WEBVTT - America's First "Major" Gay Mayor 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.880 But We Loved is a production of iHeart Podcasts and 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.039 The Outspoken podcast Network. 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:12.200 As mayor of Houston, I could not extend my benefits, 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:17.840 my insurance benefits, my pension, any of those things to 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:21.880 the first Lady of Houston. And even after we were 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:26.400 married legally in another state, I could not extend benefits 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.880 until the Supreme Court and their o Bergerfeld decision granted 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.120 equal marriage rights. So seventeen and a half years full 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.320 time public service, and I was a second class citizen 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.600 to every one of my straight colleagues. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.240 As a gay kid, growing up religious and in the South, 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.240 I thought being gay was the worst thing I could 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:57.440 ever be. Now, as a journalist, I'm trying to unlearn 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:01.720 that by seeking out our history, and what I've found 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:07.840 are people and stories full of courage, perseverance, and love. 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:12.920 In this episode, we'll meet a niece Parker, the first 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.800 gay mayor of a major American city. We'll learn how 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:21.160 her roots and queer activism led her into politics, and 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.480 how a historical career in politics would bring her right 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.800 back to where she came from. From My Heart Podcast, 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:55.160 I'm Jordan Consolms, and this is what we Loved Recently, 0:01:55.320 --> 0:02:01.640 there's been an unprecedented amount of LGBTQ representation in American politics. 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:07.160 As of twenty twenty four, there are multiple out governors, mayors, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.840 and members of Congress, but this is actually a pretty 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:16.720 recent development. My next guest, Anise Parker, was the first 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.560 openly gay mayor of a major American city. She was 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.680 elected in two thousand and nine, and it just so 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:29.560 happens that she was my mayor in my hometown of Houston, Texas, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:35.040 and I vividly remember the night she won. I was fourteen, 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.680 and I was super closeted, and I was afraid to 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.840 even admit to myself that I was gay, but I 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.000 was rooting for her. The campaign had gotten nasty in 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:50.240 the last month, and I'd even seen this flyer. It 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.000 had a photo of her and her partner and the 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.480 title read, is this the image Houston wants to portray? 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.520 I watched on TV as the man behind that flyer 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:09.760 was interviewed saying homosexuality leads to extinction. When she won, 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.760 I was watching the local news with my parents, and 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:18.960 I whispered to myself, yes, I think for all of us, 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.720 it was the first time we ever saw a gay 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:27.000 person in a position of power like that. But like 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:32.280 many queer people, Anise Parker was closeted until college, and 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.920 she never thought politics would be part of her destiny. 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.400 What was it like growing up in Houston in the 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.640 nineteen sixties as a queer kid. 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.800 So? I was born in nineteen fifty six and grew 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.440 up in the Spring Branch area of Houston, which was 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:58.560 way out in the country. It was cows and horsemasters 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:03.560 and pretty earle at the time. I figured out when 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:08.400 I was about twelve that I was gay, And it 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.480 wasn't actually until we moved out of Houston. My dad 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.640 was in the Red Cross but service to military installations 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.359 and we did a two year stint in Germany in 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:21.120 the middle of my high school years, and I that's 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:22.919 when I fell in love for the first time. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.760 Wait, so tell me about that. You fell in love 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.680 for the first time at fifteen years old. 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.279 On a and you think Houston's conservative, try a military base. 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:37.000 I was still in the fallout from Vietnam in a 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:42.840 very conservative place. But it was fine until one day 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.039 her parents walked in on us while we were kissing 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:52.080 and separated us, told us that we were never going 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:56.960 to see each other again. I was devastated, but we 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.680 were desperate to see each other. So we worked out 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:05.400 a plan and we started teaching Sunday School in the 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.160 base chapel, and so the only time we got to 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:13.760 see each other was was around Sunday mornings. But the 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.040 happy end of the story at the at the end 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.279 of the year of teaching Sunday School, and this is 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:21.480 near the end of my junior year, the ministers over 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.880 the Sunday School program, as a reward, took us to 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:30.120 Paris for a weekend. We got to share a room 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.000 together for the first They were completely clueless as too, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.080 but what was going on? But we were so excited, 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:40.919 so like the first time really being alone with my 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:46.479 girlfriend was a beautiful weekend in Paris. So but then 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.240 that year ended, my family rotated back to the States 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.240 did as did hers, into different places, and that was 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:54.719 the end of that. 0:05:55.520 --> 0:06:01.039 You know, I wonder Mayor Parker like how that relationship 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.599 kind of formed you, because it seems like it was 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.240 sort of based in so much secrecy. