Liberal and Conservative Place: Houston, TX

Houston's transit authority got a lot of money for building commuter rail, then decided they didn't even want to do a test installation on already-existing tracks to see if it would be accepted -- it all went to the freeways. Not that I think people _would_ accept public transit around here. If you _are_ on a bus, you're pretty much guaranteed not to be white, too.

Most of the economy is based on oil and aerospace, so you can't really speak out in public about the link between cars and poor air quality (second worst in the nation), nor can you insinuate that building lots of jet fighters might be a bad thing. Beef is a staple, as you would expect, and if you say you're vegetarian people serve you chicken instead.

Don't even ask about the suburbs.

On the other hand, in the section of town called "Montrose" you can find lots of rainbow flags, one of the nation's five main Pacifica radio stations, veg-friendly shopping, and other modern conveniences. This is where the Texan hippies retreated to if they couldn't make it to Austin for one reason or another (i.e. they couldn't handle not being able to find a job for the rest of their lives), so at least there's a local area to hole up in when George Bush, Jr. wins another term.

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Well, as a resident of Houston for 20 years now, I can tell you that it has changed dramatically. There are many liberals here, and although the government is still mostly conservative, we are making strides in that arena too.

There are many gays and lesbians here who live out in the suburbs, such as Katy, Tx. and Sugar Land, Tx. There are many clubs that cater to all persuasions, and don't have a problem with their clientele getting along... some are even in the suburbs!

Montrose is the best: the 3rd largest gay population in the U.S. live in Houston. Gay Pride week is celebrated by gays, bis, and straights alike. We have a Gay/Lesbian Yellow Pages directory (360 pages!) filled with businesses that are owned by or cater to the gay and lesbian community. The GLPC is a very strong voting minority in city and county elections.

We are also very culturally diverse, with over 100 ethnic groups. Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Pakistani, and Russian Jews are just a few of the very large minority groups we have here. Part of my very positive experience attending the University of Houston was meeting people from literally dozens of different countries.

Religious tolerance... well, let's just say we still have a bit of work do to there... if you aren't Baptist, you're going to hell according to alot of people. Being an atheist, I've had some unpleasant encounters with "well meaning Christians" trying to shove their religion down my throat. But that happens just about everywhere.

Our industry has become more and more diverse... Houston is home to Compaq computers, BMC Software, the *world's* best medical center. High tech industry is definitely one of our strong points, and brings in more people from other areas who don't have a "redneck" mentality.

The stereotypical "racist, sexist, homophobic redneck-types" still exist, but most of them live in Pasadena... and who would ever want to go there, with all the air pollution from the chemical plants? The auto pollution from the freeways pales in comparison!

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I can start with one thing about Houston. GET ME OUT OF HERE! Without a car, on the west side of Houston (Rather far from the interesting Montrose district.) you get a small taste of what the right-wingers keep spouting off about this 'Hell' place. I live in an apartment complex with 48 units. At least 16 of the cars in the parking lot have 'Jesus Fish' on them.

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You can give us credit for electing our first racial minority (African-American) Mayor (Lee Brown), who from the get-go sought the gay endorsement (both HGLPC & Log Cabin Republican).  He didn't get it the first time around, but after Brown prevailed in the general, he again sought the endorsement for the run-off (and got it).   Of course, it was hard to keep the bigots focused on Brown's gay-friendly attitude when they were spending so much energy focusing the bigots on his race, and on the fact that we had an OPENLY gay candidate for City Council, running at large.  The good news is that Annise Parker, who was consistently identified in our daily paper as a "gay activist" or "lesbian", won handily... more friendly stuff about HOUSTON!    Parenthetically it should be noted that ALOT more blacks voted for the lesbian, than gays voted for the black mayoral candidate.  In fact, in spite of the fact that a well-respected leader of the Houston gay community was on the ballot, running city-wide, with a well-organized campaign, only 27% of registered voters in Montrose voted?  You tell me what happened!

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I couldn't help noticing that Houston, TX, was one of the cities listed as both "friendly" and "unfriendly." My 20+ years hear inhabiting both demimondes of this oil capital lead me to concur. It's definitely both.   Radicalism flourishes here, though not in the sense that it does in Ithaca, Burlington, or Austin. We have a long tradition of underground politics and culture here, some of the most bizarre and well-focused I've encountered anywhere. And no Guiliani figure could ever be elected mayor of Houston, even with all the money that courses through the arteries of the city, because liberal and minority-rights watchdog groups just won't let it happen.   But the oil money still runs things, making instant friends in high places, even among the moderate public servants, since everybody knows somebody who draws a paycheck from a major oil & gas firm. It's regrettable that ex-Mayor Lanier managed to rename the airport after George Bush, but awfully appropriate, since thousands of Bush-alikes work here in town, and some of them actually live within the city limits and not in the 'burbs.

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I was born and raised in the city of Houston and yes it is very tolerant compared to most other places in Texas with the exception of Austin. But of course being there all my life that was all I new and got the wrong idea that the rest of Texas might be like that. It was while I was attending Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas that I got the culture shock of my life. Being in a place like Lubbock makes you really appreciate liberal cities which I had taken for granted before. Well, at first i really tried to look at Lubbock with an open perspective, but after a year I couldn't handle it and went back home to attend the University of Houston. Houston is a great city with so many things to offer, for example a performing arts and cultural district that Dallas or any other city in the south could ever dream of having and Houston has it. Houston is by far the most international city in the south. Racial relations are actually pretty good here compared to most of the south. Houston has not only have a large Hispanic and African-American community, but also a huge Vietnamese population as well as other ethnic groups that make up this wonderful city. Another important aspect is the Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Transgendered community which is extremely large and sophisticated. The GLBT community has made great strides in recent years, not only do we have openly gay woman on city council, the wonderful Annise Parker, but now the city has liasion to the GLBT community as well thanks to the great Mayor we now have, Lee Brown, who is also the first African-American mayor of Houston. Houston is indeed a exceptional place to live with a bright future.

