In denying the accusation that she
fired a staffer who caught her in “a compromising position” with
another woman, Florida Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll suggested
gay women are unattractive and single women cannot be trusted.
The former aide, Carletha Cole, 49,
made the accusation in the course of defending herself against
charges she illegally leaked taped conversations of Carroll's staff
to a Florida newspaper, Reuters reported. Cole denies she made the
recording.
In court filings, Cole claims she was
fired shortly after she walked in on Carroll and the staff member.
“When she entered the office, she
found the Lieutenant Governor and her travel aide, Beatriz Ramos, in
what can only be described as a compromising position,” according
to the filing.
Carroll, Florida's first elected female
lieutenant governor, is married and raising three children. Last
year, the Republican leader said she disagreed with President Barack
Obama's decision to repeal “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the policy
which barred gay and lesbian troops from serving openly.
At the Saturday opening of a campaign
office in Orange Park for Mitt Romney, Carroll responded to the
accusations.
“The problem is that when you have
these accusations that come out, it's not just one person you're
attacking. It's an entire family. My husband doesn't want to hear
that. He knows the type of woman I am. I mean, my kids know the
type of woman I am. For twenty-nine years – I'm the one that's
married for twenty-nine years. The accuser is the one that's been
single for a long time. So usually black women that look like me
don't engage in relationships like that,” she
told reporters.