From "Oddwads" to Openness "I ran on the platform of being a mayor for all of Houston. That's to exclude no one and include everyone." -OutSmart talks to Houston's gay-friendly mayor Interview by Pokey Anderson

I was intrigued when OutSmart called and asked me if I'd like to interview Mayor Lee Brown. He has always seemed a bit of an enigma to me. After the interview, he still does. People who know him well describe him as very private, intelligent, and deliberate in his decision-making. In person, he is a large man who is cordial but seems almost shy. His press secretary tells the story of how he wore glasses as a child, and was an avid reader. The other kids called him a nerd. He laughs and says, "Maybe I was a nerd then. But now I'm the mayor. I wonder where they are?"
OutSmart spoke to Mayor Brown on September 12. -Pokey Anderson

Pokey Anderson: When I first moved here in 1973, there was no meaningful communication between our community and City Hall. City councilmembers would hang up the phone on us, told us we needed psychiatrists, not rights and, in one memorable case, called us "oddwads." In those early days, only Councilman Judson Robinson would even talk with us. Later, a mayoral candidate by the name of Louie Welch suggested, when he thought the microphones were off, that the solution to AIDS was to "shoot the queers." So, Mayor Brown, it is a great pleasure to be sitting here in your office.
Mayor Lee Brown: Well, welcome, we're happy that you are here.

You are the first Houston mayor to ride in the Gay Pride Parade while in office. It's fitting that we started the new millennium that way. How did you decide to ride in the Pride Parade?
Well, it was very simple-I was asked. There are a number of parades I am asked to ride in; sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. This time there was nothing on my schedule that conflicted. So I accepted the invitation. I ran on the platform of being a mayor for all of Houston. That's to exclude no one and include everyone. So if I ride in one parade, I can ride in other parades.

And did you have fun?
Oh, I had a good time! It was one of the most enthusiastic crowds that I've ever seen in a parade, maybe because it was nighttime, I don't know. People were having a good time. Equally important, many came up to me during and after the parade and thanked me for doing it. I never thought about it in the history-making context, until I was told I was the first mayor to ever ride in the parade. To me, it's the normal thing to do. I don't intend to discriminate on parades for any reason or anything else in my administration. So, I enjoyed it, and I'll do it again, if I'm asked.

And what did your wife think?
Oh, she enjoyed it as well. She had a good time waving at the people. Both of us had a real good time at the parade. The only thing I regret was I didn't have a chance to watch the rest of the parade. [laughs]

READING ONE'S WAY OUT OF POVERTY

Your initiative, combined with the hard work of countless library employees, accomplished a near miracle, which is the Power Card. You brought the number of Houston children with library cards from 100,000 to 200,000 in about one year. That is amazing.
Well it is well over 200,000 right now. And there was a reason for doing that. When I grew up, we were very poor, and so we did not have the opportunity to travel and meet people. But I was able to travel and meet people by going to the library and reading. That was my way of doing things that you can't do with a lack of resources. And so when I got to be mayor, I pledged my administration to the children of our city, and at the same time, promised to put a library card in the hand of every school-aged child. The library staff accepted my challenge and we implemented the Power Card-we no longer have library cards, we have Power Cards. I want to expose children to the world of ideas, expose them to the computers. Many-particularly poor people-are victims of the digital divide. So we have computers in our libraries.... As I tell them [the children], knowledge is power. But it's the kind of power no one can ever take away from them. So I want to encourage kids to read, to learn and to reach their full potential.

That actually goes into my next question. When you were growing up, was there a particular book that you read that inspired you? How did you get from being the son of farm workers to a fellow with a Ph.D., for starters?
I'm a Christian to begin with, and I guess the book that influenced me more was the Bible. That's where I learned right from wrong, the values that help me even today. Then another book that I read in my early life was The Soul of Black Folks by W.E.B. DuBois, which talked about the struggle of African-Americans in this country. And there are many other books I read. But I think those two influenced me more than anything in terms of wanting to work hard, to get out of the poverty that I grew up in.

And one way to do that obviously was through education. And understanding the principles of Christianity, understanding the struggle of African-Americans all kind of came together for me. That's why some of my heroes are Jesus, because of his teachings, Gandhi, because of his nonviolent teaching, and then Martin Luther King Jr., who brought all of them together. So I do a lot of reading now...biographies, autobiographies, about the lives of other people-I find that I can learn by reading about the experiences of other people.

