Kyle Bell

Yesterday, Houston voters elected city controller Annise Parker as their new mayor. Current mayor Bill White is running for governor of Texas. Usually an election of this nature would not make headlines, but Annise Parker is not your usual female politician. She is an openly gay woman in a state known for its conservative politics.

“Tonight the voters of Houston have opened the door to history,” she remarked, standing beside her of 19 years and with their three adopted children. “I acknowledge that. I embrace that. I know what this win means to many of us who never thought we could achieve high office.”

With all of the votes counted, Ms. Parker defeated her Democratic opponent (both candidates were Democrats) with 53 percent of the vote. Her six point runoff election win was triggered after she failed to win a majority of the vote in the November general election in which she lead the pack against numerous other candidates.

Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Her election makes Houston the largest American city to elect an openly gay politician mayor. Other cities, many of them much smaller than Houston, have recently done the same. Cambridge, Mass., Portland, Oregon, and Providence, Rhode Island have all elected gay mayors.