Greg Davis was elected the Republican mayor of Southaven, Mississippi, on a platform of “family values.”
Someone should have started a stopwatch.
GOP ‘family values’ mayor admits he’s gay
A Republican mayor in Mississippi admitted this week that he was gay after an audit revealed that he spent taxpayer money at a gay adult store in Canada.
Greg Davis was elected as the mayor of Southaven in 1997 on a platform of conservative “family values,” but he says he recently realized that he was gay.
[...]
Thousands of dollars were spent on lavish meals and liquor, but it’s a $67 charge that Davis made to Priape, “Canada’s premiere gay lifestyle store and sex shop,” while on a recruiting trip that has gotten the most attention.
The mayor said that he didn’t remember what he bought while at the shop.
Clearly, Canada is at fault here.
I feel compelled to point out here that being gay is not inconsistent with supporting family values (with the caveat that we tend to support the version of family values that doesn’t include “hate and fear people who are a different race, religion or sexual orientation than you”).
So throw another log on the pile of evidence that shows that being a Republican politician is inconsistent with being honest about who you really are. I mean, really, folks. “Squeaky-Clean, God-Fearing Republican Politician Outed As Gay” has happened so often that it’s a cliché. Heck, it’s almost a qualification for the job these days.
Note to the heterosexual community: our side doesn’t want Rick Perry if he turns out to be gay. You can keep him on your team. No, no, it’s okay. We insist. You can keep Newt, too.
That was my thought as well upon reading this. However, it’s a given that a Republican expounding on “family values” includes that definition to mean “no gays”. The two have become more or less synonymous.
Republican Family Values:
1. No Gays.
2. No Women’s Rights.
3. No Atheists under my roof.
4. Woman is caretaker of kids.
5. Sex only after marriage and for a pregnancy.
I know what you’re trying to say, and I know it was meant in a humorous way, but I want to be serious about it for a moment: I don’t think that reviving the “us-vs-them” mentality that has influenced so much of our human history, even in joking, is such a good idea. I’d rather we left behind such thinking. There should be no hetero- nor homosexual “team”, no guys vs. gals, no people contra politics. It saddens me to see every day how people around the world (me explicitly included) are so much better in spotting the differences than the similarities. If we could overcome this behavior, the world would be a better place.
Imagine a world where everybody, upon the news that Rick Perry was gay, would say something like “Yeah, so what? It’s his business, it does not affect the way I think or feel about him. Just move along, nothing to see here.” One can have dreams…
I agree, there should be no division into us-vs.-them lines over this issue. But the Republican party has made the sexual orientation issue one of the biggest planks in their political platform- their doing, not mine. If there is one thing in this world I despise, it’s hypocrisy, and I will not pass up a chance to point it out and mock it for what it is when I see it.
Greg Davis appears to be an ordinary, run-of-the-mill politician who happens to be gay. This alone is not, and should not be, controversial. The fact that he’s been willing to stump for gay-bashing “family values” is what gets me. I feel sorry for him as a human being because of the position he’s in as a gay man in our current society (it’s a tough row to hoe), but I am still going to hold him accountable for his hypocrisy. Earth to Greg: you’re not helping yourself or anyone else.
While I would never dream of neglecting your right to ridicule the shit out of those hypocrites, I still think it’s not such a good idea. While we (i.e. the good ones) recognize your intent, the other side (i.e. the baddies) will perceive your criticism as annoying, unwarranted, fundamentalist, left-wing, aggressive shouting. And they will react accordingly. Which in turn will cause you to react appropriately. Like a nasty-go-round. It’s ultimately pointless. Unless one side just stops and lets the other side huff and puff and blow themselves up. Many compromises in history have only worked because the stronger side (and that’s what we are, innit?) has made concessions to the weaker side. This way they unmantled their very own us-vs-them myths, and eventually lead to their collapse (think for example of the Troubles in Northern Ireland).
On the other hand, I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. Usually I would just think “…and there’s another asshole hypocrite. Just round them all up and put them out of their misery.” Guess it must be all those warm and fuzzy feelings, what whith Christmas’n'stuff…
Gawd, I fucking hate Christmas!!! :D
Put Christmas out of your mind and concentrate on other solstice traditions. I do believe that Saturnalia began earlier this week.
Now celebrated by lawyers, apparently.
Well, I guess it’ll be quite hard to convince my master to provide table service for me, his most humble servant. I guess this will have to do.
On one hand you say not to write things this vs that, on the other hand you write gawd and I hate Chrismas.
It seems you want to piss of Christians (TM), which clearly can lead to ppl killing each other, as they still do sometimes in Ireland as you mentioned yourself.
So what is it going to be now? :-P
It’s going to be this ;-)
I agree with UrsaMinor on this. That a politician is engaged in sexual escapades is not the issue. The issue is hypocrisy.
