Last month, openly gay Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker was targeted by an anti-gay activist who 35,000 copies distributed a mailing picturing Parker and her partner under the headline "Is This The Image Houston Wants To Portray?"
Now, according to the Houston Chronicle, Parker's opponent's campaign has been bankrolling efforts to attack her over her sexuality:
Conservative activist Steven Hotze has his own PAC now. Lovely. All the better to warp secular democratic republicanism in the U.S.
Hotze signed the Coalition on Revival's Manifesto for the Christian Church in 1986, which declared, amoung other things, that "Increased longevity generally results from obedience to specific Biblical commands," and "A wife may work outside the home only with her husband's consent."
As sick as this is, Houston - despite its rather large conservative element - is basically pretty liberal, so hopefully they will have the larger vote.
Good blog.
Posted by: Leslie Parsley | December 09, 2009 at 06:24 PM
It would be great if Houston would do the right thing and stand up for progress.
Posted by: Bernard Dunston | December 09, 2009 at 08:30 PM
Guess Houston thought that was precisely what they wanted the image of Houston to be: a competent lady who cares about the people.
Posted by: Elizabeth | December 13, 2009 at 04:33 PM
Who'd a thunk it! :)
Congrats to Annise Parker and Houston.
I wonder if a gay male of similar experience and message could have won against Parker's opponent? I have a hypothesis that too much of America's voting citizenry still views the merely slight relevancies of a candidate's sexual orientation and gender in manners still basically bigoted and grotesquely stereotype-driven: lesbian = manly; gay male = feminine...which is worse.
So, to the minds of some voters, perhaps a lesbian candidate is considered to be at least oriented towards strength/"manliness."
Okay, maybe I'm being uncharitable, and maybe this sort of simplistic, anachronistic thinking isn't as operative among Americans as I suspect it is. But...I'm also considering the fact that Tammy Baldwin won a Congressional race as an out gay candidate, yet, I can't think of any gay male candidate who won a relatively major race as a non-incumbent. (E.g., Barney Frank won RE-election after being outed. He actually did not acheive his seat in the House of Representatives as an out gay candidate. Similar, but not major, admittedly: Neil Giuliano as an out gaandidate won re-election as mayor of Tempe, AZ *several* years ago (and as a Republican!), but, again, he was in the closet when he ran initially).
Posted by: Bernard Dunston | December 13, 2009 at 07:07 PM