Openly gay candidate loses South Fulton mayoral election
She died a day later, and an autopsy confirmed her death was caused by “silicone polymer embolization.” Her lungs, liver, kidney, heart, brain and spleen all contained the substance. The medical examiner believes that in one of her 10 injection sites a blood vessel was punctured, which carried the silicone throughout Shuntel’s bloodstream to her lungs and other organs.
Robert’s other three victims, who were not named in the statement, did not die from their injections. However, she was still charged in those cases with felonies for possessing, transporting and illegally injecting the liquid silicone, as well as additional felony charges for the illegal interstate commerce.
It was a hard-fought battle for Rafer Johnson, the openly gay mayoral candidate for the new city of South Fulton. Johnson came in third, and in a live Facebook video, thanked his supporters, his husband and volunteers for their work to get him to that point.
Candidates Bill Edwards, a former Fulton County commissioner, held a strong lead, but did not cross the 50 percent threshold. He and Benny Crane will be on the runoff ballot April 18, along with all of the city’s City Council races. Early voting for the runoffs begins on April 10, with polling locations in Roswell, College Park and Atlanta.
“Regardless of the outcome, we built many friendships and raised the bar for elections in our city. This is only the beginning — together we will raise a city we can be proud of,” Johnson said in a statement on his Facebook page. “I thank all of the candidates, it is nothing easy to throw your name on the line. [A] bigger thanks goes to the families that supported the candidates and the volunteers who made magic happen.”
He reminded voters to choose the right leadership for South Fulton, and though he did not endorse either Crane or Edwards, he did endorse City Council candidate Carmalitha Gumbs for district two.
Republican introduces pro-gay bill
State Rep. Rich Golick (R-Smyrna) in- troduced legislation that would prohibit discrimination against public employees based on their sexual orientations and ban discrimination in public accommodations.
Golick told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he hopes to take up the measure during next year’s legislative session, making it the third such civil rights bill to land on the General Assembly’s feet for 2018. This bill does not address gender discrimination, as do its predecessors, Senate Bill 119 and the House companion bill 488.
If Golick’s bill passes, it would expand protections under the Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978 and would create a new provision that “bans state officials from discriminating against gays and lesbians because of their sexual orientation.”
“Corporate America has led on this particular issue for a while, and the state of Georgia would do well to follow that example,” Golick said.
Golick also introduced a separate bill that would prohibit hotels, restaurants and other service venues from discriminating against customers based on their race, religion, color or national origin.