Politics Turn Cities Into Gay Tourist Hot Spots?

Houston’s election late last year of its first openly gay mayor – Annise Parker – coincided serendipitously with a renewed effort to attract gay and lesbian visitors to the fourth-largest city in the nation.

In the eyes of the city’s tourism office, Parker’s election was not only an important political win, but also presented a marketing opportunity. The city launched a campaign titled “My Gay Houston,” featuring gay Houstonians in print advertisements and on a newly-revamped website, as their latest effort in a years-old gay campaign.

More at: Edge Boston!

Gay Houston Teen Beaten with Metal Pipe

Another day, another horrifying report of violence against a gay teenager.

Jayron Martin, a 16-year-old high school freshman from Houston, tells KHOU-TV that he was chased down after school and beaten with a metal pipe last week while eight classmates stood around and watched.

“All they kept saying was, ‘We going to get you. We going to fight you,’ and all that and so when they started coming after me they were like, ‘You’re not going to be gay anymore.’ They just kept hitting me,” Jayron said.

Read more and watch the news clip at: Dallas Voice!

Lesbian Leads Houston Mayoral Hopefuls

From Advocate.com:

Houston controller Annise Parker (pictured), who is a lesbian, enjoys a marginal lead among likely decided voters in the November mayoral election, according to a new poll by KHOU-TV Channel 11 and KUHF Houston Public Radio.

Parker, a Democrat who previously served on the city council for six years, led among the four main mayoral contenders with 13.2% of respondents saying they would vote for her. Her closest competitor, former city attorney Gene Locke, found support among 9.6% of respondents, within the margin of error of 4.5%.

Read the rest of this post by Julie Bolcer by clicking here.