BCPL Director Kelly Millis: "I Am Not Gay!"

Braddock — Denying that he did anything wrong and stating emphatically that "I am not gay," Braddock County Public Library Director Kelly Millis asked the people of Braddock on Tuesday to forgive him for being arrested last week in a police sting in a men's room at the Austin Convention Center at the annual Texas Library Association conference.

Millis, who was taken into custody on September 21 by a plainclothes officer investigating reports of lewd conduct in the restroom, said he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge in an effort to suppress a story — pursued by the Braddock Times — that he has secretly engaged in gay trysts.

Millis said the story has been following him for years thanks to thirteen disgruntled ex-employees.

"For eight months leading up to September 21st my family and I had been relentlessly and viciously harassed by The Braddock Times. If you saw the article today, you know why. Let me be clear: I am not gay. I never have been gay," Millis said in a news conference in his hometown of Braddock.

"Still, without a shred of truth or evidence to the contrary, the Times has engaged in this witch hunt at the behest of several vicious individuals. In pleading guilty, I overreacted in Austin because of the stress the Times investigation and the rumors it has fuelled all around North Central Texas. Again, that overreaction was a mistake and I apologize for my judgment," Millis said.

Meanwhile, back in Braddock, County Council members announced they will launch an ethics review of the director.

"This is a serious matter. Due to the reported and disputed circumstances, and the legal resolution of this serious case, we will recommend that Millis's incident be reported to the State Ethics Committee for its review. In the meantime, leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required," council member T. Diana Belle-Little said in a statement on behalf of the council.

Millis was arrested on September 21 by a plainclothes officer. The police report from Sgt. Dale King, who made the arrest after an encounter in which he was seated in a stall next to a stall occupied by Millis, described Millis tapping his foot and blocking the stall door with his roller luggage. King said he recognized the actions "as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."

Millis plead guilty in an Austin court earlier this week. He claims he is innocent of anything untoward, saying that he simply has a "wide stance when urinating," but he should have consulted a lawyer rather than trying to brush the incident under the rug. He paid a $575 fine and was given a stay on a 10-day prison sentence barring no further violations during one year of unsupervised probation.

Millis said Tuesday that he is now reviewing his actions with an attorney to see if he can reverse the damages.

"I did not seek any counsel either from an attorney, staff, friends or family. That was a mistake and I deeply regret it. Because of that, I have now retained counsel, and I am asking counsel to review this matter and to advise me on how to proceed," he said.

Millis has been debating whether to prolong his 33-year career as a Braddock County employee, or resign in shame and disgrace, ironically in the same position many of his employees have found themselves in.

"Next month, I will announce, as planned, as many of you have already been told, whether or not I will seek to remain in my position. As library director, I fully realize that my life is open for public criticism and scrutiny, and I take full responsibility for a lapse in judgment I made in attempting to handle this matter myself," he said.

"I am not gay. I love my wife, my family. I care about friends and staff and BCPL. I love serving this great county. Over the years, I have accomplished a lot for Braddock, and I hope Braddock County will allow me to continue to do that," he said.

Both friends and opponents are closely watching the latest events unfold. Political science instructor Jason Martinez told The Braddock Times that if the allegation of Millis trying to initiate a gay sex tryst in the bathroom is true then he is "about done politically."

BCPL employee Michael Beckwith said Millis "has done a lot of good for Braddock." He said the rumors about sexual indiscretions have gone on for years but he never thought any of the claims had much significance, and it was part of the hardball tactics used against those in public service.

Allegations that Millis is a closet homosexual have dogged him since his school days in the 1960s, according to close personal friend Noah Retro.

During Millis's tenure at BCPL in the early 1980s, when county employees stood accused of abusing interns, Millis took the unusual step of issuing a pre-emptive denial of involvement.

The paper said it had received allegations in May from a man who said he and Millis engaged in sex at a men's bathroom in An Inconvenient Cafe in Braddock. Another man claimed Millis eyed him up during a half-hour cat and mouse chase in a Braddock store in 2004. One former BCPL employee said, "just look at the guy. It's obvious he's a queen. I mean, hell, he makes Christopher Lowell look like John Wayne. He did paint the walls of BCPL purple after all. Plus, he hangs out at the gay bar all the time, especially at lunch."

Millis, with his hand on his hip, called the charges scurrilous.

"I've been in this business 33 years in the public eye here. I don't go around anywhere hitting on men, and by God, if I did, I wouldn't do it in Braddock, TX! Jiminy!" he told the newspaper.