorist” on live television at a town hall campaign rally for Senator John McCain (who quickly corrected the woman).

I don't know if Annise Parker will be a good mayor or not. She was elected and now she's going to have to do her job. I think it's unfortunate that most of the campaigning against her had little to do with her views on policies as her personal lifestyle. As long as people are different than what is perceived as “the norm” there will be others who will do everything in their power to stop them from taking on authoritative roles. It's so easy to say “issues come first” but anyone who's ever observed or worked on a campaign of minority will tell you otherwise.

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