National
Parker’s win hailed as major breakthrough
Gay rights advocates are heralding the victory of a lesbian official in her bid to become mayor of Houston as a triumph for LGBT Americans.
Annise Parker, a Democrat and city controller for Houston, won the city’s Dec. 12 mayoral election by taking 53 percent of the vote. Her win marks the seventh time she’s won a citywide election in Houston and makes the city the most populous in the country to elect an openly LGBT mayor. She takes office Jan. 4.
Paul Scott, executive director for Equality Texas, said Parker’s victory has “multi-layered” significance.
“I think in some ways, we’ve seen the ceiling being broken, not only within the Houston area and Texas, but also nationally in terms of an open lesbian being elected into the highest-level office in the metropolitan area for the fourth largest city in the country,” he said.
Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which endorsed Parker in her race, said the win demonstrates LGBT people “are ready to step up and lead.”
“The voters of Houston have come to realize that sexual orientation is not an indicator of somebody’s ability to do a job,” he said.
Noting that Parker would be expected to testify before the Texas Legislature, Wolfe predicted her role would impact how state lawmakers view LGBT issues.
“When she is in Austin at the state capital — and testifying as the mayor of the largest city in Texas — those state legislators are not going to be able to use sexual orientation as a wedge when they realize they need the support of the largest city in Texas,” he said.
Scott said Parker’s election also could have a direct impact on the 2010 congressional and state House races in the Houston area and would prompt candidates seeking election to look more favorably on LGBT issues.
“As a result, we see this as a positive impact in terms of not only GLBT candidates being evaluated for their qualifications, but those who support GLBT issues also knowing that their stance on these issues does not have to be detrimental to their campaigns,” he said.
A longtime public official in Houston, Parker was first elected as Houston’s city controller in 2003, and before that served as a Houston City Council member since 1997.
In an interview Monday on MSNBC, Parker said she won because she’s truthful to her constituents.
“I’ve always been completely honest with the voters of Houston — whether [it’s] about my sexual orientation, whether it’s about the fact that my life partner of 19 years and I have multi-racial kids that we’ve adopted,” she said. “They know me, they trust me, they know I’ll tell them the truth, and in this economy, when there’s a lot of uncertainty, you want someone that you know you can depend on.”
She also is no stranger to fighting for LGBT rights, and campaigned against repeal of Houston’s non-discrimination policy in 1985 and passage of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Texas in 2005. As a city council member, she led an effort to pass an ordinance to reinstate Houston’s non-discrimination policy in 2001.
Asked by MSNBC whether LGBT rights would be a priority for her as mayor, Parker responded that’s “part of a hard conversation I had with supporters in the LGBT community.”
“I’ve been a role model and a hard worker for my community for more than 30 years, but in that conversation, I was very frank, and said, ‘My focus as mayor of Houston will be the financial issues of the city, trying to make Houston the best city it can be in dealing with those problems,’” she said.
Parker told MSNBC she assumes Houston will revisit the issue of providing domestic partner benefits to LGBT city workers, but said she doesn’t intend to make this effort a priority.
“It is not something I intend to initiate,” she said. “My focus is what is best for all the citizens of Houston.”
With Parker acknowledging she’s a role model for the LGBT community, Wolfe said her win could encourage other LGBT people to become public about their sexual orientation or gender identity and seek public office.
“I think the ability for other people interested in government — whether they are the young people in student government, whether they are closeted people in business who’ve thought about [how] they want to be involved and whether they should come out … I think that role model position she is in is significant,” he said.
The campaign wasn’t free of anti-gay smears. A mailing sent out earlier this month urged voters to reject Parker and other gay candidates because they were “endorsed by the gay and lesbian political action committee,” an apparent reference to Houston’s Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Political Caucus, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The Chronicle reported earlier this month that the finance chair and finance committee chair for Parker’s opponent in the election, Democrat Gene Locke, helped bankroll the political action committee that sent out the mailings. The Locke campaign denied the financial contributions were part of any kind of illegal coordination, according to the Chronicle.
Wolfe said Parker’s ability to win despite the mailings shows that employing divisive anti-gay politics in campaigns doesn’t work and is “starting to have the opposite effect.”
In her MSNBC interview, Parker addressed the anti-gay smears.
