This week saw one prominent mayor and lesbian mom leave office while another one began her term.
Annise Parker, who just completed her third term as mayor of Houston and was required to step down, has spent a total of 18 years in city government. Her election made Houston the largest U.S. city with an openly LGBTQ mayor.
She suffered a major political loss last November when a gender-identity-inclusive human rights ordinance, which her council had passed, was repealed at the ballot box. Among her accomplishments, however, were “a dramatic reduction” in Houston’s homeless population and enhancing the city’s parks to create more usable greenspace, reports ABC 13. The Houston Chronicle also commends her for improving criminal justice processes and making cost-saving changes to city employees’ health benefits, as well as “streamlined processes at City Hall and routine funding for deferred maintenance … the sorts of issues where politicians receive the least attention but deserve the most praise.” It criticized her, however, for “her failure to make progress on pension reform.”
Parker, who has four children with her spouse Kathy Hubbard, a tax consultant, now plans to spend a few months at the Institute of Politics at Harvard, after which she may run for a judgeship or state office.
She told KHOU that she never wanted to be known as the “gay mayor” of Houston, but admits that her sexual orientation gave her “an opportunity to talk about the coolness factor of Houston,” and helped bring it global attention.
It will be interesting to see if the same happens to Salt Lake City as Jackie Biskupski begins her term as mayor there, the metropolis’ first openly LGBTQ chief executive. She entered politics in 1995 when controversy arose about a gay straight alliance at a city high school.
After adopting a son, now almost six years old, and raising him as a single mom, Biskupski recently became engaged to Betty Iverson, an executive for Johnson & Johnson, who has an 11-year-old son. The Deseret News has a nice profile of her personal and professional life.
I totally understand that Parker (and maybe Biskupski, too) doesn’t want to be known as the “gay mayor,” nor, presumably, the “mom mayor.” Nevertheless, I think their identities as lesbians, women, and moms are significant, bringing lesbian visibility and a diversity of perspectives to the largely straight male world of politics, and showing people that being a mom (coupled or single) doesn’t necessarily mean giving up a high-profile career. This is not to say their political prowess is secondary. In terms of their ability to do their jobs, it’s first and foremost. But visibility, representation, and role models matter. Both Parker and Biskupski give us that in addition to their political skills.