A Council Saga of Interesting Times
Jonathan Melton is a member of the Raleigh City Council, elected at large rather than from a district. When elected, he became the first openly LGBT official elected by the entire city of Raleigh.
He is a family law attorney with the firm of Gailor Hunt Davis Taylor & Gibbs, PLLC. He also is a founder of Stonewall Kickball in Raleigh and of Stonewall Sports USA, a national organization that promotes Stonewall Kickball in other cities. Through Stonewall Kickball, Jonathan also became involved in other community efforts, such as the NC AIDS Action Network and the Tammy Lynn Center.
In 2019 he was elected along with other Council members who proposed to move the city forward on affordable housing and other fronts by adopting a friendlier attitude toward in-fill development and moving away from a Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) approach. A few short months after their election, the new Council faced the COVID pandemic and historic protests over systemic racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. As in many cities, the protests were accompanied by violence downtown.
Jonathan will tell us of his time on the City Council in more-than-usually challenging times.
Click here for his pre-election interview with INDY Week.