Former Owl in top office

By Josh Rutenberg     3/11/10 6:00pm

Recently elected Mayor Annise Parker (Jones '78) talks to the Thresher about her time at Rice and her journey to become the first Owl to serve as mayor of Houston. Rice Thresher: How did you first decide to go into politics?

Annise Parker: I was a volunteer for other people for a very long time: I worked on a lot of political campaigns; I was president of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus; I did political organizing, but I never really intended to run myself. In the first 10 years after I graduated from Rice, I was one of the most visible lesbian activists in the state. ... For the next 10 years, I was one of the most visible civic clubs activists in Houston. I started thinking about how to best accomplish what I was trying to do in terms of neighborhood quality of life issues, and doing it from the inside seemed to be a much more effective way than pushing from the outside. But it wasn't what I dreamed about doing when I was a little girl.

RT: What sort of activities did you do while at Rice?

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AP: I did powderpuff football at Jones; I was a work study student to make money for my expenses. There was an undergraduate lesbian group that met off campus that I was a founding member of. Immediately after I graduated, in 1979, the Rice Gay Student Support Group was founded, and I was one of the original members of that.

RT: What is your favorite memory of being at Rice?

AP: I'm very identified with Rice, but I have some not so pleasant memories about being in the dorms. I was out when I came [to Rice] more than 35 years ago. It was a very different time, and I often felt isolated and very much an outsider in Jones, but I really enjoyed the academics. I was involved as an undergraduate in off-campus gay organizing, so more of my experience tended to be off campus. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett (Lovett '71), who is also a Rice grad, asked me the other week about the time my jaw was dislocated at a powderpuff football game. It was reset, I was put back on the field, and I finished the game.

RT: Did you have a favorite class at Rice?

AP: Bill Martin's Introduction to Psychology class was absolutely awesome. One of the toughest classes I had was Stephen Klineberg's class on politics and social structures in Tunisia. He spoke in a stream of consciousness and it was very hard for me to take notes. I also had to drop Calculus, but I decided if I was going to be a social science major, I didn't have to take Calculus.

RT: Is there anything you took from your time at Rice that has been especially helpful in your career?

AP: Particularly because of what I studied, I had a good, basic education that taught me to vastly improve my writing and communication skills. If you can communicate effectively in writing and verbally, it will make a big difference.

RT: What about your involvement with the early gay and lesbian groups? Did that pay off later?

AP: I was certainly active in them, and it formed some lifelong friendships and support networks. We still spot Rice rings from across the room. And it may not be like being an Aggie, but Rice people really do help each other out. We're a small group, and there are networking opportunities and professional support opportunities from other Rice people.

RT: What were some of your favorite memories of growing up in Houston?

AP: Some of my earliest memories are going to the zoo and driving through Rice on the way. My parents would say, literally, 'If you're really smart, when you grow up, you can go to Rice.'

RT: How did you come up with your clever opening line to your victory speech about being the first Rice graduate to become mayor of Houston?

AP: I knew what everyone was expecting me to say, and I wanted a throwaway line to break the tension. Someone made a comment to me on election day while I was out campaigning. Several Rice folks approached me and said they didn't think Houston ever had a Rice mayor. It wasn't in my written remarks, and no one knew I was going to say that.

RT: Do you have a favorite Rice tradition?

AP: Well, I came to Rice in the fall of 1974. 1973 was when the streaking craze went all over America. Not I ... but I was there when the [Baker 13s] ... covered [themselves] with shaving cream and streaked the campus. ... Yes, that was always a lot of fun.

RT: Did you ever run Baker 13?

AP: No, no ... I truly did not.

RT: Are there any other Rice traditions you enjoy?

AP: I love the MOB; I'm a huge MOB fan. I used to go to football games just to watch the MOB. I was actually there when Tommy Kramer was playing for Rice, so there was actually a reason to go see the football team too. I like the decorating of Willy's Statue, and the time they rotated the statue 180 degrees. I remember water balloons being launched off Sid Rich. There are no longer live owls, but I used to date one of the owlkeepers, so I spent a lot of time with the owls.

RT: What do you think about the low voter turnout in the precinct around Rice?

AP: There was low voter turnout all over the city; it wasn't unique to Rice. People who vote in partisan elections and people who vote in city elections, there is an overlap, but they are distinct populations. For a lot of college students, they are more interested in what happens on the national stage, and not so much potholes and trash pickup, the things that make up the bread and butter of city government.

RT: What are your thoughts on students' ability to be open and express their sexuality now compared to when you were a student?

AP: It's night and day. It's a completely different world out there. I was actually the contact person for the Rice student [gay and lesbian] support group; it was all very anonymous and we didn't meet on campus. There is a picture of the founding members, when we got Student Association approval, where people have bags over their heads.

RT: Is there still room to grow?

AP: Of course. The university is very welcoming and very supportive. It's our own internalized homophobia: Students still have to navigate their families and their own self-esteem and self-image. That's just the nature of growing up, but there are special challenges for gay students.

RT: How much of a role do you think your early activism played in winning the mayoral election?

AP: When I was first elected 12 years ago, I liked to say the campaign took 20 years and 9 months, which was 9 months of campaigning based on 20 years of being a community activist and growing into the role. It's the same with the mayor's race, it's 30 years and 9 months. It all added up. I come from a family that believed in volunteerism, and you were expected to get involved in your community. I had my own experiences as a community organizer and a spokesperson for the gay and lesbian community. I was always trying to make the world a safer place for myself, in addition to making it a safer place for other people. There was always that element of 'What did I need?', and I needed peers to help me deal with social isolation at Rice, so we formed the lesbian support group. I needed peers to help me navigate the business world, so we had the gay and lesbian support group. I saw the changes that were happening in the greater community. The first political race I volunteered in was Elinor Tinsley's campaign for city council. After that, the gay political caucus was part of her campaign, and I got to see how that political organizing affected her race. I got involved in the gay and lesbian political caucus and I just kept spiraling out.

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