A mayor has resigned as a result of insulting a police officer and calling him “queer.” Mary McAngus, the 78-year-old mayor of the small town of Pomeroy in Ohio submitted her letter of resignation on Saturday. Her successor, Jackie Welker, who is the town’s village council president and now-acting mayor, told the Associated Press that she had been amazed that such a form of name calling could still happen today, reported the NECN on Feb. 9, 2013.
"It just seems so absurd, even in our town in Appalachia, that this could still happen," Welker told The Associated Press. "Hopefully this resignation will start the healing."
Mary McAngus turned in her resignation as mayor after Chief Mark Proffitt had warned the town’s council that this kind of unprofessional behavior could result in a lawsuit by the offended police officer.
The now resigned mayor had begun calling 21-year-old Officer Kyle Calendine “queer” only a few weeks after he had been hired. "I don't like a queer working for the Village," had Mary McAngus allegedly told the new police officer.
The now resigned mayor did not only call Officer Kyle Calendine “queer” but also objected openly to Calendine’s partner visiting the town’s police department even though it was custom for family members to frequently visit anyone working at the department.
After another incident of calling Officer Kyle Calendine “queer” several times during a meeting with the chief and another officer on Jan. 31, 2013, Chief Mark Proffitt decided that such a behavior for a mayor was utterly inappropriate, that it was violating someone's human rights, and that it was time for change.
Chief Mark Proffitt, who has been police chief since 2000, told the Associated Press that he had an openly gay niece and nephew and that "Gay people have rights like everyone else."
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