houston

Music legend Whitney Houston has died at the age of 48. People.com reports that the Grammy winner was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. Saturday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "We received a call at 3:43 p.m. from hotel security and Beverly Hills Fire and police responded minutes later," the story quotes Beverly Hills Police Lieutenant Mark Rosen.

Apparently Houston has no city ordinance that prevents a business from discriminating against visitors for their sexual orientation. As a result, gay and lesbian clients at the city's Union Bar were told to wait out in the rain. At the same time those who looked heterosexual were permitted to go inside. The people were participating in the first “Guerilla Gay Bar” event in Houston.

Houston mayor Annise D. Parker has won reelection despite a low approval rating and antigay rhetoric leveled against her by a challenger. Candidate Dave Wilson, who assailed Parker during the campaign for her sexual orientation, garnered just 12% of the vote.

Annise Parker, the openly lesbian winner of Houston's mayoral election last month, was sworn into office this weekend. Parker has officially become the nation's most prominent LGBT mayor in the nation's fourth-largest city. Holding the Bible for Parker as she was sworn in-was her longtime partner, Kathy Hubbard. 

Houston Mayor Annise Parker might be every right-winger's worst nightmare.

A lesbian couple in Houston, Texas, is dead, and local police say it was an apparent muder-suicide that happened Tuesday night. According to the Houston Chronicle's Anita Hassan, 29-year-old Belinda Espinoza had been upset that evening, and called her relatives threatening suicide. A fight between her and her 24-year-old fiance, Ana Flores, had spiraled out of control. Florez called 911 to report Espinoza, but by the time Houston police arrived at the couple's home, they found that Espinoza had shot Florez and then turned the gun on herself.Both women were dead at the scene.

Check out the trailer and commentary from today's episode of NBC's Today show.

A UK website recalls a story Lady Gaga told them about when she met Whitney Houston for the first time.

Whitney Houston was to lend her image to a campaign urging an end to bullying based on "your color, your sexual orientation, or how much you weigh," but her death in a Beverly Hills hotel room prevented the photo shoot from happening.

The businessman challenging Houston mayor Annise Parker's reelection said the mayor was using her sexual orientation to promote "a homosexual agenda."

The country's largest city without an LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance looks to change that with a new draft policy, proposed by the city's first LGBT mayor.

Crystal Jackson and Britney Cosby were found dead in Galveston after heading down there from Houston to enjoy Mardi Gras

Openly gay Councilwoman Sue Lovell adamantly defended a $400,000 grant to fund the Marjo House, a 12-year old facility providing Houston HIV/AIDS patient transitional housing.Lovell clashed with Councilwoman Jarvis Johnson, who wanted to shut down the facility.The majority of the council ultimately disagreed with Johnson, voting 10-2 in favor of keeping the house operational, at least through the remainder of 2010.