Were your parents able to see some of your successes?
My mother, yes. My father died quite a while ago. I was a policeman when he died. My mother was alive until I was campaigning for mayor. She died before I got elected, but during the campaign, she saw me go to the White House, so that was a big thrill for her.

I'll bet she was proud.
Yeah.

You started out as a patrolman in San Jose, California. Did you have any worries about making the physical test?
No, no. I went to college on a football scholarship, so I was very much in shape. In fact I broke all the records in the physical agility tests-I ran faster, did all the things-I almost got a perfect score. So I was in good shape.
Wow.

CHANGING ATTITUDES AT THE HPD

Many of us remember when you came to be police chief here, appointed by Mayor [Kathy] Whitmire. One member of our community wrote to me, "I can remember when Lee Brown came to Houston as police chief. He proceeded to completely reverse the attitude in the police department in his dealings with minorities (gay, black, transgendered, Hispanic, Asian and so on). However when he left, Elizabeth Watson took over and it began to backslide a little because of a lack of respect for her. Under Sam Nuchia, it really went to hell."

During Chief Watson's watch, Annise Parker was doing diversity training. And then there was that decoy operation, with some of the officers going out pretending to be gay and making arrests of those who would attack gay people, which was pretty creative. How do you think we're doing now in sensitivity to the gay community?
I think we're doing well. Chief Bradford is very much sensitive to all aspects of our community and I would expect no less from him, if he's going to work for me. So I think we're doing OK now. I'm not hearing any complaints anyway.

How about openly gay/lesbian officers in HPD-do you think they have a difficult time? Do you know that there are some?
I think that things have evolved so that they should be able to perform their duties like anyone else. I think, when I was police chief, we started the diversity training. That helped tremendously and that's continued since I left. So I think that it's a whole different attitude today-much more open, more understanding, more accepting. I know there are openly gay police officers and I don't hear of them having any problems.

Hate crimes is certainly an issue that affects many people in our community. The sad deaths of James Byrd and Matthew Shepard shocked the nation. I understand you went to the funeral of Mr. Byrd.
Yes I did.

And some of us remember there was a murder of a banker, Paul Broussard, and before that, Fred Paez, and of course many, many others, some of whom we don't even know their names. Have you yourself been a victim of a hate crime, or have you witnessed it?
You know, when you are the police chief, you're not often a victim of crimes. [chuckles] I can't say that I've been a victim of a hate crime. I have certainly been a victim of bigotry and prejudice and discrimination-that's been part of my life and growing up. But I understand all that, and that's one of the reasons why I got elected mayor. I said I'd do something about it. So we created a hate crime office with a police officer in charge of it, and elevated a hate crime to the same level of any other major felony. And in addition to that, we started training programs for prevention purposes. So we did a lot and a lot is still being done-the hate crime hotline.

So I wanted to do at least two things. Number one, to prevent hate crimes. And do that through education and other activities. And, number two, if one occurred, to make sure it is treated for what it is, a very, very serious crime-and that the people who would be responsible for committing a hate crime would be apprehended and punished rapidly.

AFICAN-AMERICAN RIGHTS VS. GAY RIGHTS?

There have been some scuffles in the African-American community, particularly in some of the churches, to the effect if we pay attention to gay and lesbian issues, that might water down some of the issues for people of color. How do you approach that argument?
Hmmm, in fact, I haven't heard that argument before. I don't see where it holds any credence. I think certainly if you are a religious person, you should hold the same beliefs that I hold and that is to treat everyone with decency and respect, do not hold discriminatory values against anyone. That's what the Christian teaching is all about. So I've not heard that, and I'm kind of surprised that that would be any attitude that's projected within the African-American religious community. At least in my church, that's not the attitude. And the Bible I read, that's not something that's talked about by the teachings of Christianity.

