Inside Out at City Hall

Houston City Council At-large 1

Introducing My Life Partner

And other incidents from the life of an openly lesbian city councilwoman

by Annise D. Parker

January 2, 2002: New city council members walk across the Wortham Center stage to introductions and applause, followed shortly by their spouses, significant others, or guests:

"At Large Council Member Position 2 Gordon Quan, and his wife, Sylvia. . ."

Applause.

"At large Council Member Position 1 Annise Parker, and her life partner, Kathy Hubbard. . ."

Applause.

At the first council meeting of the new term, council members traditionally introduce their family and guests. I introduced Kathy as my life partner and acknowledged the presence of my mother and other family members in the audience, as I did at the beginning of the two previous terms.

Yes!

Every year I’ve felt the same excitement at this moment, from the first time in 1998 to last January. During more than two decades of work as an openly lesbian political leader and civic activist, I had become accustomed to helping open doors for our community. I had often been the only open lesbian on a board or at a meeting. But being an openly lesbian city council member is different on many levels.

During the transition period after my election in 1997 and before my inauguration, I visited with the protocol office and explained to them that, though I am legally single, I consider myself married and am part of an established couple. I expected Kathy to be included in all official invitations and introduced at all appropriate events. The response was, "Yes, council member. What shall we call her?" Oops, we had to hurriedly decide that "life partner" was our preferred term (although "wife" had a certain appeal). Now the various foreign consulates and anyone else who issues invitations to council members deals with the issue.

At an early debate in the council Ethics Committee, I pointed out that all the city definitions of nepotism would exclude my relationship. My life partner is also not required to file certain financial disclosures required of others. The Legal Department told me they could rewrite the code to make sure she was included. I replied that I’d be happy for her to bear the burdens of office once she got the benefits of office, such as access to my insurance. Alas, Proposition 2 has postponed this indefinitely.

In my capacity as gay council member, it is extremely satisfying to provide a safe place for the GLBT community to seek help. Two or three times a month, my office receives desperate calls from community members.

"HPD sent five squad cars to arrest us. They didn’t even listen to our side of the story," the young lesbian told my lesbian staff member. "The officer called me a fag and asked about my roommate."

After my staff member explains how to file an IAD complaint (Internal Affairs Division), I write a memo to Chief Bradford, who responds in writing. When a bar inspection or adult bookstore arrest goes over the line, I can call the chief or an assistant chief for an immediate response. Police chiefs have to respond to council members.

In my case, I have had the opportunity to develop excellent relationships with many HPD officers through my two decades of work with the Police Advisory Committee and the HPD Citizen Review Committee. I also coordinated a GLBT sensitivity course at the HPD Academy. There is a huge difference, however, between my previous cooperative relationship with HPD, and a relationship in which they must respond to me. Even so, a year ago, the Houston Police Officers Union honored me as Council Member of the Year.

The GLBT community is probably more aware of my role in passing major legislation that directly affects our community. As he promised during the campaign, Mayor Lee P. Brown issued an executive order soon after taking office in 1998 to protect municipal GLBT employees against job discrimination. At my request, the mayor also included specific language to protect transgendered employees, making Houston one of the few cities to protect its TG city employees. Last year, I worked with the mayor and my council colleagues to codify that order by passing a nondiscrimination ordinance (by a vote of 10 for, four against) that also included the TG community.

I am also proud that I have been able to support the nominations of the city’s first openly gay municipal court judges, John Paul Barnich and Steve Kirkland. I’ve worked hard to see that our community is fairly represented in appointments to the city’s 115 boards and commissions, including three gay men who followed me on the HPD Citizen Review Committee.

My status as a Houston council member also opens the statehouse doors so I can testify about hate crimes and gets my letters of support opened and phone calls returned when I lobby on behalf of community issues or individuals.

Now that the dust from Prop 2 has settled a bit, the future of domestic partner benefits is still unclear. We do know this: At some point, the city legal department will have to determine the legal meaning and enforceability of the new voter-approved city charter language. Dave Wilson’s petition was, at best, confusing. Its true meaning and impact are yet to be measured. In the meantime, more and more corporations and cities approve DP benefits, and we move forward on other fronts.

At the end of the day, I enjoy attending events all over this diverse city. Talking to prominent people, everyday working people, police officers, pastry chefs, I don’t think most of them care that I’m a lesbian. They care about getting their fare share of parks, libraries, and paved streets for their tax dollars. And don’t forget that water leak. I took care of it.

An at-large council member represents the entire city. As long as I take care of business for the other two million Houstonians first, my sexual orientation will play its proper role. I strive to be an outstanding council member who happens to be lesbian rather than the lesbian council member.

A Houston City Council member who happens to be lesbian, Annise Parker is serving her third term in At-large Position 1. She can be reached at 713/247-2014 or annise.parker@cityofhouston.net. Her website is www.ci.houston.tx.us/city govt/council/1.

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