Oklahoma town’s first openly gay mayor resigns over harassment, threats ‘bordering on violence’ – Yahoo Money
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Adam Graham, the first openly gay mayor of The Village, has resigned, citing concerns for his safety.
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Graham in a resignation letter said in the last month alone he had been followed home from meetings, threatened while walking his dog, harassed at a Starbucks and had his tires slashed.
Adam Graham, the first openly gay mayor of The Village, a town just outside Oklahoma City, has resigned, writing in a resignation letter that he no longer feels safe enough to serve.
“In the last month, I’ve been followed home from meetings, threatened while walking my dog, harassed at Starbucks and have had my tires slashed,” Graham wrote Monday in a letter to Bruce Stone, the city manager. He said certain sects of The Village’s population had recently become “emboldened” to pursue threats and attacks against him “bordering on violence.”
“Unfortunately, these malicious, bad-faith attacks are escalating and I no longer feel safe in my capacity to serve as Mayor,” Graham wrote. “It’s with a heavy heart that I tender my resignation effective immediately.”
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Graham, one of only six openly LGBTQ+ elected officials in Oklahoma, had just assumed office in May after serving as The Village’s vice mayor for two years. Before that, he served a two-year term as a city council member.
Roughly two months before his resignation, Graham said he was involved in an incident with two police officers from the nearby town of Nichols Hills, whom Graham on Monday accused of “targeting The Village residents.”
“I will never apologize for standing up to the people I was elected to serve,” Graham wrote in his resignation letter. He added that he will remain in the area as a private citizen and “will work to make sure the best possible people are elected to serve in city government.”
Across the country, LGBTQ+ people say harassment and violence against the community has been ramping up, in part because of recent legislation targeting the rights of LGBTQ+ people, particularly youth.
Some have joined Graham in leaving their jobs, citing safety concerns or discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Last month, Willie Carver Jr., voted Kentucky’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, quit his K-12 teaching job, alleging anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and little support from his school’s administration.
“As a queer person in K-12 education, I have been unable to do that work without facing discrimination, heartache, and being a part of systems that cause harm,” he told the Lexington Herald Leader.
“The national rhetoric is turned up, and LGBTQ teachers bear the weight of a lot of hatred that catalyzes the vitriol,” he said. “It’s tiring.”
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