D.C. Mayor Bowser: Not a Closeted Lesbian But a Proud Straight Ally
Washington Blade reports, activist Ahmar Mustikhan said to her, “Mayor, I’m extremely grateful to you for the all the works that you have done so far for the LGBTQ community, including this shelter here.
Mayor, I’m a little concerned because there is this word that you are lesbian and you are in this closet. Why is this the case?”Bowser replied, “Well, I’m not in the closet,” and there was laughter from the crowd before things moved on.Mustikhan “describes himself on his Twitter account as the ‘first openly gay man on earth from Balochistan,’ a province in Pakistan that borders Iran and Afghanistan with a pro-independence movement,’” the Blade notes.
A reporter with TV station WRC, Washington’s NBC affiliate, spoke to Bowser about the exchange Friday at a Democratic Party event. “I’m very proud to be a straight ally of the LGBTQ community,” the mayor clarified.
She said many people have commented that Mustikhan’s question was “very inappropriate,” adding, “I gave a very nuanced response to shut it down.”“We should not be, as elected officials, going into situations like that where we’re talking about very real issues where people want to make them personal,” she continued.
