Conservative U.S. politician comes out after shopping in Toronto's gay village

Greg Davis and his family.

PopGoesTheNews.com A right-wing U.S. politician has come out of the closet after an audit of his expenses revealed he shopped at an adults-only store in Toronto's gay village.

Greg Davis, the Republican mayor of Southaven, Mississippi — and a married father of three — told a Memphis newspaper on Thursday: "At this point in my life and in my career, while I have tried to maintain separation between my personal and public life, it is obvious that this can no longer remain the case. I think that it is important that I discuss the struggles I have had over the last few years when I came to the realization that I am gay."

His revelation comes after a state audit indicated he used his city-issued credit card for $170,000 in personal expenses, including booze and dinners at upscale restaurants. The audit also revealed Davis spent $67 at Priape, a store described on its website as "Canada's premiere gay lifestyle store and sex shop." Davis visited the Church Street shop during a trip to Toronto with warehouse developers from his state. The mayor told The Commercial Appeal he doesn't recall what he purchased at Priape, which sells underwear, sex toys and adult videos.

Southaven, a 20-minute drive south of Memphis, is Mississippi's third-largest city. Davis was elected in 2009 to his fourth-term as mayor. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Congress in 2008 on a conservative family values platform.

Davis, 45, apologized to his constituents but said he will not resign. "I was not honest enough with myself to be honest with them. But I have lived my life in public service for 20-plus years, and in order for me to remain sane and move on, I have got to start being honest about who I am."

Davis has been married to his wife Suzann for 19 years and has three young daughters. According to his official biography, the family is active in Southaven's Heartland Baptist Church. On his campaign website, Suzann boasts that her husband is a great father who can "do one of the best ponytails you have ever seen!"

'Amelie' director to work in Canada

PopGoesTheNews.com French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet has chosen Canada for his next cinematic adventure.

The director of 2001's acclaimed Amélie will shoot the 3D flick The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet in both Alberta and Quebec next summer. Adapted from Reif Larsen's novel of the same name, the film focuses on a young boy who discovers a secret family history while traveling from Montana to Washington, D.C. to visit the Smithsonian Institution.

Filming is scheduled to take place near Calgary and in Montreal from July to October. Casting is underway.

Alberta has stood-in for the American west on the big screen before, most notably for 2005's Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain and 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Dozens of feature films have been shot in Montreal, including this year's Immortals and Source Code.

The Bay gets cocky in its holiday flyer

The flyer shows the outline of a model's penis (circled).

PopGoesTheNews.com Holiday shoppers flipping through a flyer for The Bay this week got a little more than they bargained for in the men's underwear section.

In one of four photos showcasing different styles of briefs, the outline of the head of the model's penis is clearly visible.

Typically, photos of men's underwear in mainstream retail catalogs and flyers are quite tame and any glimpse of genitalia is digitally erased. So, the decision to show the model's penis resting slightly to one side in his Calvin Klein briefs — as innocuous as it is — is rather bold for the 130-year-old department store chain.

The image appears in the Dec. 9-15 "Holiday Gifting" flyer for The Bay, which is owned by U.S. company NRDC Equity Partners, and was inserted into daily newspapers across Canada.

Marketing expert Daniel Bridge speculates that The Bay is being deliberately er... head-strong. "These images are scrutinized by a lot of people and heavily manipulated in post-production," he says. "Something as obvious as this would never end up in a flyer by accident." And while it's highly unusual, Bridge doesn't see anything wrong with the image. "It's going to sell a lot of underwear."