The Houston mayoral election is still four months away, but challenger Fernando Herrera must be getting desperate considering he’s already throwing anti-gay mud at incumbent Annise Parker. Herrera posted a picture to his campaign’s Facebook page (screen grab above) from the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau’s “My Gay Houston” campaign. The campaign features prominent LGBT Houstonians talking about what makes Houston great. Herrera captioned the photo as follows:
“The Gay Boy’s Weekend in H-Town?
The July 13th, 2011 City Council Agenda includes $420,000.00 for the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau. Yes…the same Bureau that launched the My Gay Houston campaign and website. See where your tax dollars are going –www.myGayHouston.com. Read all about it — https://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6780236.html
I’m just saying…”
Well, “I’m just saying” that most major cities in the U.S. are actively competing for the LGBT vacation dollar (including Chicago, Los Angeles, Los Vegas, Washington D.C., Dallas and even Salt Lake City), and if Houston is to be competitive as a vacation and convention destination it has to follow suit. I’m also “just saying” that gay-baiting the very popular Parker is a dumb political move that does little to legitimize Herrera’s struggling campaign.
Houston city elections are nonpartisan, so neither Parker or Herrera will be running on a particular party’s ticket. In 2010 Herrera ran as a Republican against State Rep. Jessica Farrar, and he’s never held political office. Parker previously served three terms on Houston City Council and three terms as city controller before being elected as mayor in 2009.
Below is the comment thread from Herrera’s post. As you can see, he’s taking a beating on his own page:
Three terms as City Council Member and Three terms as controller…actually. Oh, and now one term as mayor.
Thanks Ryan, It’s been fixed.
Oh my dam, here goes the “gay card”.
i don’t think this is about anti- gayness people, this is about spending money in a time of economic downturn here in houston. there are ALOT of things Parker has been doing and this, to spend money on things that really should be saved! puh-lease!