Resignation Demanded After East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer Admits Wearing Women's Clothing, A Wig, Lipstick, Panties, High Heels, Pantyhose And All

Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2009
(National and Cleveland, Ohio Area News)


By Kathy Wray Coleman
(Editor of The Determiner Weekly (www.determinerweekly.com) and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network)

East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer told "Inside Edition" in an interview that aired this evening that it is in fact he in controversial photos that show the mayor of the predominantly Black suburb of Cleveland, Oh. in drag with panties, lipstick, high heels, pantyhose, a wig, and all.

“That is me in those pictures,” Brewer said on the nationally syndicated television show, while adding that he did it for his girlfriend. “I am requesting a criminal investigation.”

That admission has caused a prominent East Cleveland activist to demand his resignation.

“Eric Brewer has hated on many people for a long time in a very evil way and finally the chickens have come home to roost, and have landed squarely on his head,” said Art McKoy, founder of the East Cleveland grassroots organization Black On Black Crime Inc. “He is a crossdresser and again a mayor has made East Cleveland a laughing stock but this time not just locally but also nationally. We demand his immediate resignation.”

An East Cleveland voter speaking on condition of anonymity said that Brewer “really looks good dressed as a woman.”

Brewer claims that the photos were downloaded from his computer allegedly in an illegal manner. He blames city council president Gary Norton, now the mayor elect after beating him in last Tuesday's election. Norton denied the allegation telling "Inside Edition" that neither he nor anybody from his campaign had “anything to do with it.” Both Norton, 37, and Brewer, 55, are Black.

Brewer went on to say that he believes that he lost the election because of the now infamous pictures one of which he says displays a male sex organ and all of which drew jokes from national night time television talk show hosts, though it is no secret that prior to the election he had been at odds with the East Cleveland Board of Education, prominent ministers in the city, the police and firefighters unions, and East Cleveland City Council.

“A woman said she did not vote for me because she did not want to vote for a man that would compete with her for wearing panties,” said Brewer, who neither confirmed nor denied that it is he in the photos when the story broke days before the election.

Appearing with him on "Inside Edition" was Brewer's son Chase, 23, who said of his father that “what ever he does I will support him.”

Brewer said also that he has given up on politics, though he did not indicate whether he will resign the mayoral seat before Norton assumes office next year.