Texas LGBT lawmaker identifies as pansexual

Mary Gonzalez (courtesy photo)

AUSTIN — Next term’s only serving Texas lawmaker to openly identify as LGBT has come out as pansexual.

Before winning her primary in May, Mary Gonzalez was identified in the press as a lesbian. However, according to the Dallas Voice — which had previously only identified her as “LGBT” — Gonzalez wanted to clarify her sexual orientation now that the campaign is over.

“During the campaign if I had identified as pansexual, I would have overwhelmed everyone,” Gonzalez told the Dallas Voice this week, adding that many don’t know what being pan means. “Now that I’m out of the campaign, I’m completely much more able to define it.”

Though similar to bisexual in that attraction is not limited to a single gender, those who identify as pansexual reject labels like bisexual, gay and lesbian because of their embrace of all gender identities.