Cambridge city councillor under fire for Facebook post

Cambridge Ward 6 councillor Adam Cooper is facing calls to step down after allegations he posted a transphobic meme to his Facebook page.

Grand River Pride, co-founder, Eric Bolton told 570 NewsRadio he saw the post and engaged with it, calling out Cooper by saying the messaging was unbecoming of a city councillor.

Bolton said Cooper quickly shot back.

“He doubled down and responded to my comment with, I should be better as a commenter and respect peoples opinions.”

Bolton then responded, “I just said, you’re in a position of leadership and people are looking up to you. And, with things that have happened south of the border, the queer community is very much feeling unsafe right now and you are adding to that and you should consider that. You should not be making these jokes in such a hateful, bullying way.”

Bolton said he’s heard from a few city councillors who say they stand with the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

“This morning, waking up with all this going on, I had messages of support from councillor Sheri Roberts, councillor Scott Hamilton and then they also mentioned councillor Corey Kimpson also is with them. They agree, this behaviour is not tolerated and is not what the City of Cambridge stands for.”

Bolton was adamant in saying the City of Cambridge has been an excellent partner to Grand River Pride over the years.

“We’ve had a couple of times that we did disagree but the city responded by inviting us to sit down and saying let’s grow together.”

In a response on its Instagram page, Grand River Pride said Copper’s post was in violation of the City of Cambridge Code of Conduct for City Councillors. Specifically section 9 which deals with harassment.

Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett responded to the allegations in a post to the Office of the Mayor and Council – City of Cambridge Facebook page saying:

“Generally, I do not speak out when a member of council past or present makes public comments on the radio, print media nor social media, but a recent social media post has been brought to my attention while I am out of the country. The implications within the meme have brought distress and pain to families and members of our community, therefore in this instance, and as Mayor, spokesperson, and leader of our community I feel that this warrants a response. It does not represent council nor the corporation’s thoughts on gender fluidity.”

570 NewsRadio reached out to Councillor Cooper for a comment. That request has so far, gone unanswered.

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