Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 2003 Page: 9 of 68
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with the parade.
The parade has grown from a few hundred
participants in 1972 to more than 100 floats
viewed by an audience of up to 20,000 onlook-
ers annually.
Oakley said that he went away from a
meeting with Rasansky about the letter with
the impression that the conservative council
member is unaware of the large number of gay
and lesbian residents living in his district. His
constituents include lesbian realtor Lory
Masters, who has sold hundreds of homes to
gay and lesbian residents in her neighborhood.
But Rasansky denied that he is unaware of
the size of his gay and lesbian constituency. He
noted that he has lived in the area for over 50
years.
"I confronted the person who spread that
vicious rumor, and it's a falsehood," Rasansky
said. "I never said anything like that. It's a
falsehood. He turned my words around. I con-
fronted him about it, and I really chewed him
out."
Oakley said that he does not view Rasansky
as homophobic, but that he remains concerned
"He's a very interesting guy. He
has very strong feelings about
things."
— Pat Cotton, political consultant to
council member Mitchell Rasansky
that the council member is less responsive to
his gay and lesbian constituents than other res-
idents. Part of the problem arises from gay and
lesbian residents in Rasansky's district calling
gay or gay-friendly council members rather
than their own representatives, he said.
"1 think that's been a big mistake," Oakley
said. "They need to call their own representa-
tive when they have an issue and visit with
them."
Rasansky responded "anyone in my district
can call me anytime."
"When someone calls my office we do not
ask if they are black, pink or purple,"
Rasansky said. "I'm representing everyone."
Political consultant Pat Cotton said that
Rasansky called her for advice about signing
the letter, and that she told him to do what he
felt would be the right thing. The council
member acknowledged that he wanted no part
of it, she said.
"He was just very uncomfortable with
some of the things connected with the letter
evidently," said Cotton, who is Rasansky's
political consultant. "He just didn't feel com-
fortable signing it."
Cotton said that she admired Rasansky for
being honest about his feelings because to do
otherwise would be hypocritical. She said that
she did not view the council member as a
homophobe.
"I don't think that [he is homophobic],"
Cotton said. "He's a very interesting guy. He
has very strong feelings about things."
Cotton said she also suspects that Rasansky
is unaware of the size of his gay and lesbian
constituency. The council member usually gets
to know constituents during zoning cases, she
said.
"He just doesn't realize how many there
are," Cotton said. "We're getting more and
more and we love it because they take such
good care of their houses and they're such nice
neighbors."
Cotton said that a group of gay and lesbian
residents angry about Rasansky's refusal to
sign the letter, and the speculation that he
thought he had no gay and lesbian residents,
confronted him at a recent town hall meeting.
That caused "bad feelings" with some of the
heterosexual residents who thought it embar-
rassed the popular council member, she said.
"That was not very cool doing that," Cotton
said. "I think doing it privately would have
been much more effective."
The gay and lesbian residents at the town
hall meeting reported that Rasansky "defend-
ed his homophobia as his right publicly, and
then gathered the gaybors together privately
to make nice-nice out of viewing and listening
distance of his conservative supporters,"
according to an e-mail circulating in the neigh-
borhood.
"In an all-time low point, he actually said
that some of his best friends are gay — uh-
huh," the email said.
Rasansky said that he was not offended by
the residents' questions, and that they were
"very, very nice — wonderful."
"I had a long talk with them," Rasansky
said. "I want to take them all to lunch and talk
Continued on Next Page
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 2003, newspaper, September 12, 2003; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616336/m1/9/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.