Boston Mayor Tom Menino on Thursday
announced he would not seek reelection to a sixth term.
Menino, 70, said during a press
conference: “So I am here with the people I love, to tell the city
I love, that I will leave the job that I love. I can run, I can win,
and I can lead, but not 'in-the-neighborhoods-all-the-time' as I
like.”
A strong backer of LGBT rights, Menino
served as a co-chair of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry.
“Boston Mayor Tom Menino has been a
stalwart champion of the freedom to marry,” Marc Solomon, national
campaign director for Freedom to Marry, said in a statement. “At
one of the movement's most crucial moments, when gay couples were
legally marrying for the first time in American history, Menino was a
powerful voice of support for those couples and their families. He
spared nothing to ensure that getting a marriage license was the
dignified experience that befitted the occasion. And as our
opponents worked to take away marriage for same-sex couples in
Massachusetts, Menino was relentless in making the case that the
freedom to marry was good for all Boston families. We thank him for
his tireless leadership and look forward to working closely with him
in the days ahead to share how the freedom to marry has been a great
positive for Boston's economy and quality of life.”