Another Republican hypocrite has been forced out of the closet. But this one did it to his damn self.
Southaven, Mississippi, mayor Greg Davis was elected in 1997 on a conservative "family values" platform. He even ran for Congress in 2008 on a similar platform.
If Davis sounds familiar to you, you may remember him as the guy who wanted to construct a statue of the KKK founder in Southaven. Yeah, he's a real class act, that Davis.
He was married (he divorced his wife after his failed run for Congress) and has three daughters. Now, he has officially come out as gay.
What happened to force Davis out of the closet he has tragically been inside for his whole life? No, Michael Rogers had nothing to do with it. The story of Davis's outing is a lot stupider than that.
Actually, Davis apparently had a bit of a problem with spending taxpayer dollars on inappropriate things. Lavish dinners here, liquor there, and occasionally...oh, you know, no biggie...some stuff from a gay sex shop in Toronto. Surely nothing bad could come of a closeted "family values" Republican politician billing taxpayers for his dildos, porn, or whatever the hell he bought in Toronto, right? (Davis doesn't quite remember what exactly he bought with the $67 in taxpayer money at Priape, "Canada's premiere gay lifestyle store and sex shop," according to its website)
Needless to say, after Davis had already embezzled $170,000 from taxpayers, he found himself under criminal investigation. And now, we get this:
At this point in my life and in my career, while I have tried to maintain separation between my personal and public life, it is obvious that this can no longer remain the case. While I have performed my job as mayor, in my opinion, as a very conservative, progressive individual - and still continue to be a very conservative individual - I think that it is important that I discuss the struggles I have had over the last few years when I came to the realization that I am gay.
Listen to the recording of his public statement here.
In the immortal words of Homer Simpson:
D'oh!
So let that be a lesson to all "family values" closet-cases out there. Don't shop at gay sex stores with taxpayer money. I can't believe this has to even be said.
Totally Freaking Related: If you haven't already, read Scott Wooledge's diary about the resignation of anti-gay GOP Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch after allegations of an affair with a Senate staffer. You could stab the hypocrisy with a fork in the GOP.