Caribbean Born, Florida Lawmaker Apologizes For Calling Challenger ‘Ba–y Boy’

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Feb. 19, 2020: A Caribbean-born, Florida state lawmaker has been forced to apologize after referring to his 2020 Primary challenger by the anti-gay slur, ‘ba—y boy.’

St. Maarten-born attorney, Al Jacquet, a Democratic Party member Florida House of Representative of District 88, apologized Tuesday for using the gay slur in an hour-long Facebook live broadcast on his personal page to refer to his 2020 Primary Challenger, Lake Worth Beach Commissioner Omari Hardy.

Rep. Jacquet, the state lawmaker who represents parts of Palm Beach County, recorded the video last Friday.

“I’m running in 2020 baby,” Jacquet said in the video. “I hear they got sleepy Hardy. It’s all good. The union boy. The batty boy union boy.”

See the full video here

Hardy called him out in a tweet stating: “While I’m not gay, I am offended for our LGBTQ community in Palm Beach County and across the state of Florida. “His bigoted rhetoric has no place in our politics.”

Jacquet was then forced to apologize Tuesday stating: “In the heat of the moment, I said something I should not have said. I apologize for my words that have offended some of my colleagues.”

But the Palm Beach Human Rights Council has called for the legislature to censure him for his use of the slur or remove him.

Jacquet previously served as a commissioner for Delray Beach and as a practicing attorney at law, ran for the seat unopposed in the general election, defeating Edwin Ferguson and Angie Gray in the Democratic primary. He lives in Riviera Beach, Florida, and graduated from DePauw University and the St. Thomas University School of Law.