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:12.200 What I figured out through that experience teaching Sunday School 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.320 was hiding in plain sight. And I think throughout history 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:20.039 a lot of LGBT folks have done that maybe put 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:25.560 on a mask and figured out how to adapt and exist. 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:30.719 I've read that you really struggled with your mental health 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:32.960 growing up. What was that like. 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.080 When I look back on my high school years being 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.080 realizing it was a lesbian and navigating the fact that 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.080 I was forbidden to see the person that I was 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:49.360 in love with and I was crushed and lonely, and 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:54.200 you know, warning that relationship. I was trying to create 0:06:54.240 --> 0:07:01.000 good habits, but the stress it caused me to to 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:06.760 self harm. So yes, I became a cutter. The cutting 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:11.040 is just is like next door to eating disorders. It 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:16.600 is a way of controlling. It's something you can control 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.360 in a world that you don't feel like that feels 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:23.720 out of control. And fortunately I was able to put 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:29.080 that aside and realize that there's only so many places 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.720 and ways I could push myself that could still be 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.440 and still be healthy. I never let myself get too 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.120 far away. 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.440 Wow, well, tell me now about what it was like 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:42.000 coming out to your family. 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.800 Naively, I thought that this is nineteen seventy four. Naively, 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:49.600 I thought that, well, college is going to be so 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.200 much better than high school. It's going to be it's 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:57.160 not going to be repressive like the Army base. When 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:58.800 I came to Rice, it was I'm going to be 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:04.640 out from the first day, and so freshman week, orientation week, 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:10.160 I came out in my residential college and discovered that 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:14.200 no college was not that much more open minded than 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.760 than than high school. And even though I wasn't the 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:19.760 you know, the big city of Houston, it was not 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:24.480 all that progressive. My junior year at Rice, I was 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:26.880 the only junior that got that got a single room 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.160 because no one wanted to enter the room lottery with me. Again, 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.880 and I room with the lesbian because then everybody would 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.640 think they were lesbian. I was out into my parents. 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:40.080 In my senior year in college, I again I was. 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:44.440 I was like the notorious, the notorious lesbian. I was 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:50.320 actually playing in a powderputt football game, and as was 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.199 my girlfriend, and she was from Houston and her mother 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:58.960 for some reason had come to the game and she 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.400 was sitting up in the stand and there's some football 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.920 guys in front of her, and one of them pointed 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:10.480 at me and said that I was a lesbian, and oh, 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.360 and her lover is that one over there and pointed 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:17.400 to my to my roommate, and it was her daughter, 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:24.040 and she went home and had it out with her 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:29.360 with her daughter. But she also sent my parents a letter. 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:31.680 I was like an eight page letter and the first 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.360 line was last year at Rice, your daughter and my 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.160 daughter had a big love affair, and went on and 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:42.880 on about how we need to stop to it. And 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:48.000 my mother put it in another envelope and forwarded it 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:52.400 to me. And then my girlfriend's mother tried to get 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:54.560 me expelled. She went to the dean of students and 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.440 asked that I be expelled. And we should remember that 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:03.479 it was very common into the early seventies for universities 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:09.120 to expel students from homosexual activities on campus. I have 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.400 friends to whom that happened. We had a very awkward 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.760 conversation and she asked me if I about my middle health, 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:18.640 and I was like, how was I doing in classes? 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.760 And she required me, and she required each of us 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:27.359 to go have a couple of sessions with psychiatric services 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.560 and then we went on our way. Wow, so I 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.080 was outed, but they didn't want to hear it. And 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.280 I think that happens again in a lot of families. 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.840 At what point in your life did you realize that 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.040 equality was something that was important to you. 