When John Edwards got caught cheating on his wife and fathering a child, I would agree this should not be a major deal. John Edwards did not build his political career by playing the “family values” card or the “keep heterosexual marriage sacred” cards. But when Newt Gingrich got caught having an affair with a staffer while attempting to drive Bill Clinton from office over his own affair, they you’re talking about hypocrisy. Or when Ted Haggard got caught in a gay prostitute/meth scandal after playing a prominent position in the opposition to gay marriage, you’re talking about hipocrisy.When a politicial builds his political career on legislating the sexual lives of others, then it is an issue when he does not live up to his own standard.
Although, you do have to admit that cheating on your wife who has cancer, and denying you’re the daddy of the resulting little girl, is a bit dickish.
Dickish, yes. But not especially relevant to one’s job as a legislator, unless one has made it so.
It’s a shame more people don’t run on the platform of “Don’t be a dick.”
Then how would Cheney have ever got elected?
It’s a shame more people don’t run on the platform “You know I’ll turn out to be a dick, so don’t act all surprised.”
My inner cynic keeps whispering that non-dickish politicians are teetering on the edge of extinction as a species.
Gingrich seems to be running on the “you know I’ll turn out to be a dick, so don’t act all surprised” platform.
As long as you will take Bachmann’s husband when he finally comes out we’ll keep Perry.
Wait, isn’t he an android?
ahem. On behalf of the female hetero community, we also do not want Perry or Newt. We’re still a little sore y’all took Neil Patrick Harris.
Greg Laden wants to know what you can buy for $67 at a gay adult shop in Canada:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/2011/12/17/what-can-you-buy-at-a-gay-adult-shop-in-canada-for-67/
You know something? I’m happy for this guy. I’m happy that he’s come out and can stop living a lie. I really hope that his life improves and he finds somebody to love with honesty. Good for him.
I give him three months before he’s in reparative “therapy”.
I really, really hope not. I can’t think of anything worse than living your whole life in denial of what you are.
I think this one may have reached escape velocity. We shall see.
I’ll give him points for not being a total hypocrite, though. I imagined he would take the standard approach and call a press conference where he would apologize and tell everyone he’s praying to God and beg his constituency for forgiveness and emphasize he is just a humble sinner (funny how such humility always has to emphasized).
Instead he says this: “The only apology I would make to my supporters if they are upset is the fact that I was not honest enough with myself to be honest with them. … in order for me to remain sane and move on, I have got to start being honest about who I am”.
Good for him.
Too bad about his improper spending, though. He is clearly not someone to be trusted with tax payer money. But what else is new?
Yeah, this is an asshole that used public money to finance his private stuff.
Plus, he’s fucking stupid if he thought he wouldn’t have been exposed.
So, dishonest and incapable.
I understand that these are all job requirements for any politician, but WTF!
Funny thing is, being gay will probably ruin his career far more than being incompetent or a thief will.
Oh, this is a news story. It’s another sad tale of how religion can cause a person to hate himself.
Who was he recruiting in Canada? I thought Southerners prided themselves on being self-sufficient.
MN GOP’s “Family Values” Senator Amy Koch Resigns Unexpectedly
Sources: Majority leader Amy Koch had inappropriate relationship with Senate staffer
I’m sure she appreciated this letterfrom John Medeiros, apologizing for using the gay marriage death ray to destroy her marriage.
As someone who spent a decade in Mississippi, I’m surprised he knew where Canada was.
He didn’t know where is ‘was’ per se. Just that it was one of those states up North.
What, Canada is not an US state?
:-P
I live next door to Canada. It’s more like a province.
I’m glad we could help.
Did you by any chance play PlanetSide?
So, what happens in Canada does not stay in Canada? Good to know.
It seems as though gay people crop up in all walks of life: quiet nerds, bankers, corrupt politicians. It’s almost as though there’s no reason to go about making a distinction at all anymore.
Once upon a time we were safely confined to the entertainment industry, but somebody forgot to lock the gate in 1969 and we got loose and infiltrated. I myself am a sleeper agent posing as a boringly middle-class suburban white guy. And now, with a wedding ring on my finger, I blend even more cunningly. Be very afraid, America, for soon teh gayz will be so mundane they will put you to sleep.
I don’t think we’re going to enter the post-gay era until the political right replaces us with something else as its current favorite wedge issue and chew toy. But then, I consider it an honorable public service to serve in this capacity, because until we came along, they were pounding mercilessly on blacks and interracial couples.
As galling as social conservative hypocrisy is, I think if the nonreligious community made a point of telling these folks when this happens “even if you were a hypocrite, you’re not a bad person, especially not for being gay”, we would set a pretty good example. Note that nice Christians do this sometimes and they know it makes these folks like them. My fantasy is that one day a Greg Davis will speak somewhere publicly and say, “You know, at the low point of my political career, I got some very nice emails from atheists and that really made a big difference in the way I see this.” I already sent him an email.