Antonio Brown sworn in as new councilmember

By Collin Kelley

Businessman Antonio Brown was sworn in as the new Atlanta City Councilmember for Dist. 3 on April 22.

Brown beat former Atlanta School Board member Byron Amos in the April 16 runoff election to fill the District 3 seat formerly held by the late Ivory Lee Young, Jr.

Brown took 669 votes, while Amos received 587, according to results provided by the Fulton County elections office. In a reversal of fortune, Amos had a slight lead against Brown after the special election on March 19.

The runoff proceeded after a recount requested by candidate Greg Clay, who came in third during the special election. Nine candidates were vying for the seat.

Brown, the first black openly LGBTQ person elected to the council, created the LVL XIII luxury clothing brand sold through Nordstrom and the nonprofit Dream of Humanity, which provides resources and entrepreneurial programs to the disadvantaged.

In other council news:

The council unanimously passed a resolution by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms at Monday’s meeting expressing the city’s opposition to the practice of conversion therapy. The resolution calls on the State of Georgia, the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists, the Georgia Board of Nursing, the Georgia Composite Medical Board, and the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists to set in place regulations to prohibit the practice and advertising of conversion therapy. Long-rejected by leading medical and mental professionals and organizations—including the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association—conversion therapy is premised on a false notion that simply being LGBTQ is a mental illness.

The council also passed a resolution supporting the Renew Atlanta Infrastructure Bond/ TSPLOST Program’s prioritized project list. You can see the resolution and download a PDF of the project list at renewatlantabond.com.

Post 2 At-Large Councilmember Matt Westmoreland introduced an ordinance to prohibit smoking at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, all city facilities and other specified public places to protect against exposure to secondhand smoke. Westmoreland’s legislation was referred to the Public Safety & Legal Administration and Transportation Committees.