Posible council candidacy would test waters for openly gay candidates in Detroit

[FreeState]

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Is Detroit ready to elect an openly gay candidate to high office?

That question is being prompted by rumors that former Fox 2 anchorman Charles Pugh may announce a run for city council next week. Pugh, 37, has not announced a run, but has dropped hints that he's going to make a career change: Pugh's MySpace page said he's releasing a book in this month called "How to Really Change Detroit"; he's planning to make a "big announcement" in a Detroit neighborhood; and plans to host an April 17 gala and appear on WJLB radio in May.

If Pugh runs, his sexuality will attract a great deal of attention because he'll be the first openly gay candidate in Detroit to run for city council in anyone's memory — and do it in one of the country's largest African-American cities where openly gay elected officials are rare if present at all. Whatever obstacles a gay candidate may face running in the rough-and-tumble land of Detroit politics, the unmitigated havoc that's taken hold in city government recently may trump reluctance to vote for a gay man or woman, three local political observers said in interviews.

Alicia Skillman, who is gay, was preparing to run for city council this year before she became executive director of the Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based gay-rights advocacy group. Skillman said the city's problems are so great that voters will look past sexuality.

"I don't believe they're going to care about what a person does in their private life, their orientation," she said. "I think they're going to care about whether or not the person can do what's best for the city and do it ethically."

[dsc]

1. they should be desperate enough to try anything at this point

[Duncan Grant]

2. I thought unfavorable responses to LGBT people were about white gay male entitlement.

:shrug:

I guess teh gay crosses all socio-economic classifications, categories, identities, etc. Imagine that.

Recommended.

edit: grammatical lapse

[Duncan Grant]

3. Kick for the people who are thinking twice about supporting gay civil equality.

edit: How could I forget this little guy? :kick:

edit 2: These people exist at DU on this very day. It would be against the rules for me to point them out so I'm editing my post. There's an interesting thread about "a rabbi, a reverand, a gay rights activist" today. Have you seen it?