Annise Parker, the former mayor of
Houston, has responded to conservative pundit Ann Coulter's claim
that Parker's election led to Hurricane Harvey.
“I don't believe Hurricane Harvey is
God's punishment for Houston electing a lesbian mayor,” Coulter
tweeted on August 28 in response to a Politico article on how
climate change might be affecting hurricane season. “But that is
more credible than 'climate change.'”
Parker, who led the city from 2010 to
2016 and married her longtime partner while in office, responded on
twitter with a joke.
“Darn it, I thought no one knew I had
a super power over weather,” Parker messaged.
Parker's tweet received nearly 60,000
likes and more than 17,000 retweets, as of Thursday.
Several Christian conservative
personalities blamed Harvey on America's increasing support for LGBT
rights and, more specifically, Parker's election and state lawmakers'
failure to approve a North Carolina-style bill that sought to
restrict bathroom access for transgender people.
(Related: Kevin
Swanson: God sent Harvey to punish Texas' failure to pass transgender
bathroom bill.)
As mayor, Parker spearheaded an LGBT
protections measure that was later repealed at the polls. On
her way out, she criticized opponents of the legislation, saying
that their campaign to rescind the protections was based on “fear.”