The Huffington Post published a story by Amanda Terkel which purportedly showed that the daughter of the lesbian mayor of Houston, Annise Parker, was denied a driver's license because she has two moms. The story included a tweet from the mayor claiming this as the cause for denial.
Unfortunately for the mayor, an update to the story proved her to have been lying about this incident. First let us look at the initial Huffington Post article in which the daughter of the mayor was supposedly subjected to discrimination due to having two moms:
WASHINGTON -- Houston Mayor Annise Parker (D) announced Thursday that the Texas Department of Public Safety had barred her daughter from taking a driving test because the daughter has two moms. Parker, who is the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city, wed her longtime partner in January.
Parker took to Twitter late Thursday to express her frustration.
Daughter needs drivers test. Has all docs, some in MomA name, some MomK, but w/ birth cert showing both. DPS says can only be from 1 mom!-A
— Annise Parker (@AnniseParker) October 24, 2014
This was followed by another tweet in which the mayor claimed success in her daughter finally getting her driver's license:
But around midday Friday, Parker tweeted that the situation had been resolved, though it took three trips to get the documentation approved.
Finally! After 3rd trip to DPS w/ different sets of docs in an unnecessary paper chase, last child has her drivers license.-A
— Annise Parker (@AnniseParker) October 24, 2014
Following her moment of victory, Parker's story falls apart with this highly inconvenient Huffington Post update:
UPDATE: 5:15 p.m. -- DPS Press Secretary Tom Vinger took issue with Parker's recollection of events, writing in a statement, "All individuals applying for their first Texas driver license must provide a variety of documents to prove their identity, Social Security Number, U.S. citizenship or lawful presence status, and Texas residency. In this case, the adult applicant did not initially present sufficient documentation to prove residency. Once she provided the required documentation, she was able to complete the transaction. There is no indication that any delay in the process was related to same-sex marriage."
And now, in stark contrast to her earlier tweeting about the situation, Mayor Parker suddenly does not want to make any more comments about it as reported at the Los Angeles Times:
Parker did not respond to several efforts to reach her for comment.
