Reaction to the Greenville gay legislator story

A few years ago, the sports media hailed Jason Collins as the first openly gay professional athlete. They quickly backtracked that story when reminded that numerous women tennis players were out. The narrative became the first openly gay professional athlete in a team sport. They were then reminded of numerous professional instances of openly gay team sport players in Europe over the years. The story then became the first openly gay professional team sport athlete in North America. They then were reminded of men like Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was openly gay, but the media refused to report it.

Where are we going with this? The story finally "broke" that South Carolina elected an openly gay legislator in Jason Elliott on Saturday. This was not a major outing because Elliott never hid it during his recent campaign to oust incumbent Wendy Nanney in Greenville's District 22. This district includes Bob Jones University, which has a history rife with anti-homophobic rhetoric. The media in Greenville never asked Elliott about it, but now the story is there.

Reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Yes, there are a few negative posters on articles as it slowly gets picked up by other media outlets. But the really funny reaction has been from county Republican pearl clucthers who are trying to claim among themselves that Ellliott's preference was hidden and if known he would have lost. They must have missed the robocalls from Nanney supporters calling out Elliott. They must have missed her campaign team bringing it up on Election Day at County Square. It is also interesting to see their reaction. They seem to want to defame him, but know they further run the chance of losing their already weakened political positions.

#politicalGreenville #Greenvillepolitics #JasonElliott #BobTaylor #TheState #JasonCollins #GlennBUrke