A veteran LGBT activist and Democratic fundraiser associated with HRC and President Obama’s campaign has been arrested on felony sex charges.
Portland, Oregon real estate developer Terry Bean (photo), a co-founder of several LGBT organizations, a major Democratic fundraiser, and a member of the  Democratic National Committee, was arrested Wednesday on felony charges involving sex with a minor. Those charges are related to an alleged 2013 sexual encounter with a then-15-year old boy and Bean’s former boyfriend, 25, who was arrested Thursday. Bean is 66.
“The indictment charges Bean with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and one count of third-degree sex abuse, a misdemeanor, police said,” according to The Oregonian. Kiah Loy Lawson, Bean’s former boyfriend, is “accused of third-degree sodomy and third-degree sexual abuse.”Â
Both Bean and Lawson are accused of having a sexual encounter with the same 15-year-old boy in a hotel in Eugene last year. They had arranged the encounter with the teen after meeting him via a website, investigators allege.
Bean’s personal Flickr page is loaded with photographs of him and top Democratic politicians, including President and Mrs. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former president Bill Clinton, former vice president Al Gore, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and former Texas governor Ann Richards. Bean is also in several photographs with prominent LGBT activists, including Dan Savage.
Today, Savage published a strongly-worded response to Bean’s arrest.
“The Co-Founder of the Human Rights Campaign—Terry Bean—Has Been Arrested for Allegedly Fucking a 15-Year-Old Boy,” is the title. “Suffice it to say,” Savage writes, “fucking minors is wrong. It’s a crime and if Bean and Lawson are guilty of the crime they’ve been charged with… I hope they both go away for a long, long time.”
Bean has long been associated with HRC. Thursday night Fred Sainz, HRC’s Vice President for Communications & Marketing told The New Civil Rights Movement via an email exchange, “Mr. Bean has decided to voluntarily take a leave of absence from the HRC board until the matter is resolved.”
Willamette Week reports Bean “has given more than $1 million” to HRC.
Bean’s attorney Kristen Winemiller has released a statement.
“Terry Bean is a highly respected community leader who has devoted his life to bettering our community,” Winemiller writes. “Over the course of several months in 2013â€2014 Terry was the victim of an extortion ring led by several men known to law enforcement. This current arrest is connected to the ongoing investigation of that case in which Mr. Bean has fully cooperated. No allegations against Terry Bean should be taken at face value. We look forward to the opportunity to clear his name.”
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