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.840 I graduated in nineteen seventy eight, but the following year, 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.120 recognizing what I had gone through as a student and 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.960 the challenges I had had, and wanted to make it 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.520 easier and better for the next generation of students, I 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.200 helped found the Rice University LGBT Student Association. It was 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:08.040 called that Rice Gay and Lesbian Student Support Group. I 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.400 had already graduated, but I was still engaged. We spent 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.240 the next couple of years trying to become an official 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:20.120 students association. There was at that time, I believe there 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.360 was one at University of Texas, and there was one 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.640 at the University of Houston, and there really weren't any 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:29.800 others in the state of Texas. And ultimately we were 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:34.280 officially recognized by the university, and I stayed involved for 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.120 a lot of years, helping it grow. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.560 When we come back, a Nice Parker runs for office 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:55.120 for the first time. It's the early nineties. A Nice 0:11:55.320 --> 0:12:00.360 Parker never thought politics was in her future, but being 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:04.480 outed to her parents in college and then later founding 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.320 the first LGBT group at Rice helped her realize that 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.320 equality was important to her and something worth fighting for. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.880 She became president for what was then called the Houston 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:20.520 Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, and they wanted someone of 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.760 their own to run and win a seat on Houston 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:28.720 City Council in nineteen ninety one. So how did you 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:30.640 get into politics? 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.280 I never wanted to be in politics. I just wanted 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.160 to fix things. I decided to run for city council 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:43.720 because I was a lesbian activist. I was recruited by 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:48.400 folks in the LGBTQ community. They wanted a candidate to 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:53.240 run for city council who was open the lgbt And 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.040 you know, my heart wasn't in it, and I was 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:02.080 not a good candidate, and I lost the race in 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.920 nineteen ninety one. I curled up in a fetal position 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:12.520 for a while because everything about campaigning is hard. I said, 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.000 I'm never going to run for office again. It was 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:18.760 a miserable experience. But a few years later an opportunity 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:25.080 opened up. City council member Sheila Jackson Lee was elected 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.520 to Congress and she vacated her city council seat. By 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.679 this point, I was a civic club president and a 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:36.360 very active in community. And this special election six week 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:41.559 campaign December and January's mid January election, I can do this, 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.720 and I lost. So in nineteen ninety seven ran for 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.120 the third time, and I made appointments with the editorial 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.360 directors of the TV stations and the papers, and laid 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.720 out the portfolio and said, look at all of these, 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.680 look at the coverage. You talk about what my opponents, 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.880 where they work, what they do for a living. You 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.640 refer to me as a gay activist. I actually have 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.760 a job. I don't mind that you refer to me 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:14.400 as a gay activist, but you need to be talking 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:16.480 about these other folks. It's what they do in their 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.440 volunteer time. Oh, by the way, I'm also the president 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.480 of the Neartown Civic Association, and by the way, I'm 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.880 president of the Neartown Community Development Corporation as a volunteer. 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.800 But all you want to talk about is the fact 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.120 that I'm a gay activist. How is this appropriate? Treat 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:37.200 me the same way you treat everybody else. And by God, 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.520 the third time I ran, the coverage changed. And so 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.960 the third time I ran, I was an Ewes Parker 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.440 who had virtually every minority elected official in the region 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:55.000 on my endorsement list, and was successful and then one 0:14:55.120 --> 0:15:00.560 nine consecutive citywide races, including three terms as as mayor. 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:02.000 But I didn't set out to be a mayor. I 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.000 just set out to come to the city to work 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:05.960 on issues. 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.920 So in two thousand and nine, you run for mayor 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.120 and they are these anti gay flyers that go out 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:18.600 to voters saying people shouldn't vote for you because you're gay. 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.640 So I'm just wondering, how are you dealing with that? 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.120 Even though you had won previous races, this clearly was 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:28.960 an issue for you. 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.800 You know, my opponents were you know, politics actually weren't 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:36.400 all that different. There were two one Progressive Democrat and 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.280 one minorate Democrat, and they didn't talk about it. But 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.520 a mailer went out citywide and it had a picture 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:45.680 of me being sworn in as city controller. And I'm 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.000 standing at a lovely dress on my hand raised. My 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:53.480 wife is standing next to me. She's holding she's actually 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:57.720 holding a company of the Constitution instead of a holy book. 0:15:58.080 --> 0:15:59.880 But I had my hands on the Constitution my hands, 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.760 and I'm being sworn in as city controller by a 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.920 black female federal judge in her row. And at the 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.880 bottom of this mailer it says, is this the image 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:14.440 of Houston? We want the world to see and it 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:20.000 backfired spectacularly because he was obviously focusing on here I 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.920 am on stage, you know, with another woman, and I'm 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:25.840 not having my hand on the Bible and so forth. