Annise Parker, the top vote-getter in last month's general election for Houston mayor, has been receiving on-the-ground and financial help from Bay Area LGBT residents as the December 12 runoff election approaches. Should Parker win, the out lesbian politician would lead the nation's fourth largest city in a decidedly Republican state.

Local LGBT leaders are hosting a fundraiser for her campaign Friday to ensure she has the money needed to combat homophobic and anti-gay mailers being sent to Houstonians. They are pitching in to help elect Parker because they contend her winning the position would have national implications.

"Having an out, smart, active LGBT mayor of a major city in a Republican state is a significant win for the LGBT community. I think it will go a long way for helping us realize full equality, particularly around marriage," said Laura Spanjian, a candidate for San Francisco supervisor in 2010 who spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Houston where her girlfriend lives helping raise cash for Parker.

Gay San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is running to be mayor of the country's 12th most populous city in 2011, has been dialing for dollars in recent weeks and has raised more than $6,000 for Parker's coffers from Bay Area residents.

"I had a funny occasion where I called someone, she is a very well-known lesbian attorney and board member of a local LGBT group, who was stuck in traffic because of city construction. She joked, 'I will take the money I was going to give you and send $100 to Annise Parker,'" recalled Dufty.

Polling in the race has shown Parker ahead of her opponent, Gene Locke, despite virulently anti-gay campaign fliers paid for by one Houston resident opposed to seeing an LGBT person elected mayor. Absentee voting began Monday, November 30 and the Stonewall Democrats, a national LGBT political group, is asking its members from across the country to call Houston voters this Saturday on behalf of Parker.

Donors are allowed to contribute up to $

Local drag queen Anna Conda has thrown her hat into the ring for District 6 supervisor. Photo: Rick Gerharter

5,000 toward the runoff race. Spanjian said she has contacted many LGBT leaders throughout the country to ask for their support and assistance.

"There has just been a real large effort to raise as much money as we possibly can so in the final days when additional anti-gay mailers hit people's mailboxes – because we are pretty certain they are – Annise has the funds to combat those messages on television and in people's mailboxes," said Spanjian.

The local fundraiser for Parker takes place at from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, December 4 at cityhouse inside the Parc 55 Hotel at 55 Cyril Magnin Street.

Drag queen enters SF D6 supe race

Local drag queen Anna Conda (whose legal name is Glendon Hyde) entered the race to be the next District 6 supervisor Monday, November 30. Conda pulled papers prior to appearing at a City Hall rally to protect the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

Conda, who identifies as a gay man who's gender variant, plans to run using her drag name and listed her occupation as "activist, drag queen, unemployed" on forms she submitted to the city's Department of Elections Monday morning. According to elections staff, candidates must use their legal names on the ballot but can use a nickname in quotes between their first and last names.

The 42-year-old Conda, who has been HIV-positive for 20 years, said in a brief interview on the steps of City Hall following the rally that she's running as Anna Conda because it's through the drag and transgender communities that "I really found my power and my voice ... that is my strongest voice and who I am, really."

She said that her parents contributed to Proposition 8, the ban against same-sex marriage voters passed last year, "and continue to harass me in the name of God," and she doesn't want to use the name that they gave her.

Conda decided to run for public office due to issues like the possible ADAP funding cut. She no longer uses ADAP because Brett Helms, her domestic partner, works for the federal government. [See story, page 3.]

"You cannot have poor people losing out and not having the wealthy take up some of the slack when they can," said Conda. "... I really believe running for supervisor is a way I can get my voice out there."

A District 6 resident for 14 years, Conda said her top three issues are homelessness, education, and funding for San Francisco's poorest residents, such as the people who live in the district's Tenderloin neighborhood. One way to increase city coffers, suggested Conda, is to charge club promoters $1 for each promotional flier found in the street.

She stressed that her candidacy is "not a joke."

"I am very serious about this, and I am very dedicated," said Conda, who appeared in a red dress with a black jacket and black tights with her long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.

She will face off against 15 other candidates already running for the seat now held by Supervisor Chris Daly, who is termed out next year. Among the notable LGBT contenders are Debra Walker, a lesbian on the city's Buildings Inspection Commission, and Jim Meko, a gay man on the Entertainment Commission.

Theresa Sparks, a transgender woman who is executive director of the city's Human Rights Commission, is expected to enter the race this month.

Seth Hemmelgarn contributed to this report.

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Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.