In 1989 Annise Parker was elected Mayor of Houston 

On this day in 1989 Annise Parker was elected as the Mayor of Houston, Texas. She formally took up the role on 2nd January 2010. With her appointment Houston became the largest US city to have an openly gay person as it’s leader.

Parker served three terms as the city’s leader before retiring in 2016. Today she is the President and CEO of v, a political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of LGBTQ public officials in the United States.

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During her time as Mayor of Houston, Parker visited Perth. The two cities have a ‘sister city’ relationship and share a lot of similarities as both have mining and resources as a major industries.

While she was in Perth she met with member of the local LGBTIQ communities and shared her experiences in politics and public life.

In 1995 ‘Roseanne’ featured a same-sex wedding

TV show Roseanne has always been at the forefront of showing same-sex couples on screen. Over the years several characters on the show have come out, and even Roseanne herself had a same-sex kiss in 1994.

In 1995 the show portrayed the wedding of Roseanne’s former boss-turned-business-partner Leon to his boyfriend Scott. The networked moved the show from it’s usual timeslot of slot 90 minutes later in the evenings schedule because of the same-sex content.

Martin Mull, the actor who played Leon passed away in 2024 aged 80. He appeared in many sitcoms including Two and Half Men, Life in Pieces, Veep, Community, Psych, and Bob’s Burgers.