A West Texas mayor has quit his job to
pursue a personal relationship with his gay lover, the San Angelo
Standard Times reports.
J.W. Lown suddenly resigned Tuesday,
the day he was to take the oath of office for his fourth term as
mayor of San Angelo, pop. 88,000. Instead, City Manager Harold
Dominguez announced his resignation.
Lown had fled to Mexico, where he was
sorting out a personal relationship with a man who had attended
Angelo State University. The man was in the United States illegally
and Lown said he did not want to take the oath of office knowing he
was “aiding and assisting” an illegal.
“I did the best I could,” Lown said
from an undisclosed location in Mexico. “I had to get down here
and get everything in order to make a life for myself.”
“I didn't make this decision
lightly,” he said. “I have to give this a chance.”
He said the pair would remain in Mexico
until his partner has secured a visa to return legally to the United
States.
The mayor won his fourth term in a
landslide victory.
Bloggers quickly summed up the novelty
of the situation. “Boy, there's a TV movie here for someone:
Popular, young attractive mayor of a prairie town, torn by love,
decides to go back to Mexico to help his partner get legal,” writes
Richard Connelly at the Houston Press blog. “He has to give
up a job he also loves … and he has to come out.”
Lown offered Times readers his
email, he can be reached at jwlown@gmail.com.