South Carolina mayor uses homophobic slur before denying its meaning

A South Carolina mayor has used a homophobic slur during a city council meeting, and then denied its meaning. 

Mayor Curtis Boyd of Darlington, South Carolina, was told at the Tuesday (3 December) meeting that he should not be the mayor of the city, as he reportedly does not live within the boundary.

Boyd then, bizarrely, responded: “You’re welcome to leave with me tonight, and if you want, you can sleep in my bed butt naked with me. You’re welcome to sleep in the bed with me.”

The man responded with a homophobic slur: “I’m not gay. I’m not a f**. I’m not a homosexual.”

Boyd then responded, also uttering the same homophobic slur. “I’m not a f** either, but you’re more than welcome to come see where I stay.”

Local news station News13 asked Boyd about his anti-gay comment, to which he replied: “The F-word means, that you’re referring to, a bundle of sticks.

“And he said he was not that, I said I’m not that either. Whatever it is, I looked it up and it means a bundle of sticks. If you look at the dictionary.”

City council person Elaine Reed condemned his comments. “He just should have simply given the facts that there is, that he is in compliance with all of the residency situation. There shouldn’t have been any other comment,” Reed said.

While the word literally means a bundle of sticks and was used in the 19th Century to describe older women who gathered firewood, it has since taken on negative connotations to describe gay men.

It comes after the state was recently criticised for passing a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, as well as imposing “extreme restrictions” on healthcare for trans adults.

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