A.G. Gancarski
With efforts to push the expansion of the Human Rights Ordinance to include LGBT people underway, the Duval County Democratic Party is bringing in one of the mayors mostly closely identified with similar legislation out west, in the form of Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
Parker will be special guest speaker at a Duval DEC gala at the Hilton Doubletree November 30. Dinner is $75; dinner and VIP reception, $150.
Parker, who leaves office soon, has not ruled out rolling out renewed anti-discrimination legislation again before her departure, even in light of an unsuccessful referendum for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.
The Duval Democrats, who are unflinching on a party level in terms of support for this ordinance, likely will want to pick Parker’s brain about the successes and setbacks related to the referendum.
Some have theorized that the measure’s lack of significant targeted media in African-American and Hispanic communities sealed the referendum’s defeat. Those voting blocs comprise 68 percent of Houston’s population.
