Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician serving as the eighth Mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented Ward 4 as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2015. She is the second female Mayor of the District of Columbia after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position.
Bowser: ‘I’m not in the closet’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday denied she is in the closet after someone who identified themselves as an activist asked her if she is a lesbian. “Well, I’m not in the closet,” said Bowser in response to the question.
Ahmar Mustikhan, who describes himself on his Twitter account as the “first openly gay man on earth from Balochistan,” a province in Pakistan that borders Iran and Afghanistan with a pro-independence movement, asked Bowser the question during a ribbon cutting ceremony of the city’s first shelter for homeless LGBTQ adults. “Mayor, I’m extremely grateful to you for the all the works that you have done so far for the LGBTQ community, including this shelter here,” asked Mustikhan. “Mayor, I’m a little concerned because there is this word that you are lesbian and you are in this closet.
Why is this the case?” A video that WAMU reporter Ally Schweitzer posted on Twitter shows people who attended the event laughed after Bowser responded to the question.
A Progress Pride flag was attached to the podium from which Bowser spoke. Bowser’s brother, Marvin Bowser, is openly gay, but the mayor herself has never publicly said whether she is a lesbian, despite persistent rumors.
