Deep in the Heart of Texas

With 10 openly gay or lesbian elected officials, Texas is moving to the forefront of southern states in terms of LGBT equality---yeah, Texas. Go figure. Florida, which has 22 openly gay/lesbian elected officials is the only Southern State with more. North Carolina has an embarrassingly low number, with only 5 openly gay/lesbian elected officials.

Texas has elected LGBT'ers to a surprisingly wide range of offices--from the Sherriff of Dallas County to Dallas Clerk of Court to Houston's City Controller, the second most powerful position in Houston. We've made such strong progress that there is a darn good chance that Ed Oakley, an openly gay City Councilmember, will be elected Mayor next week. Here's an article about Ed's race.