Associated Press AP
Dec. 13, 2009 9:37 am

Houston has become the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker after a hotly contested runoff.

Several other U.S. cities, including Portland, Ore., Providence, R.I., and Cambirdge Mass. have openly gay mayors - but none as large as Houston, which ranks fourth among American cities in population.

"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about," Parker told supporters Saturday night after her opponent, Gene Locke, conceded defeat.

Parker, 53, has never made a secret or an issue of her sexual orientation. But it became the focus of the race after anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups endorsed Locke and sent out mailers condemning Parker's "homosexual behavior."

My note: Each little victory such as this is a small baby step to the day that all men and women will be treated as equals. It was that way with the women's right to vote. It was that way with racial equality. The bigots of this world will not go down without a fight, but go down they will. I hope I live to see the day.