Trump-loving mayoral candidate exits race after dropping homophobic slurs at LGBTQ-sponsored forum

On Tuesday, the Shreveport Timesreported that Melvin Slack, a Republican candidate for mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, has bowed out of the race after a number of controversies hit him at once — including uttering homophobic slurs at a candidate forum, and being hit with a restraining order over alleged sexual misconduct.

"The announcement comes a day after Slack used gay slurs at a mayoral forum held by the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization PACE and hours after a woman was granted a temporary restraining order against Slack after she accused him of sexual harassment and death threats," reported Kendrick Dante.

In a brief interview with the paper, Slack explained why he was exiting the race.

'If this was a ploy to get me out of the race, they got what they wanted because I'm just going to go ahead and let them have the mayor's race," he told the Shreveport Times.

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Slack, who wore a "Trump 2020" T-shirt to the debate, referred to gay people as "sissies" and "punks" in his closing statement — but also claimed he would try not to discriminate against them if elected mayor, and would hire a liaison to handle these issues for him, adding, "We all know in the Bible that God said a man's supposed to be with a woman, and a woman with a man, but the thing is we violate everything else in the Bible."

The restraining order, granted on Monday by state District Judge Brady O'Callaghan, came immediately after the forum.

"In court filings, the woman alleges Slack accosted her and her stepfather after a mayoral forum Sunday evening," said the report. "The woman also alleged Slack has previously put her in a chokehold, called her 60 times within a two-day period and called her at 3 a.m. to make intimate advances. Slack denied the allegations in an interview with The Times, saying the woman is an acquaintance he met after originally running for mayor in 2014 who pursued him romantically and re-appeared in his life along with her father after Slack announced his new campaign for mayor."

Slack was one of only two Republicans in the crowded mayoral race of ten candidates.

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