XPost: hawaii.education, monterey.general, sbay.general   
   XPost: alt.politics.obama   
   From: amused@glaad.org   
      
   Seattle Mayor Ed Murray was accused in a lawsuit this week of   
   "repeatedly and criminally raping and molesting" a teenage boy   
   decades ago, a charge denied by representatives of the mayor,   
   who said the allegation was timed to damage his re-election   
   campaign.   
      
   The lawsuit, filed Thursday by a 46-year-old man identified only   
   as D.H., alleges that he met Murray in the mid-1980s, when he   
   was a 15-year-old homeless high school dropout and drug addict.   
   Murray, in his early 30s at the time, paid D.H. for sex acts at   
   his home in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, the lawsuit   
   says. It details some of those alleged encounters with graphic   
   details, including descriptions of Murray's genitals.   
      
   The accuser, who spent some time as a prostitute and admits to   
   having past criminal convictions, says in the lawsuit that he   
   decided to come forward publicly with the allegations after   
   receiving counseling following the recent death of his father.   
      
   "These moments of reflection, and awareness that Mr. Murray   
   maintains a position of authority, prompted the filing of this   
   lawsuit in an attempt at accountability, and to hopefully give   
   courage for other potential victims to come forward and speak   
   out," the lawsuit says.   
      
   Murray, 61, who is openly gay and married, has championed gay   
   rights and touts his work on behalf of "vulnerable populations."   
   His lawyer and spokesman said the allegations were false.   
      
   Spokesman Jeff Reading called the lawsuit a "shakedown effort"   
   timed weeks before the May 19 mayoral campaign filing deadline.   
   "Mayor Murray has never engaged in an inappropriate relationship   
   with any minor," Reading said in a statement.   
      
   D.H. is seeking unspecified monetary damages, the lawsuit says.   
   D.H.'s lawyer did not immediately return calls for comment   
   Friday.   
      
   Murray's lawyer, Robert Sulkin, added to the denials in a press   
   conference. "Think about it. For 30 years nothing was said, and   
   all of a sudden an accuser comes who appears, it has been   
   reported, has a long criminal record, and makes these   
   allegations."   
      
   Sulkin and Reading also acknowledged that there were similar   
   accusations made by two other men to lawyers, reporters and   
   lawmakers in 2007. Those accusations did not go public at the   
   time, however.   
      
   One man, Jeff Simpson, spoke to NBC Seattle affiliate KING 5 and   
   Portland NBC affiliate KGW, saying he met Murray while living in   
   an orphanage, and that the future mayor "was my only parent   
   figure." He said he told workers at a group home what had   
   happened, and the alleged abuse stopped.   
      
   Simpson told the Seattle Times that he hired a lawyer to bring a   
   case against Murray in 2007, but the lawyer backed out. Simpson   
   told the paper and then called media organizations and   
   Washington state lawmakers. At the time, Murray was a state   
   senator; the allegations did not become public, and did not   
   hinder his political career. Simpson told reporters that he'd be   
   willing to testify in a civil trial.   
      
   The other man told the Seattle Times that he told Simpson's   
   legal team about his experiences with Murray.   
      
   The accusers recently identified themselves in interviews with   
   the Seattle Times, which detailed the entire set of allegations   
   this week. The newspaper said it previously chose not to report   
   the earlier 2007 allegations, but decided to do so this week   
   because similarities with the new allegations gave them   
   "additional weight and relevance."   
      
   The men told the newspaper that Murray paid them for sex when   
   they were teenagers living in Portland, Oregon.   
      
   Sulkin said the prior allegations had already been deemed not   
   credible. Reading said they'd been "promoted by extreme right-   
   wing antigay activists" during the state's battle over gay   
   marriage.   
      
   Both Murray representatives said the mayor would "vigorously"   
   fight D.H.'s lawsuit.   
      
   http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/seattle-mayor-ed-murray-   
   accused-decades-old-sex-attacks-n743876   
                      
      
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