Black, Gay Mayoral Candidate Found Dead in Mississippi

Marco McMillian was the first openly gay candidate for political office in the history of the state of Mississippi. The 34-year-old Black gay Democrat was running for Mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi but his body was found recently in the river!

The 34-year-old McMillian was running for mayor of Clarksdale, a Blues hub where actor and Mississippi native Morgan Freeman co-owns a music club with Howard Stovall, a Memphis entertainment executive, and Bill Luckett, who also is running for mayor.

Meredith said the body was found between Sherard and Rena Lara and was sent to Jackson for an autopsy. He declined to provide further details or speculate on the cause of death.

[...]

McMillian was a Democrat. Campaign spokesman Jarod Keith said McMillian’s campaign was noteworthy because he may have been the first openly gay man to be a viable candidate for public office in Mississippi. 

Clarksdale, a town of about 17,800 people, is well known to Blues fans as the home of the crossroads, where Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil for skills with a guitar. 

I know the South is not what it was in 1965, but as recently as yesterday there was an oral argument before the Supreme Court where lawyers for a southern county (Shelby County, Alabama) basically argued that the South was changed and that racism would not be an impediment to voting rights and the exercise of minority political power.

Hmmmmm!