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Gay officeholders increasing in Dixie

December 18, 2009 — The election of lesbian Annise Parker as mayor of Houston last week rightly made headlines. Houston is now the largest city in the United States to elect an openly gay mayor. Parker, however, is only part of the story of what has been happening, almost unnoticed, across the South as well as the nation in the past decade or so as hundreds of politically active gay men and lesbians have entered politics and started winning elections in places that weren’t suppose to be hospitable to their candidacies.

In 2001, Southern Political Report produced a report, “Diversity in Dixie,” which looked at the growing influence of minorities in Southern politics. At that time, there were 31 openly gay men and women holding elective office in five Southern states. Today, only eight years later, there are 79 -- about two-and-a-half times as many. And they are present in 12 Southern states, everyone but -- surprise! -- Mississippi.

Openly gay politicians have won seats in the legislatures in Alabama (state Rep. Patricia Todd), Arkansas (state Rep. Kathy Webb), Georgia (state Rep. Karla Drenner), North Carolina (state Sen. Julia Boseman), Oklahoma (state Rep. Al McAffrey), and Virginia (state Rep. Adam Ebbin). Several prominent gay lawmakers have retired from Southern legislatures, including former state Rep. Glen Maxey in Texas, and former state Sen. Ernesto Scorsone in Kentucky. All are Democrats and represent urban areas, where gay voters often make up a significant portion of the electorate.

Gay political power has been especially evident in Southern city governments. While Parker’s election in Houston is certainly the most noteworthy example -- nationally, not just in the South -- gays have made their presence felt in other Southern urban centers as well. Last month, the Broward County Commission elected Ken Keechl as mayor. And in Atlanta, Cathy Woolard was elected president of the Atlanta City Council in 2002, making her at the time one of the highest ranking openly gay officeholders in the nation.

This is not to say that the South, a bastion of fundamentalist Protestantism, has become a land of opportunity for candidates who are not part of the nation’s heterosexual mainstream.  Nationwide, some 700 gay men and women hold elective office; the South, with about 35 percent of the US population, accounts for only about 11 percent of them. Moreover, anti-gay laws -- such as bans on same-sex adoptions and restrictions on what may be taught about homosexuality in schools -- have often passed legislatures and city and county councils in the South. And some politicians still feel free to criticize the gay minority. Just last week, US Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), an increasingly influential Republican conservative, described gays as “socially destructive” in a television interview.

Nevertheless, the increasing presence of gay officeholders as part of the South’s political fabric has already had an impact. The South’s wide network of gay political activists was part of the coalitions that helped Barack Obama and other Democrats win office last year. Lobbying by gay groups, aided by the presence of a gay lawmaker, have resulted in some pro-gay laws, including hate crime laws that cover gay people as well as other minorities, and bans on anti-gay hiring discrimination by city and county governments. At least one study has shown that having even one openly gay member of a governing body provides a more hospitable reception for pro-gay proposals.

Of interest: The extent to which the gay liberation movement is a product of the economically advanced Western nations is apparent in the worldwide statistics on openly gay officials. North America has 736, Europe 162 and Australia 26, while South America has 8, Africa 6 and Asia 5.

Number of openly gay elected officials in the South*

*Source: The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund; www.victoryfund.org