“The fact that I used to be — or was a very public gay activist is part of my political resume,” she said. “Voters knew that, they were reminded of it in a very negative way in the last two weeks of the campaign, but they chose to focus on the fact that they knew me and done good work for them, I believe.”
National
Trans Lifeline CEO apologizes for botched online lottery to recruit hotline operators
Applicants compare debacle to ‘Hunger Games,’ and Ticketmaster
Job hunters by the thousands expressed disappointment, frustration, and anger Wednesday over the process to submit online applications for three lucrative but challenging positions as remote telephone operators for the nation’s only transgender-led crisis hotline, Trans Lifeline. One applicant complained on Instagram that their experience was akin to “The Hunger Games.”
But it turns out, the odds were never in their favor.
The CEO of the San Francisco-based nonprofit — kai alviar horton, who joined Trans Lifeline in July 2024 and does not capitalize any letters in his name — admitted on social media late Wednesday that their organization was not prepared for the sheer number of applications, which he said was anticipated to number 100, over 48 hours.
“We know now that our impact has caused so many of you hurt and further distrust in us,” horton wrote in the letter posted on Instagram, acknowledging that Trans Lifeline had endured “many storms of instability and harm.”
“The process we strived towards landed in ways that did not build accessibility,” they wrote. “This process hurt you, and we are genuinely sorry. We are committed to learning to do better.”
The job posting still appears online at a portal called levels.fyi offering an annual salary of $63,000, “generous paid time-off benefits” and “100% employer-paid health care premiums” as well as retirement benefits and more. Given that studies by the Williams Institute have shown the significant challenges trans people face in the workplace, from discrimination to harassment, especially in comparison to cisgender employees and candidates, Trans Lifeline’s offer was a beacon in the darkness to many.
“You know better than most how hard it is for trans people to get work, especially with decent pay,” wrote @terfhunter420. “I hope you’re reading the impact this application process has had on people here and consider making some big changes for your next batch of hiring. Something less like trying to score concert tickets on the radio.”
“To our surprise,” horton wrote, “we received over 2,500 applications before the submission window even opened,” which was at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday. He said his team then “did our best to reach out to every single applicant to let them know to submit again within the window we outlined in the job posting.”
But when that window opened at 10 o’clock in San Francisco Wednesday, horton said his team was suddenly flooded with more than 1,200 submissions, “in just the first five minutes.”
The instructions to apply noted that in addition to a resume, candidates had to also submit a five-minute long, detailed self-made video, in lieu of a cover letter. The site indicates this was intended to “simplify the process.” But many frustrated candidates noted in their comments online that this particular requirement added a significant extra burden of time and energy, “only to have it all go to waste due to technical failures,” wrote @astoldbyjae.
Adding insult to injury is that untold thousands of potential candidates are left to wonder if their submissions were even received or would ever be seen, given that the portal was set up to be limited to accepting no more than 100 submissions on the first day; When hit with more than ten times that many applications, many job hunters reported getting error messages, and shared the pain of that experience in the comments on horton’s post.
“I’m heartsick myself right now,” wrote @zorro_nova. “I tried in that first minute only to get my own error message.” Another wrote: “I won’t lie I was definitely surprised to see how the hiring process was handled, it was almost like watching a Ticketmaster sale of a Taylor Swift concert more than a job listing.” @mistersister2024 added: “As someone who made the 5-minute video, carefully edited it, and then didn’t even get to submit it, this process was very frustrating.”
“We were devastated,” wrote @jennakjirsten. “I think it was hard not even being able to submit the form, even if it had been one of a thousand. We also worry that by only accepting the quickest to apply, you may have missed out on some very qualified applicants.”
As of press time, horton has not responded to an inquiry by the Blade about what if anything they will do for candidates who received error messages, or exactly how many applications they have on hand.
But in his online letter, horton did announce that so many submissions were received that to process them all, Trans Lifeline has postponed selection of candidates to be invited to interview for the three open positions until April 7, instead of March 24.
He also revealed the org has just two employees dedicated to reviewing all the applications received on Wednesday.
“Shout out to the two trans people in hiring who have to read 3,000 applications individually or else they get canceled,” wrote @jaki_riot. “Y’all some MVPs because the response to this situation feels a bit unreasonable.”
