Equality Loudoun Calls for Resignation of Leesburg Town Council Members Tom Dunn and Josh Thiel

From Equality Loudoun:

Statement on Leesburg Town Council LGBTQ Pride month Proclamation

On June 11^th, Equality Loudoun accepted an LGBTQ Pride month Proclamation from the Leesburg Town Council. After receiving the document, we found a personal opinion written on the signature line of Thomas Dunn. Council member Dunn was not present at the meeting. Council member Josh Thiel wrote Dunn’s comment “Everyone is equal, identities don’t help” in the space for Dunn’s signature.

The updated ethics policy for town council adopted on November 24^th, 2009 states “Council Members shall make every effort in written correspondence and in oral communications to distinguish between the official position of the Council as demonstrated by an official vote and personal views of individual Council Member.” We are calling for Thomas Dunn and Josh Thiel to resign because they violated this code of ethics. Thiel assisted Dunn when he wrote Dunn’s comments on Dunn’s signature line. They have abused their position on the town council and desecrated official Town Council documents. They have lost the trust of fellow council members and the people of Leesburg. Dunn has written his personal opinion on at least 4 official town council documents.

Please join us on Tuesday June 25^th at 6pm outside Leesburg Town Hall for a Rainbows to Leesburg rally. We encourage everyone to email the Leesburg town council at council@leesburgva.gov in support of our LGBTQ community, thanking those who vote for the Pride month proclamation (Burk, Martinez, Campbell, and Steinberg), and demanding the resignation of Dunn and Thiel. We encourage people to speak during the “Petitioners” section of the town council meeting on June 25^th which begins at 7pm.

We encourage everyone to support businesses in Leesburg that support our LGBTQ community. Please refer to Equality Virginia’s Equality Means Business list for Leesburg which can be found here. If your favorite independently owned business is not on this list, ask them to join. Just send them this form.