MAKING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST GAYS AND LESBIANS ILLEGAL

Soon after you took office you signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in city government. The order has been tied up in court ever since. Where are we now?
Still tied up in court. Councilmember [Rob] Todd along with another fellow [Richard Hotze], I forget his name, filed a lawsuit challenging my authority to issue an executive order on that subject. My belief is very simple-we shouldn't discriminate against anybody. Regardless. So I wanted to add the element of sexual orientation in the executive order. Clearly the mayor has the authority to issue executive orders. They've issued them ever since there's been a mayor, as far as I can tell. I understand the appellate court is going to hear the appeal. And the issue is whether or not Councilman Todd and the other person have a standing in this case. The reason I say that is because the executive order does not affect Councilman Todd as an elected official, only city employees that are hired. My belief is that they don't have standing to bring the litigation against me, so I hope to prevail.

Even [while the suit is] pending, I am not going to allow discrimination. Even at this point, without the executive order, we shouldn't discriminate. That I won't tolerate.

AIDS STATE OF EMERGENCY

We recently had a declaration of a State of Emergency on AIDS. We've seen the ravaging of not only the gay community, but communities of color, women, children. Africa is under tremendous economic stress because of AIDS now. We recently lost Gary van Ooteghem here who was quite a wonderful advocate for AIDS. How are we doing after two decades of fighting AIDS?
I think we're making progress in the gay and lesbian community, after years and years of struggle and all too many deaths. What we see now in Harris County is still a real problem with HIV/AIDS. It's changed to some extent. Going back to 1999, the largest number of new AIDS cases was in the African-American community. And mainly females. And based upon that, I did declare an emergency within the African-American community. Tried to get the message out that AIDS really represents a preventable disease.

I think the African-American community can take a page out of the history of the gay and lesbian community in terms of what was done there to reduce the amount of new AIDS cases. And so I appointed Councilmember Jew Don Boney to head a task force and involve a representative segment of the community to mount an extensive educational program, to deal with getting the message out and encouraging people to be tested. In the black community, your religious leaders have quite a following, so to get them involved in it as well. So the effort is going on the radios in the black community, as well in the newspapers. So there is an all-out effort to try to curb this problem because it is of epidemic proportion.

DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS FOR CITY EMPLOYEES?

Domestic partnership benefits-I believe about 3,000 corporations have done this. Many of the large Fortune 500s, many governments have done it. Annise Parker is determined to have it done. Do you think it would be a good thing for the city and would you support it?
We're looking at that. I think the best way to approach it is to make sure there is a consensus. As you know, some time ago, the city put an initiative on the ballot and got beat rather soundly. [Editor's note: An antidiscrimination ordinance proposed in Houston in 1984 provoked much hateful opposition, and was virulently defeated.] I don't want that to happen. So we're looking at the environment to see when we can develop enough consensus. Once that's done, then we'll pursue it.

23,000 EMPLOYEES, THE COMETS, AND GORE TOO

Big city mayors have an unimaginable array of difficult problems-23,000 employees, politics and all. What's the hardest part about being mayor? And do you wish the term limits were for four years sometimes?
[Hesitates, laughs.] You know, one of the problems that I spend a lot of time on is the political arena, dealing with council relationships. Because for me to get anything done, I have to have eight votes on Council. And you have different personalities, different attitudes, different aspirations on our City Council. So, it's something we have to constantly work on to make sure we have good council relationships.... So those kind of things take a lot of my time, but it is necessary to do so.

I've seen you at the Comets games. Is that a fun part of the job?
Oh, that is the fun part of the job. I enjoy sports. Like I said, I went to college on a football scholarship. I certainly enjoy the Comets games, the Rockets games, and the Astros games. I'll be looking forward to enjoying the Texans games as well.

And when are we going to get you out there when Team NRG wants you to dance with the fans?
[Laughs] I'm not a dancer.

If Vice President Gore becomes president, would you consider an appointment in his administration?
You know, I've been to Washington and I served in the Cabinet. My objective at this point in life is to serve out my term, hopefully my three terms as mayor, because I think I have the best job right now as mayor of this city. And then go back to Rice University and teach, that's my ambition.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your time.
Feel free to call anytime you want. It's a pleasure.

Pokey Anderson has been a lesbian activist in Houston for over 25 years. She co-founded the Gay/Lesbian Political Caucus in 1975, and was in the first delegation invited to discuss gay/lesbian rights at the White House in 1977. After managing Inklings Bookshop for nearly a decade, Pokey went back to school and is now an independent financial planner.