First Out Mayor of Oklahoma Town Resigns Citing Threats
Oklahoma has resigned on Monday citing threats to his safety following an incident with police from a neighboring town. Adam Graham was named mayor of The Village, a suburb of Oklahoma City, on May 2, but resigned his position in a public letter to the town’s city manager.
He attributed his decision to an incident with police in neighboring Nichols Hills last month, where he’s been accused of verbally accosting officers as they cited an alleged traffic violator within The Village city limits.“For almost five years, I’ve proudly served The Village as Councilmember and Mayor,” Graham posted to social media Monday, saying it was a “great privilege to break boundaries” as the “youngest and first openly gay elected official” in the town’s history.“Unfortunately, certain elements of the population have recently become emboldened to pursue threats and attacks bordering on violence,” Graham continued, revealing he’s been “followed home from meetings, threatened while walking my dog, harassed at Starbucks,” and even had his tires slashed.
Graham lay blame for the alleged harassment and threats to his safety on a verbal altercation he had with Nichols Hills Police in May.“This resulted from an incident two months ago where I stood up against Nichols Hills Police targeting The Village residents,” Graham wrote in his resignation letter. “I will never apologize for standing up for the people I was elected to serve.”According to The OKC Friday, Nichols Hills Police said two of their officers attempted to pull over a driver for driving 43 mph in a 25 mph zone.
The car did not stop until it was several blocks within The Village town limits. Graham allegedly pulled alongside the officers as they were issuing a ticket and began yelling at.
