Mayor Parker: LGBTQ elected leaders are ‘the strongest line of defense’
The Washington Blade connected with former Houston Mayor Annise Parker last week, shortly after breaking the news of her departure from the LGBTQ Victory Fund and LGBTQ Victory Institute after six years of serving as president and CEO.
The organizations are, respectively, dedicated to increasing the number of public officeholders who are LGBTQ and providing training and resources for them, whether they are appointed or elected to the positions they hold.
Parker’s exit was planned since last July, in coordination with the boards of directors. “We worked out the timing together,” she said. “I wanted 2024 to be my last year, but I also think we all recognize the importance of this election and what’s going on politically,” and for these reasons “I wanted to [leave] in the least disruptive way possible.” This means staying on through the end of this year, in part to assist the boards in “a thoughtful search process” for her successor.
Parker told the Blade she agreed to take the helm at Victory at a time when the organization had strong foundations but “lost its way a little bit” by straying from its “really narrow mission,” which is “to put LGBT leaders into public office.” “In my view, one of the most important things I did was bring us back to where we started,” she said. “We’re the only national organization that only works with LGBT leaders.
