wfn.org | Openly Lesbian MCC Church Leader Is New Sheriff of Dallas, TX

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

N E W S
Metropolitan Community Churches
 From The MCC Communications Department

Openly Lesbian MCC Leader Lupe Valdez
Elected Sheriff of Dallas County, Texas

Dallas, Texas - On November 2, Lupe Valdez, a longtime member and lay 
leader of Metropolitan Community Churches, was elected as the new Sheriff 
of Dallas County in Texas.

The Dallas Morning News describes Lupe's election as a "breakthrough 
victory."  An article under the headline "Valdez scores historic victory" 
notes that Lupe is the first woman and the first Hispanic to be elected 
Dallas County Sheriff in this heavily Republican county.

As the Democratic candidate, Lupe defeated the Republican candidate, who 
was a three-decade veteran of the sheriff's department. Prior to the 
election, political observers favored her opponent to win the election.

A major factor in Lupe's campaign success was her more than 30 years in 
professional law enforcement.  Lupe has served as a corrections officer at 
both county and federal levels, and has many years experience as a US 
Special Agent. Most recently she was a Senior Special Agent with the US 
Department of Homeland Security. Lupe retired from federal law enforcement 
in January 2004 to run for the office of sheriff in Dallas County.

Toward the end of the campaign, her opponent raised Lupe's sexual 
orientation as an issue. Complaining that she had received an endorsement 
and contribution from the Victory Fund, an organization that supports 
openly gay or lesbian candidates, Lupe's opponent suggested that she would 
use the office of sheriff as a platform to advance issues such as 
gay/lesbian rights and same-sex marriage. Lupe asserted that sexual 
orientation should have no bearing on the race, and would play no role in 
how she ran the department.

In a profile on the candidates three days before the election, the Dallas 
Morning News reported that Lupe is "openly gay" and stated that "She is a 
member of the Metropolitan Community Churches, a worldwide fellowship of 
Christian churches with a special outreach to gay and lesbian communities."

In her victory statement to supporters and the media on Tuesday night, Lupe 
Valdez said, "We are an international county with people of all ethnic 
groups, rich and poor, gay and straight, and this is what I want to
represent."

For more than 25 years, Lupe Valdez has been an active lay leader in 
Metropolitan Community Churches, serving MCC in Dallas as a deacon and 
board member and serving the denomination as Director of Security for 
General Conferences from 1989 to 2003.	She currently serves as a member of 
the Moderators Nominating Committee and is an active member of Metropolitan 
Community Church of Greater Dallas.

Here is the national news story on Lupe Valdez' victory from Reuters News 
Service:

Hispanic Lesbian Makes History in Dallas Poll
Wed Nov 3, 1:32 PM ET	U.S. National - Reuters

DALLAS (Reuters) - Dallas County, the home to some of the biggest
conservative supporters of President Bush, made
history Tuesday night by electing an openly gay Hispanic woman as
its sheriff.

Democrat Lupe Valdez, 57, pulled off one of the biggest surprises in
the Texas races by defeating Republican Danny Chandler.

"Dallas is an international county," Valdez told reporters. That is
what I want to represent."

She will be the first Democrat to serve as Dallas County sheriff in
about 30 years. Valdez boasted that she has worked on law
enforcement at a local, national and international level.

Valdez was an accomplished officer with U.S. Customs and other
federal agencies who also served as a captain in the U.S. Army
Reserves. She was endorsed by the main local daily the Dallas
Morning News, which saw her as the best person to clean up a scandal-
tainted sheriff's department.

Her predecessor, Sheriff Jim Bowles, a Republican, cast a shadow
over the department when law enforcement officials said earlier this
year he was being investigated on suspicion of receiving kickbacks
for contracts from a vendor for the county jail.

Valdez's opponent Chandler was a veteran of the sheriff's department
and political observers said the scandal may have tainted his
campaign.

"We are tickled that Dallas County voters managed to shatter at
least four different stereotypes in one fell swoop," the Dallas
Morning News said in an editorial.

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