Trenton councilwoman Robin Vaughn doesn’t like gay people and if she does, she’s got a curious way of showing it. Vaughn, who represents Trenton’s West Ward, has tied herself in knots to undermine Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora since 2018, when voters picked Reed to lead their city.

Mayor Gusciora is openly gay and made history as the first openly LGBT lawmaker in the NJ General Assembly. He proved his toughness when he left a safe, gerrymandered legislative seat to run for mayor of Trenton, population 83,974.

Christian Fuscarino runs Garden State Equality.

“Mayor Reed Gusciora is an LGBTQ pioneer,” Mr Fuscarino told InsiderNJ. “He made history as the first openly gay state legislator in New Jersey and as the first openly LGBTQ mayor of New Jersey’s capital city.”

Becoming mayor meant Reed had to win twice: the campaign squeezed into a run-off and then scored the election day squeaker a few weeks later.

When Reed gave up his seat in the Assembly to run for mayor of Trenton, he wasn’t the odds-on favorite to win. And let’s be honest, leaving a safe seat in the Statehouse is a risk most politicians would never take. But Reed embraced his underdog status, worked his butt off, and ultimately convinced the most voters on election day.

But Councilwoman Vaughn was unimpressed from the jump. A recent COVID-19-related conference call brought her contempt for the mayor into the sharpest possible focus.

When Gusciora challenged the Councilwoman to substantiate her charges that he’s a do-nothing mayor, Ms Vaughn lost her cool and then lost her mind.

She called Reed a “a drug addict motherfu**ing pedophile” and when Councilman Joe Harrison objected, Mr Vaughn sneered at Harrison to “continue to suck Reed Gusciora’s d**k all you want to, motherfu*ker.”

In another spasm of mean-spirited impulsivity, Councilwoman Robin Vaughn called Harrison’s mother a whore least twice during her weekend tirade.

Longtime NJ politico Jeannine LaRue is a Trenton resident who lives in Vaughn’s West Ward district.

“As a gay, Black female living in Vaughn’s district, I’m offended, angered, and hurt by the words she spewed on that call,” Ms LaRue told InsiderNJ.  “I have listened to the tape twice and am just as shocked each time I hear the officials stooping to an all-time low on an official call representing Trentonians.”

While she appears to lack in decorum and impulse control, Robin Vaughn isn’t stupid. And she surely knew that accusations of pedophilia against a gay man play into the darkest, most damaging and pernicious stereotypes about LGBT people. But she went there, freely and with malice, showing a reckless disregard for the truth and for her own LGBT constituents.

The audio is scratchy, but if you’ve got an hour to kill and need to something to fuel your hate-fire, Trentonian published the entire conference call here. You’ll forget pretty quickly that it was supposed to be about the coronavirus pandemic.

Reaction to Vaughn’s meltdown was swift. Bluechip names demanding her resignation include NJ Governor Phil Murphy and US Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker.

Booker:

“From her previous defense of anti-Semitic rhetoric in 2019, to her hateful words used against the LGBTQ community this weekend, Councilwoman Vaughn has shown a pattern of intolerance that has no place on the Trenton City Council,” Senator Booker said. “The people of Trenton deserve better, which is why I am calling on Councilwoman Vaughn to step down immediately.”

John Currie, chairman of the NJ State Democratic Committee, added his condemnation to Ms Vaughn’s growing mountain of scorn.

“Councilwoman Vaughn’s homophobic attack on Mayor Gusciora is reprehensible and this kind of conduct does not reflect the values of our Democratic Party and our state,” Chairman Currie told InsiderNJ. “For the good of the community she represents, Councilwoman Vaughn should immediately step down and apologize for her comments so that the City of Trenton can begin to heal and move on from this unfortunate and embarrassing episode.”

I don’t think anyone really expects that Councilwoman Robin Vaughn will actually resign. We’re probably stuck with her at least until 2022. And for the next two years, every time Robin Vaughn flies off the handle she’ll reveal her lack of self-control and lack of empathy.

“If she doesn’t step down, she should at the least step up,” Ms LaRue told InsiderNJ.

Meantime, let’s hope that the massive, universally negative blowback won’t edify Ms Vaughn’s martyrdom complex.

Whatever her endgame, if Robin Vaughn wants to challenge Reed Gusciora in 2022, she’ll have to prove her appeal extends beyond Trenton’s West Ward. And she’ll have dozens (if not hundreds) of angry queers deeply committed to sinking her political career.

That includes Garden State Equality, NJ’s largest LGBT organization with an army of activists and a time-tested ability to flex their PAC when provoked.

“We’ve had his back before, and we will have it again,” GSE’s Fuscarino told InsiderNJ. “Especially in the face of hatred and vitriol.”

Jay Lassiter is an award-winning writer, podcaster, and videographer who’s eager to give Robin Vaughn the attention she obviously craves.