A city councilman from Pennsylvania was punished after sending out an email testing the city’s alert system and writing his friend is gay.

“Alert: This is an [sic] test. Brian is gay,” read the alert sent out by Washington, Pa., City Councilman Matt Staniszeweski, the Observer-Reporter noted.

During a meeting, Washington Mayor Brenda Davis reprimanded Staniszeweski for calling his friend gay in the test of the alert system.

“This is inappropriate for the city of Washington. Coming from the city of Washington, it does not look good for us,” the mayor said, according to the Observer-Reporter.

The Washington city councilman admitted to sending out the message but claimed he wasn’t being inappropriate.

“We all know that the word means happy,” Staniszeweski said at the meeting.

According to the councilman’s personal website, Staniszeweski has been in city government for two terms and touts his Washington connections.

“Matt Staniszewski is a lifelong resident of Washington County. Staniszewski comes from three generations of local steel and mine workers throughout Washington County. Staniszewski's family instilled the valuable lessons of a strong work ethic and ‘rolling up your sleeves’ to get the job done right,” the website says.

His campaign slogan is “It’s not about me. It’s about you.”

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