Houston city council member and mayoral candidate Dwight Boykins got into hot water recently over comments he made to a group of female students.
“You’ve made some comments that have me a little bit uncomfortable,” one young woman said to Boykins in an audio recording of an event last Friday. “You’ve joked about dating some of us and told us to keep our legs closed.”
#BoycottBoykins sprung up on Twitter the same day, followed by an apology from the council member on Saturday. Organizers called his remarks “wholly unacceptable” and said they had alerted the authorities.
This isn’t Boykins’ only self-inflicted wound when it comes to women.
In February 2017, Sallie Sargent, president and CEO of the Houston Super Bowl Committee, appeared before the Houston city council to wide acclaim. She had successfully pulled off Super Bowl LI, which brought 140,000 people to and glowing national headlines of the city.
According to her official bio, Sargent’s large event management experience, prior to the Houston game, included “five Super Bowls; 14 years managing sponsor relations and special events for the Fiesta Bowl and the first Bowl Championship Series (BCS); producing the Charles Barkley Roast for the NBA All Star Game,” and the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Dwight Boykins took to the microphone to address Sargent.
“Sally, please don’t take this as a disrespectful comment. But football tends to be a male sport, and you took…. as a female to take on this role at the level that you did, with all due respect I was so impressed with you….I want to thank Ric Campo, my friend, as well, because he has made it a very rewarding.. and made it easy for you to do your job, Sally. The one-two punch you guys had. I was just amazed.”
He then added, “I have a… secretary position in District D, come and work with me. I’m just kidding.”
Council Member Ellen Cohen, noticeably stunned, replied, “I’m almost stunned. On behalf of the females, we don’t take it the wrong way. But truly, council member, there’s is absolutely no reason a woman wouldn’t have a leadership role and wouldn’t be able to do everything Sally did.”
Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle
