FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – Terry Bean, a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, was arrested in a sex abuse case on Nov. 19 in Oregon, according to CNN.
Bean, 66, is a major donor to the Democratic party and a gay-rights activist, CNN reported.
The group he is credited with co-founding contributed more than $15,000 in staff time to Keep Fayetteville Fair, the organization working to keep a Fayetteville civil rights ordinance on the books, according to a report filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
The Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based group, is listed as a nonmoney contributor on Keep Fayetteville Fair’s Nov. 17 financial report.
Ordinance 119 was approved Aug. 19 by the Fayetteville City Council, prohibiting local businesses and entities from discriminating against customers and others based on gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity and other factors.
After that vote, opponents gathered the required number of signatures to place the issue to a public vote in a special election on Dec. 9.
The Human Rights Campaign donated $15,297 in staff time to Keep Fayetteville Fair in the group’s campaign to keep the ordinance from being repealed, records show.
Anne-Garland Berry, spokeswoman for Keep Fayetteville Fair, declined to comment on the staff time that the Human Rights Campaign has contributed. She said Keep Fayetteville Fair’s efforts are locally driven.
“The focus for us is on the people who want to stay in Fayetteville and who work and live in Fayetteville,” she said.
The Human Rights Campaign also provided Alderman Matthew Petty with the original first draft for what ultimately became Ordinance 119, said Kit Williams, city attorney. That first draft was substantially shortened before being approved by the City Council, Williams said.
Bean was indicted on two counts of third-degree sodomy and one count of third-degree sexual abuse, according to KOIN-TV Channel 6, a CBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon.
Oregon authorities released a statement, saying Bean was arrested on accusations stemming from a 2013 incident involving a juvenile male, KOIN-TV reported.
Bean bonded out of jail on the same day he was booked in, according to detention center records. His next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 3, according to KOIN-TV.
