Annise Danette Parker (born May 17, 1956) is an American politician from the state of Texas. A Democrat, Parker served as the 61st Mayor of Houston, Texas, from 2010 until 2016. She also served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 1998 to 2003 and as city controller from 2004 to 2010.[1][2]
Parker is Houston's second female mayor (after Kathy Whitmire). She is also one of the first openly gay mayors of a major U.S. city, with Houston being the most populous U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor until Lori Lightfoot was elected mayor of Chicago in 2019.[3][4][5]
Early life and education
Parker was born in the Spring Branch community of Houston on May 17, 1956.[6] Her mother, Kay Parker,[7] was a bookkeeper.[6] Parker was adopted by her mother's second husband, Ivy Leslie Parker, who worked for the Red Cross.[7] She lived briefly in Mississippi and South Carolina.[8][pageneeded] In 1971, when Parker was 15, her family moved to a U.S. Army post in Mannheim, Germany for two years.[6] In Germany, she volunteered in the Red Cross youth service organization and worked at the post library.[9]
Growing up, Parker was shy and suffered from extreme anxiety; her family nicknamed her "Turtle". She has maintained a turtle collection.[8][pageneeded]
Parker graduated from Stall High School in North Charleston, South Carolina in 1974 and was named a National Merit Scholar.[10] During her senior year of high school, Parker participated in the school’s National Honor Society, Ecology Club, and Christian Youth Fellowship and was a high jumper and long jumper on the track team.[11]
Parker began attending Rice University in 1974, working several jobs to pay for her room and board.[9] While at Rice, Parker founded a lesbian student group.[8][pageneeded] A member of Jones College (a residential college at Rice), she graduated from Rice in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in anthropology, psychology and sociology.[12] In 2005, Parker completed Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government[citation needed] as a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.[13]
Career
Prior to serving as an elected official, Parker worked in the oil and gas industry as a software analyst[6] for over 20 years, including 18 years at Mosbacher Energy. In addition, she co-owned Inklings Bookshop with business partner Pokey Anderson from the late 1980s until 1997 and served as president of the Neartown Civic Association from 1995 to 1997.[9][bettersourceneeded] In 1986 and 1987, she was president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus.[14]
Houston City Council
Parker ran unsuccessfully for Houston City Council in District C in 1991.[15] In 1995, she ran for City Council again, finishing third in a special election for At-Large Position 4 after Sheila Jackson Lee vacated the seat upon her election to Congress.[16] In 1997, Parker prevailed in the runoff election for At-Large Position 1 to become Houston's first openly gay elected official.[17] She was re-elected twice to the same seat in 1999 and 2001 without being forced to a run-off.[18]
Houston City Controller
In 2003, Parker was elected City Controller.[2] She was re-elected in 2005 and 2007 unopposed. In addition, Parker also secured a seat for a controller's appointee on the Houston Municipal Pension System Board of Trustees, marking the first time the city's chief financial officer has had any involvement in the pension system."[19]
In 2009, Parker announced her candidacy for the office of Mayor of Houston in a video posted online to her campaign website.[20] She was endorsed by several organizations and campaigned on a platform of better city security and financial efficiency.[21] During the run-off election, Parker was endorsed by former rival Peter Hoyt Brown. The city's primary newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, endorsed Parker, citing her experience. Parker was elected mayor on December 12, 2009, and assumed office on January 2, 2010. Houston became the largest U.S. city ever to have an openly gay individual serve as mayor.[22][23] After the election, Parker declared that the top priorities of her administration would be improving transportation, balancing the city's budget, and selecting a new police chief.[24]
In the 2011 election, Parker won a second term as Houston's mayor by defeating Fernando Herrera, Jack O'Connor, Dave Wilson, Kevin Simms, and Amanda Ulman without a runoff.[25]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2025)
On May 28, 2014, the Houston City Council passed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) which was authored by Parker,[27] by a vote of 11 to 6. Mayor Parker had certified that "there exists a public emergency requiring that this Ordinance be passed finally on the date of its introduction".[28] The measure banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, family, marital, and military status. It applied to housing, businesses that serve the public, private employers, city employment, and city contracting.[29]
On July 3, 2014, opponents of HERO submitted 50,000 signatures to the city to force the ordinance to a vote of the public.[30][31][32][33] The city announced that the opponents were 2,022 signatures short of the 17,269 needed to put the matter to a vote.[34][31][35] HERO opponents filed a lawsuit[36] against Mayor Parker and the city on August 5, 2014.[27] In response, city attorneys defending the law filed subpoenas for sermons from local Christian pastors.[31] Attorneys for the pastors called the subpoenas retaliation against Christians for opposing the ordinance. Parker maintained that the attorneys who dealt with the lawsuit for the city were outside lawyers (i.e., not city employees) and that she and City Attorney David Feldman had been unaware of the subpoenas.[33] After what some news organizations called a "firestorm"[37][38] of criticism over the subpoenas (Parker said that she had been "vilified coast to coast"[38]), Parker directed the city's attorneys on October 29, 2014, to withdraw the subpoenas.[39] After the subpoenas were withdrawn, local city pastors filed a civil rights lawsuit against Parker.[32][40]
On November 3, 2015, Houston voters overturned HERO by a 61%-39% margin.[41]
As mayor, Parker enacted an ordinance making it illegal to share food with the homeless in public spaces.[42] Lawsuits continue over the ordinance, with a judge ruling in 2024 that local organization Food Not Bombs Houston could sue the city over it.[43]
Due to term limits, Parker was not eligible to run for a fourth term in 2015.[44]
Post-mayoral career
After leaving the office of Mayor in 2016, Parker has worked for nonprofit organizations in Houston. She was Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for community development nonprofit BakerRipley. From December 2017 to March 2025, Parker served as CEO and President of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and Leadership Institute.[45][46] She is also a professor at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University.[47]
Media reports in May 2024 indicated that Parker was considering a candidacy for Harris County judge in 2026.[48][49]
Personal life
Parker and her wife, Kathy Hubbard, have been together since 1990.[9] On January 16, 2014, Parker and Hubbard were married in Palm Springs, California.[50][51] They have two adopted children together. In addition, the couple provided a home to a teenaged boy; they consider him their son as well.[52][53]
Awards and honors
In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty named Parker among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people."[54][55]
↑ "Mayor's Office". City of Houston, TX. Archived from the original on December 25, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
1 2 "Past City Controllers". The City of Houston. 2013. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2013. Annise D. Parker (2004 - 2010)
1 2 3 Reynolds, Andrew, 1967- (2019). The children of Harvey Milk: how LGBTQ politicians changed the world. New York, NY. ISBN978-0-19-046095-2. OCLC1023814403.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
1 2 3 4 "About Annise". Annise Parker for Houston. The Annise Parker Campaign. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
↑ "Text of Houston Equal Rights Ordinance - Ordinance No. 2014-530"(PDF). City of Houston, Texas. June 3, 2014. Archived(PDF) from the original on July 26, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017. Section 6. That there exists a public emergency requiring that this Ordinance be passed finally on the date of its introduction as requested in writing by the Mayor; therefore, this Ordinance shall be passed finally on such date (i.e., upon its first reading before the City Council rather than its second reading as per the normal procedure.)
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