Gay Dallas GOP leader Rob Schlein won his precinct chair race after beating Homer Adams by five votes in the far north Dallas precinct 2041.
Adams, the husband of Eagle Forum President Cathie Adams, known as one of the most anti-gay voices in Dallas, has been precinct chair for the past 12 years. Schlein lost to Adams by three votes in 2010.
Schlein said he felt “pride in my personal accomplishment, and pride in my neighbors who have, in majority, decided that the hateful ways of the Adams’ are no longer acceptable in one of the most staunch and reliable conservative precincts.”
In Tarrant County, gay Republican William Busby won in South Fort Worth’s precinct 4256. The 20-year-old said he decided to run because the current chair has served for more than a decade and has rarely attended important events and committee meetings in the past year.
While open about his sexuality, Busby said he won the race without his opponent running an anti-gay campaign, despite few gay Republicans being open in his political circles.
“I’m pretty much one of the few,” he said, adding that his stronger presence in the party will help change any anti-gay attitudes. “I think it helps to bring openness to the party.”
Busby is one of the few openly gay Republicans elected in Tarrant County, if not the first. And while he won with seven votes in a race that garnered 17 total votes, he said the impact was still important.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 3, 2012.