Gay advocates cheer Houston election

clipped from www.usatoday.com Houston's election of its first openly gay mayor had supporters across the country cheering a symbolic victory, though they say it's likely to do little to reshape heated national battles over gay marriage. Saturday's election made Houston the largest city in the USA to choose a gay mayor. Annise Parker's victory came in a state that overwhelmingly voted to outlaw gay marriage four years ago and in a city where voters have rejected offering benefits to the same-sex partners of government employees. "The fact that an openly gay candidate wins for mayor in the nation's fourth-largest city, in the South, in Texas, shows that when Americans get to know gay people as people, not as stereotypes, their resistance to treating gay people equally reduces," said Evan Wolfson, director of Freedom to Marry, which advocates for legalizing gay marriage. "It's going to cause a lot of people around the country to take another look," he said. Parker won with about 53% of the vote.

"Clearly that has a lot of symbolic importance," Parker said Sunday. "I didn't run to be a symbolic mayor, I ran to be mayor of Houston, and my sexual orientation is part of who I am and part of how I presented myself to the voters."

NEW MAYOR: Houston elects Parker

It is far from clear what Parker's election means for more contentious issues, particularly same-sex marriage. Maine's voters rejected a gay marriage plan this year in a referendum. So did New York's lawmakers. In Texas, voters overwhelmingly backed a measure outlawing gay marriage in 2005.

Four states allow same-sex marriages; a fifth, New Hampshire, will allow them starting in January.

The issue has yet to win support in a statewide election.

Parker's win will do little to change that dynamic, said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. "When you talk about specific policy issues like the redefinition of marriage or special rights, I think that's where people draw the line. Other than that, I don't think this is a huge deal."

Before Parker, 53, ran for mayor, she had won six citywide elections, though this was the first time some opponents made a serious effort to use her sexual orientation against her.

A Houston Chronicle poll found about three-quarters of voters said Parker's sexual orientation wasn't an issue.

"It's another sign of the ongoing progress that has been going on for years," said Rea Carey, head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.