That year, Ennis stated that according to "ocal politicians" the district "will now go the way the gay vote goes." In 1980 Montrose was in Texas Legislative District 79. In 1979 Montrose became included in a single-member Houston City Council district and therefore increasing LGBT political representation. That year, the LGBT bloc-voted to put Mickey Leland in the Congressional seat formerly held by Barbara Jordan, and Leland personally thanked the HGPC. He advocated for using bloc-voting so gay people could get their preferred candidates. In 1978 Steve Shifflet, a former Young Republican, became the head of the Houston Gay Political Caucus (HGPC). The Marriage of Billie Ert and Antonio Molina, the first gay marriage in Texas, took place in 1972, although it was later voided by the Texas Attorney General. In the October 1979 Village Voice Richard Goldstein wrote that due to the perceived threat from the " Christian right" in the area, gay people in Houston "take politics more seriously" than those in New York City. Michael Ennis of the Texas Monthly stated in 1980 that within Texas, "gay political inroads" were "most visible" in Houston. According to Blum many LGBT-identifying persons told him that several companies have cultures non-supportive of LGBT-identifying persons and that some had "described thinly veiled or blatant discrimination." Blum stated that "In many ways, the energy sector mirrors Houston's dual identities - the diverse, innovative, big-business urban image clashing with a conservative culture, deeply rooted in Christian faith." Institutions Around the 1990s BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, and several other companies offered benefits and protection to LGBT employees equal to that of straight employees. Jordan Blum of the Houston Chronicle stated in 2016 that levels of LGBT acceptance and discrimination vary throughout the Houston energy industry. The school's executive director, Wayne Kramer, referred to the student handbook, which stated: "Lutheran High North reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission of an applicant and/or to discontinue enrollment of a current student participating in, promoting, supporting or condoning: pornography, sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bisexual activity". In February 2015 a 17-year-old gay student at Lutheran High School North reported that the school forced him to leave since he refused to take down YouTube videos discussing his sexuality. Well, guess what? There's nowhere we're not welcome anymore." The suburbs especially attracting gays are Pearland, Sugar Land, and Missouri City. Hill stated that "Gay bars used to be places where we had to go to get refuge because we were not welcome anywhere else. Decentralization of Houston's LGBT population with the increasing LGBT acceptance in the city caused business at gay bars in Montrose to decline. By 2011 many LGBT people moved to the Houston Heights and to suburbs in Greater Houston, and according to Hill, possibly less than 8% of Montrose's population was LGBT. By 2009 some were also moving to Riverside Terrace. In the 2000s many LGBT individuals began moving to Westbury and several began referring to it as "Little Montrose". Paul Broussard was murdered in Montrose in 1991. and in 1990, according to Hill, 19% of the residents of Montrose were LGBT. By 1985, the flavor and politics of the neighborhood were heavily influenced by the LGBT community. Within Montrose, new gay bars began to open. LGBT community members were attracted to Montrose as a neighborhood after encountering it while patronizing Art Wren, and they began to gentrify the neighborhood and assist the widows with the maintenance of their houses. They began going to Art Wren, a 24-hour restaurant in Montrose, a community of empty nesters and widows. Gays and lesbians needed to have a place to socialize after the closing of the gay bars.
According to Ray Hill, a Montrose resident quoted in the Houston Press, before the 1970s, the city's gay bars were spread around Downtown Houston and what is now Midtown Houston.