Houston Mayor Annise Parker joined the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Glenn Beck, and Barack Obama in the “Leaders” section of The 2010 TIME 100, an annual listing of the most influential people of the year.

Described as a “demure, pearl-wearing lesbian businesswoman with three kids and a longtime partner,” Parker is credited for her savvy in addressing Houston’s $100 million budget shortfall that she’s inherited upon taking office.

“I feel like a mom planning a family budget,” she says. “We’re going to make sure we still have plenty of healthy vegetables, but we might have to cut back on dessert for a while.”

Photo by Jeff Wilson, TIME

The Dallas Voice’s John Wright today notes that no openly LGBT candidates filed to run for the Texas state legislature:

As Monday’s deadline came and went, no known openly LGBT candidates had filed to run for Texas Legislature in 2010. This means that despite electing the nation’s first out big-city mayor, Texas likely will remain one of 20 states with no openly LGBT state legislators.

This doesn’t bode well for LGBT issues in the next few legislative sessions.  Out lawmakers often serve as catalysts and champions for pro-equality bills, and most states that have no openly gay representation in their legislature also lack significant statewide protections for their LGBT citizens.

Despite being among the most populous states, Texas and Florida, for instance, have almost no LGBT protections under state law, and neither currently have openly LGBT state lawmakers.

The 20 states with no out legislators are:

Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia.

According to documents obtained from the Texas Ethics Commission, Gene Locke’s campaign for mayor contributed financially to a group responsible for an anti-gay mailer that went into circulation earlier this month.  The revelation has set off an explosion of accusations that Locke is attempting to use Annise Parker’s sexuality against her.

The Houston Chronicle broke the story:

Locke has been dogged by Parker, her supporters and some uncommitted Democrats for seeking the endorsement of conservative activist Steven Hotze, who has a long history of opposing gay candidates and causes. A mail piece Hotze sent out last week urged voters not to choose Parker and several others seeking municipal offices because they were “endorsed by gay lesbian political action committee,” a reference to Houston’s Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Political Caucus. It labeled others as “radical liberals” and supported some candidates based on a record of fiscal conservatism.

According to financial documents, Hotze’s political action committee received a $20,000 donation about a week before the mail pieces went out from Ned Holmes, finance chairman of Locke’s campaign, and $20,000 from James Dannenbaum, who is on Locke’s finance committee.

Hotze’s PAC, Conservative Republicans of Harris County, lists $56,000 in donations between Oct. 25 and Dec. 2. Only two other donors, who contributed a total of $16,000, are listed.

To Parker campaign manager Adam Harris, the donations show that “Locke is either behind all the illegal coordination or has absolutely lost control of his campaign.”

You can help Annise Parker overcome the attacks by contributing to her campaign at www.victoryfund.org/anniseparker.

Texas’ U.S. Senators, both Republicans, have recommended the appointment of an openly gay man as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, a development that could affect the next gubernatorial election.

Although Robert Pitman’s sexual orientation had been prominently featured in a profile in the Austin American-Statesman back in 2003, a spokesman for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said the choice was made, “based on the merits of each individual’s qualifications and their abilities,” adding that Hutchison may not have even known about Pitman’s sexual orientation.  Sen. John Cornyn’s spokesman, who said the Senator knew Pitman was gay, said sexual orientation “has no bearing on his qualifications for a job. … It’s just not even remotely considered.”

Social conservatives are up in arms, according to the Dallas Morning News:

Some Republicans are vehemently and unapologetically not ready for that. That could make it even harder for Hutchison to woo social conservatives in her bid to outflank and oust Gov. Rick Perry in March.

Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition, a former member of the Republican National Committee – and, like nearly all prominent social conservatives in Texas who have picked sides, a Perry supporter – called the recommendation “very unusual and disturbing.”

“I suspect that a lot of Republican primary voters would find it interesting that Senator Hutchison would make that recommendation,” Lambert said.

Pittman is a highly regarded former prosecutor and judge, and considered one of the most qualified candidates in the state, according to the Morning News.

In a somewhat surprising move, a Texas court has ruled that the state’s ban on gay marriage violates the constitution – as it applies to gay divorce.  The former couple argued that withholding the right to pursue a divorce violates their rights since they were legally married in another state. The Blade has the rest of the story, including the angry responses from anti-equality advocates who see the divorce as a strange attack on marriage:

“The laws and constitution of the State of Texas define marriage as an institution involving one man and one woman,” Abbott said in a written statement. “Today’s ruling purports to strike down that constitutional definition — despite the fact that it was recently adopted by 75% of Texas voters.”

Texas Governor Rick Perry, already facing criticism for a politically motivated cover-up, came out against the ruling.