Several commenters praised horton for his apology and for their transparency.
“Imo, Trans lifeline has done SO much to earn that benefit of the doubt,” wrote @kingofyarn. “And seeing the backlash made me sad, because it’s as if y’all haven’t worked incredibly hard to earn that trust. I love this heartfelt apology and of course, transparency with a strong moral code.”
As horton acknowledged in his letter, Trans Lifeline has survived crises before now. Founded in 2014, the nonprofit’s two founders left the organization two years later amid accusations of corruption. An internal investigation found “there had been significant spending of Trans Lifeline funds outside the scope of the current budget” that “ran afoul of Trans Lifeline’s obligations to the 501(c)(3) tax laws.” A report in December 2023 by PBS indicated a downturn in donations forced the nonprofit to reduce the number of hours the hotline was available and slash its budget.
At that time, PBS reported the organization employed as many as 45 people, with around 200 volunteers who help, according to Adam Callahan, director for the hotline program. Every hotline operator identifies as either trans or nonbinary.
As of press time, the careers page on the Trans Lifeline site indicated “Staff Hotline Operator applications are closed.”
“We are so grateful for the overwhelming interest in our Hotline Operator positions—1,000 applications within the first two minutes! Thank you to each person who took the time to apply. We’ve received a fantastic pool of candidates and have now closed the application process. We are working diligently to review the first 100 complete applications received and aim to notify everyone of their status by Friday, March 21st. If you have not heard from us, be assured we are still actively considering your application. Please keep an eye on your inbox for our email. We will respond to everyone who has applied. We appreciate your understanding and enthusiasm.”
State Department
US withdraws from OAS LGBTI Core Group
Decision ‘in line with the president’s recent executive orders’
A State Department spokesperson on Tuesday confirmed the U.S. has withdrawn from the Organization of American States’ LGBTI Core Group.
The U.S., along with Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay, co-founded the Core Group in 2016 during that year’s OAS General Assembly that took place in the Dominican Republic.
“We look forward to deepening our collaboration at the OAS on issues impacting LGBTI persons so as to enhance dialogue, cooperation, and the sharing of best practices at regional and multilateral levels, recognizing also the various efforts and developments undertaken by and in member states,” reads a joint statement the countries issued on June 15, 2016. “Furthermore, we encourage and welcome the participation of other interested OAS member states in the membership and activities of the Core Group.”
“We also look forward to collaborating with civil society organizations and other social actors as we seek to further shared goals,” it adds. “Our commitment in these areas is firm and will remain so.”
President Donald Trump since he took office on Jan. 20 has signed a number of executive orders that have specifically targeted the LGBTQ and intersex community. These include the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” directive that, among other things, bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.
A directive that Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued bans embassies and other U.S. diplomatic institutions from flying the Pride flag. (Former President Joe Biden in March 2024 signed a government spending bill with a provision that banned Pride flags from flying over U.S. embassies.)
“In line with the president’s recent executive orders, we have withdrawn from the OAS LGBTI Core Group,” the State Department spokesperson told the Washington Blade.
The U.S. last month withdrew from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group, a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
State Department
Rubio: 83 percent of USAID contracts have been cancelled
State Department will administer remaining programs
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday said 83 percent of U.S. Agency for International Development contracts have been cancelled.
“The 5,200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” said Rubio on X.
Rubio added “the remaining 18 percent of programs we are keeping (approximately 1,000)” will “now be administered more effectively under the State Department.”
Rubio on Jan. 24 directed State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days in response to an executive order that President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration. The Washington Blade has previously reported programs in Kenya and other countries the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funds have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding, even though Rubio issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.
The Trump-Vance administration also moved to dismantle USAID.
A statement the White House issued on Feb. 3 said the organization “has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight.” The statement also contains examples of what it described as “waste and abuse” that included $2 million for “sex changes and ‘LGBT activism'” in Guatemala, $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities,” and $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia.”
LGBTQ+ Victory Institute Executive Director Elliot Imse told the Blade last month his organization has lost around $600,000, which is two-thirds of its entire global program budget. Imse said the global LGBTQ rights movement is set to lose more than $50 million because of the suspension of U.S. aid.
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