Houston's New Mayor.

Annise Parker has been actively involved in Houston politics for as long as I can remember. She has been a city counsel member in both a district and at large and has been city controller. Several years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Ms. Parker and she struck me as a sincere public servant.

Ms. Parker ran for mayor against a Gene Locke whose political "experience" came as an appointee to several positions. He wasn't a bad man and wouldn't have been a bad mayor, but many felt Ms. Parker to have been more qualified and she won 52% of the vote in Houston's mayoral election. I will say I like Ms. Parker and voted for her.

All is well in Houston...except there are one or two people who take issue with the fact that Ms. Parker is openly gay. My voting for Ms. Parker had nothing to do with her sexuality. She strikes me as a competent public servant who has the best interest of the city at heart and to that end I think she'll make a great mayor. My concern as I cast my ballot as well as now is those who will spend the next two years talking about the fact that my new mayor is a lesbian.
The national media will take both sides of the coin. Conservative media outlets will blast Houston as the new Soddom because we've elected a homosexual as mayor, the "progressive" media outlets will try to treat Houston as a 'city on a hill' in the struggle for gay rights. I wish for us to be seen as neither. There will be religious types who will more than likely not consider us as a choice for their church's conventions.

There will be gun lobbies who will wonder how the biggest city in Texas could have done such a thing and will either avoid us or make it their mission to show us the "error" of our ways. We ARE the 4th largest city in America with an oil and gas industry that keeps a good portion of America afloat.
We're the busiest port on the gulf coast and a city where the cost of living doesn't eat the average person alive. Mayor Parker grew up here and is an intelligent woman with a good head on her shoulders and will have a large, diverse city to run. She needs "The Advocate" in her face as badly as she needs "Fox News." I for one hope both leave us and our mayor alone.