Norwich Mayor Larry Martin won’t step down – at least not yet – amid calls for his resignation after an anti-LGBTQ rant was allowed at a recent council meeting, saying he doesn’t want to “run away.”
A group of citizens is urging the mayor, who also serves as the warden of Oxford County, to step aside, calling it “the right thing to do” to stand up against discrimination in the small community east of London.
Norwich Residents for Love and Acceptance have mailed and e-mailed letters calling for Martin’s resignation and plan to speak at the next council meeting on July 12.
The mayor says he’s not ready to heed those calls, though he has considered them, in the wake of the turmoil in Norwich.
“We’re going to have to try to pull everybody together, and I don’t really see how that happens if I run away,” Martin said Thursday.
“I was elected by the people to represent all the people, everybody. I’ve been doing that to the best of my ability ever since I started. I have considered the resignation aspect, but that’s not going to change a thing if I resign.
“I have been turning this over in my mind and will continue.”
The grassroots group pushing him to leave his elected posts says Martin failed to uphold council policies when he allowed a citizen delegation from a man charged with stealing rainbow banners to run for nearly half an hour.
Jake Dey of Tillsonburg, who was charged by Oxford OPP with theft under $5,000, was granted a 10-minute delegation after repeated requests to council. Instead, he was allowed to continue for nearly 20 minutes longer with an anti-LGBTQ rant, including a comparison of the Pride movement to Nazi Germany.
The failure to stop Dey’s comments “suggests an alignment with the beliefs and points made by the delegation,” the grassroots group said of Martin.
Many community members felt unsafe after hearing the sentiments expressed by Dey, and have shared their stories with council members, said Brian Kennedy, president of Norwich Residents for Love and Acceptance.
“WI felt it was important to take this stand to really send home the message that this cannot be tolerated,” he said of the calls for Martin’s resignation.
“The mayor was quick to take action and to threaten to throw anyone out of the room should they not be respectful and shout out during another delegate’s presentation.
“We had seen him act very swiftly when he came to silencing the opposition but he really allowed Mr. Dey to continue on with his heinous act,” Kennedy added.
The group won’t let up and is prepared to take other action, such as a complaint to the integrity commissioner, if its concerns aren’t addressed, he said.
Norwich, about 30 kilometers south of Woodstock, is grappling with major division after repeated vandalism of its Pride banners strung up around the town. The turmoil in the religious area hit a peak after the June 21 council meeting when Dey was allowed to speak.
The replacement banners strung up after the initial theft and vandalism have since been defaced, Martin said, saying he’s at his “wit’s end.”
The council sought legal advice when faced with repeated requests from Dey to speak at the meeting, granting permission for a short delegation but with parameters that he could not speak “disrespectfully of any person” or comment on the charges against him.
“What happened, happened, and we can’t undo that, the only thing we can do is learn from it and try to avoid that happening in the future,” the longtime mayor said, adding he made a judgment call in hopes of keeping tensions in the council meeting from boiling over.
“Sometimes you have to make a call, and sometimes it’s right and sometimes it’s wrong. I’ve replayed that meeting over in my mind more than once, believe me.”