Many of us have felt the anger and sense of loss with several recent setbacks in our quest to LGBT equality. But, the last few weeks of 2009 have given us some much-needed rays of light. With the coming election of Hon. John A. Pérez as Speaker of the California State Assembly and Hon. Annise Parker as the Mayor of Houston, Texas, we again have reason to cheer. And, we are reminded of how far we have come as community.

In the wake of continued anti-gay ballot measures, the election of Pérez and Parker sends a powerful message. Their victories help us to hold on to our belief that we are headed toward a day when we will have all the same opportunities to work and serve our communities. It serves as much-needed inspiration for the rest of us as we work to make sure sexual orientation will no longer be a barrier to our – or anyone else’s – dreams.

Examining the most recent elections of these two outstanding leaders, there are some valuable lessons to be learned and reasons for collective hope that stories like theirs will be less rare in the years to come.

Parker and Pérez both have long histories as effective public servants – both in governmental and non-governmental roles. They have been key in developing and strengthening coalitions and they have worked across a range of issues. Both have sought public office as openly gay candidates, and have been actively – but not exclusively – involved in local GLBT political organizations and in the struggle to end discrimination against GLBT people and people living with HIV/AIDS. From local GLBT political caucuses and Democratic clubs to national level organizations like the Victory Fund, Parker and Pérez have sat in some of the same rooms we all sit in, and have grappled with some of the same issues we all still face on the local level.

Before her recent election, Parker was serving her third term as Houston’s City Controller, the second-highest ranking elected official in the city, and its chief financial officer. Before that she served for six years as an at-large member of the Houston City Council.

A second-generation Houstonian, Parker is clearly committed to the city and its people. Her long history of grassroots organizing and coalition building, her sharp financial skills and business background, and her trusted leadership have now made her Mayor of the fourth largest city in the United States. And if all that weren’t enough, she and her partner of nearly 20 years have two children.

Pérez grew up in the Los Angeles working class areas of El Sereno and Highland Park. For more than 15 years, he worked tirelessly within the labor movement, seeking to create jobs, expand health care and protect the rights of workers. He was instrumental in helping to increase the minimum wage in California.

His work as a labor organizer – helping workers and families learn more about lead exposure, safe water and tenant rights – has continued into the State Assembly, where he represents the 46th District. In fact, he recently shared with Los Angeles GLBT reporter and blogger Karen Ocamb that his work on a water quality issue in one of the cities in his district – where the water was never clear and never without smell – was “quite frankly one of the most important bills that I may ever be able to work on.”

Pérez has served the larger community on city and state commissions, and was appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS. He has been an active and influential member of the Democratic Party, and has served on the boards of the California League of Conservation Voters, AIDS Project Los Angeles, the Latino Coalition Against AIDS, the California Center for Regional Leadership and the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.

In May of this year, we were honored to have Assemblymember Pérez join us as the keynote speaker for the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast. He spoke of the importance of coalition building, as Harvey so often did. He spoke of hope, as Harvey so passionately did. But, Pérez also reminded us, hope isn’t “mine or his or yours to give. It’s ours to create, to nurture and to grow.”

And today that hope is growing.

Parker and Pérez hail from Texas and California – two states that in recent years have passed discriminatory marriage bans. In spite of that, voters selected these two openly gay officials to critically important, high-ranking posts because they believe they were the most qualified. They believe that Parker and Pérez can help fix the problems faced by their city, district and state, respectively. We have two intelligent, committed and inspiring individuals who came to the conclusion that their sexual orientation wasn’t – and shouldn’t be – a factor in their ability to serve.

Their constituencies agreed.