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.160 But women across the city like, well, okay, he doesn't 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.680 like women politicians, he doesn't like black women, doesn't like 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:39.000 women judges. I mean, it was actually a boost to 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.440 my campaign. I have a little copy of it framed. 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.040 And then when at the nine I was elected, my 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:49.960 election got worldwide media coverage. It even got a little 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.320 box in the Times of India. Someone sent it to me. 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.760 Mayors of Houston don't normally make worldwide media coverage, but 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.160 it was lesbian elected mayor of Houston, and that was 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.960 all anybody wanted to talk about, lesbian mayor of Houston. 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:07.720 I was caught off guard, and I think Houstonians were too, 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:12.040 because I'd already been like the lesbian candidate and people knew. 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.359 But suddenly the whole world was talking about it, and 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.760 I was inundated with media. But I declined a lot 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:26.440 of opportunities to talk to LGBT audiences. I didn't want 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.760 to do the dog and Pony show. I just wanted 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.800 to get down to the work of the city and 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.560 doing the best mayor I could be. Now, I was 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:43.399 aware that other people were watching, and that was a 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.480 big deal to a lot of other folks, And so 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:52.119 in my wrote I wrote my own victory speech. I 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.200 wanted to acknowledge the history, but I also didn't want 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:58.920 it to be the most important thing, because the most 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.720 important thing for me was to connect to Houstonians and 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:07.920 really get down to work. And so I made a joke. 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:13.080 I talked about how Houston elected the first, the very 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:16.360 first graduate of Rice University to be mayor of Houston, 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.920 and like everybody burst out laughing. The tension left the room, 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:22.320 and then I could talk about the fact that yes 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.080 I was, you know, we've made history. I was the 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.280 first LGBT mayor. And then quickly pivoted back to thanking 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.600 people and back to welcoming the people who had voted 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.600 for my opponents into the fold. 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.560 Okay, so this is the early twenty tens and gay 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:41.000 marriage is not yet legal, but you're the first gay 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:45.000 mayor of a major city in America. Were there any 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.760 weird things that were happening to you that you think 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.840 maybe weren't happening to other mayors? 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:56.880 As Mayor of Houston, I could not extend my benefits, 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:01.480 my insurance benefits, my pension, any of those things to 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.560 the first Lady of Houston. And even after we were 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:11.080 married legally in another state, I could not extend benefits 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:15.600 until the Supreme Court and their o Bergerfeld decision granted 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.800 equal marriage rights. So seventeen and a half years full 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:23.000 time public service and I was a second class citizen 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.280 to every one of my straight colleagues. 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:30.600 In twenty fourteen, Mayor and niece Parker managed to pass 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:35.080 a signature piece of equal rights legislation. It was called 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:40.200 the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance or HERO. It guaranteed protections 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.800 against discrimination for minorities ranging from veterans to pregnant women. 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.200 Most of those groups were already protected under federal law, 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:54.199 but Mayor Parker's legislation extended it to one group that 0:19:54.240 --> 0:20:00.639 didn't have any federal protections, LGBTQ people. But she was 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:05.920 up against fierce resistance. Opponents of the law, which included 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:12.040 several religious groups, took issues with protections for transgender people specifically, 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.399 and once the law passed, they sued in hopes of 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:17.120 repealing it. 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:22.760 No one had any protections, so we were putting African 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:27.679 Americans and immigrants and you know, women and people with 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.919 disabilities because this would allow a local ordinance for the 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.320 first time to protect them also. And I thought, you know, 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:38.280 it's not going to be about my community. It's not 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:39.600 going to be about the algeb. It's going to be 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.639 about doing the right thing for all of Houston. And 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:48.439 then we passed the ordinance and the only thing that 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:53.359 the anti groups were focused on was trans rites And 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.679 in fact, the organizers of the resistance actually came to 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.520 city Council before we passed the ordinance and said in 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.959 chamber on camera, if you will remove all trans protections, 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:09.800 we will allow the ordinance to go forward. No, that's 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:12.160 not how this is gonna work. We're not gonna throw 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:16.840 one group under the bus. This is an ordinance for everyone. 