Austin’s NAACP president Nelson Linder thought he was just standing up for Austin Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr when he found, in a series of dumped emails between city officials, Mayor Lee Leffingwell referring to Kerr referred to as a “company man.” According to Linder’s ethics complaint, it is “public knowledge” Kerr is gay, and thus referring to her as a “company” man is a slur against her sexuality. Except? Kerr, who took the job in 2009, insists she’s a hetero: “I am not a gay woman. I am totally supportive of all of my LGBT friends and workers and employees. I would just like the record to be straight that I am not a gay woman.” Oh, what an Oprah-Gayle moment! So does that make the “company man” description kosher?