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Polluted waterways, insane and viscious drivers, murders to spare, yearly obsession with Rodeo, driving 50 miles to get anywhere, super-high car insurance rates, and no zoning (church-porn shop-school-bar in someone's garage -- all next to each other), insane religious scence (Lakewood Church)...

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Here are some of my observations about Houston. Houston is one of the most diverse cities in America for its size. Approximately 30% African American, 30% Hispanic, 30% White and 10% Asian.

Most everywhere you go, you see people of color, not at all like most progressive cities, like Madison, WI. It's refreshing.

But Houston, in my opinion, is polarized by race. The south believes in race, as a categorical unit. Often, the members of each race seem to act like they are simply too different from one another.

There appear to be few interracial groups that are active.

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I recently had the displeasure of moving to Houston. I have never seen so much pornography and alcohol advertising in my life. Everywhere, in the mail, on billboard, in people's conversation, on bumper stickers, is stupid born-again Christian advertisement. There will be a billboard advertising the MegapleXXX, then one right next to it advertising some or another Southern Baptist church. I wish that stupid Texas would realize that the world is changing, and when someone says "God loves his children" it doesn't only mean male, heterosexual, Republican, born-again Baptists who drive pickup trucks and don't "sin".

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I grew up in Houston and then came to Austin to go to college. After living in Austin for a few years and appreciating the differences between this fine city and my hometown, and I would strenously object to Houston being considered a "liberal-friendly" town. Houston is run by old money cronies from River Oaks, new money jerks from the suburbs, and corporations. The entire central area of the city has been abandoned as the whites have fled to the suburbs, leaving ghettoes for the minorities. This is an area that elected Bill Archer, Tom DeLay, and Steve Stockman to Congress. Pollution is awful, but its not on the public policy agenda whatsoever. Unlike Austin, that has vocal pro-environment, gay-rights, etc. activist groups, the liberal voice is rarely heard in Houston. The Chronicle and the news stations are puppets for the moneyed interests that run the city. Fans of the city point out that Montrose is a liberal, artsy neighborhood with a large gay population. While this area is one of the few nice enclaves it is also where all of the far too frequent incidents of gay-bashing occur. TX is a bad state for liberals, and Houston is a bad city for liberals. I will never spend more than two weeks at a time there for good cause. While Houston didn't seem that bad growing up, travelling to other parts of the country and living in Austin have given me a different perspective.

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I am one of those rare folks in Houston,a person who was actually born and raised there and I have to take exception to the placement of Houston in the liberal unfriendly column.   This is a city which had Kathy Whitmire as its mayor for 10 years,just recently elected an African-American (Lee Brown) as its mayor who was also its first African-American Chief of police,has elected  gay woman Annise Parker to city council in an AT LARGE seat,and also elected people like the late Barbara Jordan and the late Mickey Leland to Congress. I agree and wish that the rail system that we voted for in 1978 when METRO was set up was in place,and the pollution situation could be better,but we're not LA either in terms of a pollution problem.  I must point out that Houston desegregated its lunch counters and public accomodations WITHOUT the violence that the rest of the South experienced and there has always been a civil dialogue between the races here in Houston, even during that contentious election in which Prop A (the Anti-Affirmative action Prop 209 clone)was on the ballot.  It was also soundly defeated here in Houston.  Houston in terms of its liberal pedigree is NOT Austin,but it's definitely isn't Dallas or College Station either!

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I was born and raised in Houston, and I think that it should be in neither the lib-friendly nor unfriendly rolls. Houston is a moderate city, filled with any kind of person you could want to find. Something that no one has touched on just yet is the overwhelming amount of Hispanics/Latinos in the city, I think they are possibly more of them than of the other races combined...

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I want to second that last statement. It is very difficult (not to mention unfair) to pigeon-hole a city of over 1.6 million and a metro area of 3-4 million. I have relatives, friends, and acquaintances in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, and Austin. My impression is that Austin is progressive, Dallas is conservative, and Houston lies somewhere in between. My cousin's description of Austin reminds me greatly of North Carolina's Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) metro area: state capital, high-tech economy, college town. Both are easily the most liberal areas in otherwise conservative states. My other cousin who lives near Fort Worth, however, has bemoaned of the lack of variety in restaurants and foods (we are a family of vegetarians), and had a car salesman say to his face that he doesn't serve "you Indians" (our family is from India). Houston, on the other hand, is diverse enough to have a little of everything. I've only visited there briefly twice, but I feel that Houston's political landscape is broad enough to accommodate a variety of people. And I have never heard my friends there speak of any serious discrimination against them. It's also not surprising that Houston has a large and vibrant Indian community, whereas Dallas' is much smaller. I felt strong cosmopolitan vibes when I was in Houston; it is definitely one of the most diverse cities of the South, if not quite as cosmopolitan and "liberal" as Atlanta. As a moderate-to-somewhat conservative person myself, I would not hesitate moving to Houston (although I could do without the humidity).