Gay MS Mayoral Candidate Murdered

Marco McMillian, who some say was the first openly gay political candidate in the history of Mississippi, was found murdered yesterday.  McMillian was running for mayor of the small town of Clarksdale.

Coahoma County Coroner Scotty Meredith said the body of 34-year-old Marco McMillian was found on the Mississippi River levee Wednesday at about 10 a.m. The sheriff's office said Wednesday in a news release on its Facebook page that a person of interest was in custody, but had not been formally charged. The department also said authorities had been looking for McMillian since a man crashed the candidate's car into another vehicle on Tuesday. McMillian was not in the car. The sheriff's office said deputies responded to the two-car crash on U.S. Highway 49 South near the Coahoma and Tallahatchie county lines on Tuesday about 8 a.m. Will Rooker, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, declined to release other details. He said the investigation is ongoing.

In 2004, Ebony Magazine named McMillian as one of its "30 up-and-coming African Americans" under age 30 for his HIV activism.