a jackson councilman called a colleague a sissy. when a neighbor petitioned to fine him $500 for it, he asked reporters if she's gay. twice. be so for real.

via the Mississippi Clarion Ledger and WLBT

"Is she gay? Did you ask her?"

That was Jackson, Mississippi, Councilman Kenneth Stokes's entire answer when a Clarion Ledger reporter asked him, after Tuesday's council meeting, about a petition to censure him. Then, per the paper, he "abruptly got up from the interview and left City Hall." It was not the first time. When WLBT asked him about the same petition in September, the station reports, he "questioned Michael's sexual orientation" instead of answering.

The petition, for the record, is about him calling a man a sissy.

how we got here

At the Sept. 8 meeting, during a fight over renaming part of Wood Street for a local band director, Stokes told Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell, "You are a damn lie and a sissy," as WLBT transcribed it. Grizzell shot back, "If you see one, hit one," then apologized, and later put out a statement that deserves to be framed: a man's masculinity, he wrote, "should not be called into question because he is educated, articulate, enjoys the arts, attends cultural events, appreciates refinement, or knows the difference between a dinner fork and a salad fork." Iconic. No notes.

Two weeks later a lifelong resident of Stokes's own Georgetown neighborhood presented a petition with 90 signatures at public comment. It asks for a formal censure, a public reprimand, a review of his committee assignments and a $500 fine out of his own pocket, under the city's decorum ordinance. Stokes was not in the room when she spoke.

what the council says now

The petition is headed to committee, and the committee's chair, Ward 2 Councilwoman Tina Clay, told the Clarion Ledger she does not expect a sanction. Grizzell was blunter: "Ms. Michael's private life is exactly that: private." The petitioner's own response to the question was the best one: "What does that have to do with the petition?"

A note on why her name appears only inside other people's quotes: she is a private resident who did a civic thing, and the councilman's move was to make her sexuality the subject. We are not going to help with that.