Following months of accusations of child sexual abuses committed in the 70's and 80's, CNN reported that Seattle Mayor Ed Murray finally resigned on Tuesday. Murray still maintains his innocence despite resigning and this brings the political career of the first openly gay Mayor to an end.
During his tenure, Murray, who is from the Democratic party championed the rights of the gay community in Seattle, including supporting the State's same-sex marriage law. He is also a fierce critic of President Donald Trump.
Innocence
In a written statement that was issued to the press after he resigned, Murray denied any wrongdoing and said he was resigning to prevent his personal issues from interfering with the service delivery of the city government to the public.
Murray also took the time to apologize to the city residents and his staff for the painful situation and said that that the Seattle City Council President would fill his position, on a temporary basis.
Murray, 62, has worked for the Washington state legislature for nearly 20 years, and a spokesman said that the Mayor would not field any questions from the press. The former Mayor did not appear in public to read the statement himself.
Abuse claims
In April this year, a 46-year old man, claimed Murray paid him to have sex in the 80s. At the time, the man claimed that he was a drug-addicted homeless youth. Although the suit was later dropped, it was reported by The Seattle Times that two other men, had come forward with similar allegations.
Three months later, the same newspaper reported that Murray had sexually abused his foster son in the 80's. This was after a child welfare report was filed in the state of Oregon with the claims.
On Tuesday, The Seattle Times then published a story of Murray's younger cousin, Joseph Dyer, who claimed that the Mayor abused him repeatedly in the 70's when he was a teenager.
Murray resigned hours later.
In his story, Dyer also claimed another young boy was abused by Murray at a Catholic group where he worked at the time. He further said that there was no prosecution of the crime after the abused boy agreed to leave town.
Defense
When the first allegations surfaced, Murray vehemently denied the claims, stating that they were politically motivated.
Despite repeated calls to step down, he refused to resign but had a change of heart in May when he said he would not be seeking re-election.
On Dyer's claims, Murray said that a family rift was responsible for the accusation.
