Houston

Annise Parker.JPG

Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker

The LGBTQ movement in Houston following the 1970’s mirrored that of the rest of the nation. The raids themselves, though not ceasing, decreased in frequency and severity but still left Houston being no stranger to the national trend of “pre-pride” police bar raids and harassment. As with much of United States early proposals for non-discrimination ordinances were proposed, with Houston’s initial ordinance being proposed and passed as early as 1984. Despite these developments, community opinion of the queer community was still relatively low even causing 55 members of the KKK to walk up Montrose in protest of these new gay protections.

       Even with this social resistance, members of the queer community rose ranks and went on to become elected officials in local and state government. Some of the most well-known were Annise Parker, who was the first openly gay elected official in Houston history who became a city council member in 1998 and the mayor of Houston in 2009; as well as Matthew Ganssle who was an openly gay man elected as the mayor of Kemp, Texas in 2009. [26] More recently, Phyllis Frye became the first out, transgender judge in the nation in 2010 when she was appointed as Associate Municipal Judge to the city of Houston. [27]

       Despite this progress, discrimination was no stranger to the nation and Houston was no different. Gay directed violence and harassment was common and attacks and hate crimes were widely reported even into the early 2000’s. The worst incidents ended with deaths of those in the queer community. One such incident was the death of long time bar owner Marion Panzer who was shot to death in a robbery of her lesbian bar Marion and Lynn’s in 1986. [28] Other similar incidents were also common with some even being at the hands of the Houston Police department, as was the case in the death of Gary Wayne Stock who was shot after an altercation with an HPD officer who discharged his weapon claiming Stock was resisting and he acted in self-defense. [29] These attacks served to galvanize the gay community in Houston, pushing their drive for equality and civil treatment with even more force.

       With time the frequency of these kinds of incidents has gone down dramatically and the current social and political climate continues to evolve making the gay community stronger than ever. In recent years’ relations between the queer community and HPD have softened, with the police even going far enough to walk in the Houston area pride parade, but one cannot really say these instances have pulled the situation full circle. The fight for acceptance and equal treatment, in Houston or in the Nation as a whole, is really never ending, even well into the 21st century bars are still raided, most notably the Dallas Rainbow Lounge raided in 2009, and the queer community is still harassed. [30] We’ve made progress, but this movement can go further; the queer community is a united front, able to take on any uncertainty that the changing state of our society may show us.