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:21.720 And then the anti folks organized a petition drive to 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:25.000 repeal it, and the State Supreme Court said something to 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.960 the effect, city you need to either repeal it or 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.479 put it on the ballot for a vote. We refuse 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:35.720 to repeal it, and so we went to a vote, 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:40.879 the Hero vote us napel Rights ordinances. The Hero vote 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:46.800 was the first real public vote on something after the 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:53.040 Supreme Court ruled on marriage that year, and it was 0:21:53.200 --> 0:22:00.280 fueled by national money. It was essentially a national outpoorting 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.600 of anger from the right about a whole lot of 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.840 changes that were happening socially, and this was a place 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:11.280 where they could dig into it. And interesting fact, you know, 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.359 they were running ads about little girls being raped in 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:18.920 bathrooms by straight people going into women's bathrooms. All they 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.560 cared about was those images of you know, a little 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:27.480 girl being assaulted in a bathroom. That I mean, horrible commercial. 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:29.959 And it went down in defeat. 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:35.040 What did that feel like personally for you to lose 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:36.080 that battle? 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:42.360 And I was hurt and angry and frustrated. I took 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:46.480 it very personally. And the Hero Ordinance vote, this was 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:49.719 after I had already been again elected nine times by 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:53.560 these same people who turned around and said, yeah, you know, 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:57.720 you're hey, we love you as mayor, but you shouldn't 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:17.320 have civil rights protections. 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:22.000 Due to term limits, mayor a niece, Parker couldn't run 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:26.240 for a fourth term, so in twenty sixteen, she finished 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:28.760 her term and became the president of what is now 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:33.880 called the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a political organization with the 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:38.719 mission of electing LGBTQ people to public office at every level. 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:43.240 She announced this year that after leading the Victory Fund 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:47.280 for seven years, she was going to step down. According 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:51.960 to their annual report, Mayor Parker helped nearly triple the 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:56.360 amount of queer elected officials across the United States, from 0:23:56.400 --> 0:24:01.119 mayors to congress people to governors. But her victory is 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:05.840 there were inspired by one of her biggest losses, the 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:11.960 Equality Ordinance. How did that loss, which seems like it 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:17.080 was a profound loss for you, how did that really 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:17.639 shape you? 0:24:19.400 --> 0:24:26.040 It reinforced to me the importance of individuals standing up 0:24:26.080 --> 0:24:32.879 and speaking out. And so I took the high and 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:36.719 the low and decided that what I needed to do 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:40.280 next was go back to my roots and become an 0:24:40.320 --> 0:24:45.679 activist again, which is essentially what I've done through the 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:52.560 LGBTQ Victory Fund and Victory Institute, and that is helping 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:55.240 other people navigate the political process so they can be 0:24:55.280 --> 0:25:00.399 in the room where decisions are made. But also, you know, 0:25:00.920 --> 0:25:05.840 even even a losing campaign, when when an out person 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:08.840 somewhere across the country stands up and says, this is 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:11.320 who I am. I want to serve you. This is 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:13.160 the issue. These are the issues I want to work on, 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:17.040 whether they're successful as a candidate or not. They're changing 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:20.960 hearts in minds, and the fact that the opposition is 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:26.080 getting more and more ugly and virulent. It's just a 0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:30.320 factor of our success. If we weren't, if we weren't winning, 0:25:30.400 --> 0:25:33.240 if we weren't changing hearts and minds, folks on the 0:25:33.240 --> 0:25:36.760 hard right would not be coming at us. 0:25:37.119 --> 0:25:42.560 You're about to step down from the LGBTQ Victory Fund 0:25:42.600 --> 0:25:47.080 after leading it for several years, and it feels like 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:53.040 that's an intentional decision to make way for a new 0:25:53.119 --> 0:25:58.640 generation of LGBTQ leaders. And this show is about passing 0:25:58.720 --> 0:26:03.680 down thing from one generation of queer people to the next. 0:26:03.800 --> 0:26:07.760 And so what do you hope to pass down to 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:12.400 the next generation of queer leaders that are fighting for 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:16.360 equality just as you've done almost your whole life. 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:21.200 What I am leaving is a strong and vibrant organization 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:27.280 that is still very relevant to what's happening politically today. 0:26:27.800 --> 0:26:32.200 And the advice I would offer to my successor is that, 0:26:33.280 --> 0:26:39.119 unfortunately lgbt rights are under attack in ways that they 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:43.240 haven't been in decades. Do not fall into the trap 0:26:43.359 --> 0:26:47.359 of saying those people we have to write off. Those 0:26:47.400 --> 0:26:52.199 people are still our There are still our parents, our 0:26:52.240 --> 0:26:56.600 brothers and sisters, our cousins, our family members. We have 0:26:56.680 --> 0:27:00.679 to stay in and remind them that the soh they 0:27:01.080 --> 0:27:07.440 attack us, one we're going to persevere, and two we're 0:27:07.480 --> 0:27:11.119 going to win in the end. But they have to 0:27:11.240 --> 0:27:15.800 see us as full human beings, and the only way 0:27:15.840 --> 0:27:20.040 they do that is by us being out and visible 0:27:20.200 --> 0:27:21.800 and present in front of them. 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:26.560 Why do you think it's important for queer people and 0:27:26.640 --> 0:27:30.600 queer young people to get involved in politics? And this 0:27:30.680 --> 0:27:35.359 is after you've had a really decorated career in politics. 0:27:36.440 --> 0:27:40.399 Just because you don't care about politics doesn't mean that 0:27:40.400 --> 0:27:44.399 politics doesn't care about you. It doesn't influence your life. 0:27:45.080 --> 0:27:52.800 And we have not just a responsibility or a right, 0:27:53.320 --> 0:27:58.200 we have an obligation to be involved in that. Unless 0:27:58.240 --> 0:28:01.760 you have someone in the room where a decision is 0:28:01.840 --> 0:28:04.640 actually made and put on paper and made into law, 0:28:04.960 --> 0:28:10.960 you have nothing. And we have to be in a 0:28:11.000 --> 0:28:14.359