November 3, 2004

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.

Metropolitan Community Church