Right now, Houston is gearing up for its mayoral election, and one of the frontrunners is openly lesbian Annise D. Parker. I know that Ms. Parker has a long history as an LGBT activist, but there's little information to be found on her position on queer issues now that she's running for higher political office. I'm not one to assume someone's intentions because they fit a certain demographic. I need proof.
I know that she supported Hillary Clinton as president. That's a pretty major strike because the election brought out the worst in Hillary. She was behaving like a spoiled child, whining about the mean POC who were ruining her chances of election just because she was white. C'mon son. Hillary could have done better had she come more correct. Instead, all she did to reach out to blackfolk was drop every famous black name she could think of just to prove, "I've always been good to you people!!!" like Ms. Millie from The Color Purple. The fact that Annise would side with someone who is drowning in white privilege goes to show that just because she's a lesbian doesn't mean she understands my experience as a POC.
Really, that's been my issue with Ms. Parker the entire time I've known her. I blogged about my discontent back in January 2008.
Went to the PFLAG meeting on Sunday, and the guest speaker was Annise Parker. I was really looking forward to it. I suppose I was going into it thinking that she must be a progressive person, being that she is such a high ranking, out lesbian. Surely, all the things that she has endured in her life to get to where she is would give her quite a unique perspective. Well, maybe it has, but she still sounds like a politician to me.
There were two points that she really struck out on as far as I am concerned: transgender rights and race politics.
I think it was during the question and answer period that someone brought up the topic of transgender rights, and like most politicians who don't want to reveal their feelings, she kind of deflected the question. I think it was clear that she is like the rest of the community who believe that we should defer seeking transgender rights until the rest of the GLB community can make strides in the equality arena. What a load of crap! I understand the argument, but if we're not going to include transgender people in our struggle for equality, then why do we call it the GLBT community? Call me crazy but I expect that when you all belong to a family, the family sticks together under every circumstance. Her argument was that historically, our story to the straight community has been that we as gay folks are exactly the same, except for our sexual preference. She said that transgender people stray away from that, which I believe is so untrue. Just because someone feels they were not born as the right sex doesn't mean that they are not normal, which is what she implied. She needs to read up on some research and consider that there are more than just two sexes and that a number of GLB people consider themselves "gender fluid" anyway. It was sad to hear her speaking like that, playing politician and not owning up to her own feelings on the matter.
Her stance on race was a lot more tricky... First, it was Ms. Parker contending that it is important for her to bring her Black children with her, especially when she is visiting the Black community. Hmm. I'm split on this one. I can see some positives of her wanting to expose her children to the Black community. At the same time, I think it was messed up how she presented that statement, which could have been interpreted as meaning that she, a White politician, would show up in the Black community with her Black kids to qualify herself as down for the cause. That sounds a little too George Bush to me. Having been used as or considered a token quite often, I can't stress how insulting that is. Interesting how that statement gave me pause but got the older White PFLAG women (especially) applauding her efforts. Hmm. Again, it's all about the perception and I didn't know quite how to take that.After the meeting, [Mrs. Miles] wanted to go up and introduce herself and possibly discuss volunteering for her campaign, as Ms. Parker intends to run for mayor next year. While she was waiting to introduce herself, I caught bits and pieces of a conversation between Ms. Parker and an older White gentleman. I wasn't listening to the entire conversation, but I started paying attention when the guy started to talk about the Black community and how he qualified that by saying he works with the Black community... he was debating her stance on transgender issues by drawing parallels to the Black community - presumably the effects of discrimination and how they could be the same for Black vs. White and transgender vs. gay. Again, Ms. Parker deflected the question, saying that the pressing issue in the Black community is not race but class, using her two daughters' upbringings as an example to illustrate her point. And it was at this point, that I became livid. So, not only is she not a staunch supporter of transgender rights, she is also under the delusion that racism and classism are not related? Oh hell no! Take New Orleans for example. The folks disproportionately affected by Katrina were definitely the lower class, but look at the stats - the largest percentage of that lower class is what? BLACK! Let me see her talk her way around that.
This is 2008. Racism doesn't often take the form of lynching anymore. What's out there is hush hush and built into our socioeconomic system. There are too many people who think that because things don't happen like they did before the civil rights movement, that Black people are just whining and complaining over nothing. There are far too many White people who think that ignoring race all together or steering our attention from it means that the problems will go away or that they must not exist. Excuse me, but as I wake up in my own skin every morning and have to go out being Black everyday, I beg to differ. How many of y'all get tailed around stores or don't get offered service? How many of y'all grew up attending the Black school where they wouldn't even let you check books out of the library? How many of y'all have been the only person of your race in an academic setting? How many times have you been used only as a symbol of diversity where there is really no desire for diversity at all? Grr! The messed up thing is that the struggles in my life would probably pale in comparison to many, but at the same time, the hazards of being a person of color in America aren't limited to only the lower class.
Before I talked to [Mrs. Miles] and found out what that gentleman and Annise Parker were discussing, I was just angry at the display, in general. It might not stir you at all to see two White folks standing there talking about what's most problematic in the Black community, but the irony and the familiarity of the situation had me on edge. How many times have I seen this? How many times? A couple of weeks ago when [Mrs. Mile's] mom was talking about tearing down the projects in New Orleans? It's just like Bill Cosby coming out with those highly critical comments about the Black community but taking them straight to the White media. Then the White audience all agreed with him and had all these criticisms and thoughts on how to improve the Black community. Um, no. No to Bill Cobsy airing our dirty laundry outside the community and no to the White folks who always think they know what's best for other people. Criticism is one thing but qualified criticism is another. [Mrs. Miles] argued that Annise Parker is qualified to discuss race, being the mother of three Black children. Ok, I will concede that. I still contend that hers is one of the more damaging attitudes that race activists must deal with today. It is infinitely harder to change the attitude of someone who believes they are not racist because they have Black children than it is to deal with someone who is drags Black men behind their truck, for example, because they realize their own hatred for Black people. I'm not necessarily saying she's a racist. I'm saying she's a deflectionist, someone who wants to steer conversations away from race as fast as possible. If she was really down, she'd know that neither deflecting nor being colorblind is the answer. There's nothing wrong with being Black, so don't try to ignore it. Just don't use it against me. Why is that so...hard to understand?
...I wish [Ms. Parker] would reconsider her stance on transgender folks and her opinions on race and class, especially for the good of her two daughters so they know it's okay to be proud of their heritage.
Being pro-transgender exclusion for ENDA (even if it is by way of failing to take a stand against transgender exclusion) and believing that racism and classism do not intersect? Two BIG strikes, Ms. Parker. Yet, everyone I know is supporting her because she is openly lesbian and will presumably have the queer community's best interests at heart. No. She has the interests of the WHITE LGB community at heart. I'm so sick of feeling like I have to choose between my POC and queer identities in elections. Clearly, that's what will have to happen if I'm voting for Annise. Plus, if she's not big enough to stand up and address issues like transgender inclusion in ENDA, she's probably not going to be bold enough to stand up on other controversial issues either. I don't trust her.
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