Source: QMI Agency
The Republican mayor of a Mississippi city was forced to admit he is gay after he submitted a receipt from a Toronto sex shop that calls itself "your favourite gay store in Canada" to state auditors amid a spending scandal.
Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, has been under investigation for the expenses he charged to the city on both his city-issued and personal credit cards, the Commercial Appeal newspaper reports.
Last week, Davis, 45, submitted his receipts to auditors to try to reduce the roughly $170,000 auditors have demanded he repay the city for improper charges.
Among the receipts, which included thousands of dollars in liquor and restaurant charges, was a bill for $67 from Priape, a store in Toronto that is described on its website as "Canada's premiere gay lifestyle store and sex shop."
The Commercial Appeal obtained the receipts under freedom to information laws. Davis then revealed his sexual orientation to the newspaper.
"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," he said last Thursday. "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."
Davis also told the newspaper he didn't remember what he bought there.
Davis, who also ran as the Republican Party's nominee for the 2008 special and general elections, ran his mayoral campaigns as a Conservative and religious family man, including details about his home life. It said he was married for 19 years until he reportedly divorced in 2010 and has three daughters with his ex-wife and mentions his commitment to a local Baptist church.
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