Lexi Parra / Houston Landing

A Uniquely HOUston Story

Last month, reporter Miranda Dunlap and photo editor Lexi Parra talked to Steve Duble, the first openly gay Harris County justice of the peace striving for accessibility.

This interview is the second installment of Houston Landing’s Who are HOU? project, a series where we shed light on Houstonian stories to highlight the diversity that shapes this city.

From the story:

Q: Why did you decide to run for Harris County Justice of the Peace?

I thought I was getting inside information that my predecessor, who had been in position since ‘89 — the year I graduated law school — decided to run for higher office. Somebody let me know that, and I thought it was inside information. But apparently a lot of people got that memo, and I ended up in a hotly-contested five way primary, which, had I known that was what I was getting into, I’m not sure I would have done it. 

I’m glad I did, but running for office is much more than you can imagine. 

Q: For those that don’t know, what does a justice of the peace do?

There’s three or four main types of cases. You have your class C misdemeanors, which are traffic violations. Highest one can be $500. You’ve got evictions. All landlord-tenant cases have to go through a JP court. if the property is in that precinct. It has to go to one of the JP's in the precincts. It can be a multi-million dollar case. We don’t rule on the dollar part … but we’ll rule on the right to possession. 

The other big one is debt claims. We have a tremendous amount of debt claims. I found out the debt claims make up most litigation in the United States now, I’m talking about credit card debt type stuff. Small claims is the big one, our jurisdiction is up to $20,000 dollars and that's people suing to try and get their security deposit back from an apartment or people fighting over a haircut. It's all sorts of stuff. It's Judge Judy, you know, interesting stuff. But people are seeking justice and it's the type of work where you shouldn't need a lawyer, and they’re fun cases. 

Q: How did growing up gay in Texas influence your career trajectory?

So I didn’t grow up gay. Well, I guess I was, but I was closeted. I didn’t come out until I was 39 years old. I was married until the divorce was final at 39 or 40. We remained friends in the process, my ex-wife. .. Of course, we had three kids, two were in high school at the time, one in grade school. But we've remained close throughout, and close to her and her husband and all the kids. 

So I can't really tell you what it was like to be young and gay in the ‘80s, because like when I was at TCU, no one was out. People just were not out in college. I ended up getting married and led a straight life and was very involved in church and school. You just get caught up and end up hanging out with people that are similar to you. People that have kids.

I can tell you what it's like to be out and gay in your 40s. I’ve heard many women say if they got reincarnated, they’d want to come back as a gay man. ‘Cause it’s fun. 

Check out Duble’s interview here!