Not kidding: Houston has a gay mayor

No, this isn't a misprint.

In a stunning victory for equality, that wildly liberal conclave called Houston Texas (also known as the "San Francisco of the South") has elected its first openly gay mayor.

BTW, I love the phrase "openly gay", because it implies that previously there may have been dozens of closeted gay mayors in Houston.

It's also the second time an openly female mayor was elected in Houston, making this an even bigger victory for equal rights.

Mayor-elect Annise Parker is also openly Caucasian, openly well-coiffed, and openly American.

CNN has the story:

Parker, who served five years as city controller, beat former city attorney Gene Locke with 53.6 percent of the vote in a runoff election.

Both are Democrats who faced off for the second time because neither emerged with more than 50 percent of the vote in the November 3 election.

[..]

Parker's victory is also remarkable because a few years ago, Houston rejected a referendum to offer benefits to same-sex partners of city workers. Also, the city sits in a state where gay marriage is against the law.

The weird thing is, very few people even seemed to care about who's going to be their next mayor regardless of the candidate's sexual preferences, because only 16.4% of the eligible voters bothered to cast ballots.