Comments on: Annise Parker’s Victory: A Step Forward

By: bellacoker

bellacoker — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:45:53 +0000

DirtyLaundry:

That’s the same lesson I learned from driving an 18-wheeler, but with more traffic.

By: Alice Winfree Bowron

Alice Winfree Bowron — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:31:49 +0000

As an out bi woman and lifetime political activist I am thrilled. Socalled “liberal” politics in socalled “sophisticated” areas are rife with a particularly backstabbing kind of hypocrisy: e.g. NY & CA and the like – no need to hold those areas up as paradigms of political enlightenment.

Now we will see how the girl does in office….

By: DirtyLaundry

DirtyLaundry — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:59:21 +0000

Why do people keep comparing Anna Parker’s victory to New York and California banning gay marriage?

I’m not sure if NY or CA has any gay elected officials but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. This is apples and oranges. A person who is not in favor of gay marriage might not have any problem having a gay mayor as long as they get the job done right. Many people view gay marriage as trying to completely change the game up and throw out tradition that is why they are not in favor of it.

So there are many people in Houston and the world over who wouldn’t mind having a gay mayor, they just don’t want them to get married.

Plenty of people who hold prejudice views against blacks voted for Obama, they just looked past his race to see someone who could get the job done. Is that progress, I guess. The people in Iowa and Minnesota are no more liberal or conservative than the people of NY and CA. If it’s one thing The Twilight Zone has taught me is that “People are alike everywhere.”

By: Clare K. R. Miller

Clare K. R. Miller — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:29:02 +0000

Wonderful points, Sarah and everyone else. I’m going to try to keep in mind the fact that regions and states are not political monoliths in the future. It’s important, and I’m guilty of falling into an “us vs. them” mentality all too often.

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:38:50 +0000

@Ratinski: Exactly! It's just one more dividing tool, to assume states that aren't superficially similar to yours must be a monolith of conflicting values. T'aint that way, my friends.

By: ratinski

ratinski — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:01:29 +0000

I think the other thing to consider is that some of the states that we on the coasts tend to consider quite conservative aren’t necessarily so. I’m from Illinois, with extremely close proximity to Iowa (ask me about my summers spent sandbagging to protect the house from being flooded by the Mississippi!) and Iowa has always, always struck me as being fairly moderate, all things considered. Minnesota is where I went to college, and despite the presence of its share of upstate whackadoodles, it’s definitely not that conservative of a state in total. I could keep going.

A problem, as I see it, is something you mentioned in your post, Sarah: a lot of us see states as either blue or red monoliths, and they aren’t. Not even the reddest flyover state in the country is a scarlet monolith.

By: J.D.Regent

J.D.Regent — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:38:53 +0000

As a former Houstonite I agree that, while the city has major problems, Republicanism is not really one of them. It is a huge, incredibly diverse, totally international, cosmopolitan place with one of the most tolerant ethos I have ever encountered. Houston aside, Texan politics in general are a lot more Western than Southern, with that kind of live and let live style of almost libertarian style conservatism. Texas takes ALL kinds. But Annise Parker’s election would be cause for celebration anywhere.

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:32:05 +0000

Gotta love the Kinkster.

It is so strange, though, that Iowa and Houston are doing things that New York and New Jersey can’t seem to do.

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:16:24 +0000

Mr. Friedman is a case unto himself. My dad lived for a while in Minnesota and considers it one of his home states, and MN has some political shizz of its own!

By: bellacoker

bellacoker — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:50:53 +0000

@s.o.a.l.g:
Oh, yeah. State politics are always weird.

You should look up Kinky Friedman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EthpMjYLjVk