Mississippi town repeals gay rights law. Mayor vetoes.

[Recursion]

I'm from this town, and I know most of these people, so this is especially infuriating to me. (Also, it's really weird to see people you knew in grade school talked about in the press...)

So, last year, Starkville, Mississippi passed an historic pair of laws that
* forbade discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, and public accommodation, and
* granted health insurance to same-sex partners of city employees

Awesome.

This week, the city aldermen in a closed-door executive session repealed those laws. And the city attorney advised staffers not to reveal the vote count (it has since leaked, regardless).

The mayor is infuriated, and has vetoed the legislation, though if the vote count stands the aldermen can override him. (Though if the rules are the same as when I was in high school, vetoes cannot be overridden in executive session, so the public can be there and the votes have to be recorded.)

Anyways, people have asked what southern Democrats are up to, and it's stuff like this. Full disclosure: I've been a friend of mayor Parker Wiseman for decades. But I'm really proud of him today, and I think he's an example of the kind of Democrats we still have in the South. Look for his name to appear in bigger contexts in a few years (he's like 30 or so right now).

[DAMANgoldberg]

1. It does help the cause...

that Starkville is a University town, and as such, tend to be more Democratic and enlightened. I just wished the city of Auburn would do such a thing, but that may be a bridge too far! WDE! SEC SEC SEC!