The Results Are In! Congratulations, Mayor Parker!

Great news for the LGBT Community and its straight allies -- and, of course, for the City of Houston!

In a decisive run-off victory, Annise Parker won the Houston mayoral election last night, winning her seventh straight city election and becoming the first openly gay person to be elected to run a major U.S. city. Parker ran as a well-qualified candidate with the experience and vision to lead Houston, but also ran as an openly gay candidate -- which, as our last blog entry detailed, led anti-gay activists in the city to attempt fearmongering. Given Parker's victory, it appears that those attempts to play on the politics of divisiveness may have backfired.

In addition to Parker winning, a number of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus candidates won their elections as well. While not everyone on the slate won, the mulitple victories last night should help Houston become a more progressive city on LGBT rights. And, in Parker, Houston has a exemplary new mayor whose victory doubles as a victory for the entire LGBT community. We want to be among the first to congratulate Mayor Parker, and are looking forward to her leadership of the nation's fourth largest city.