Carroll, Iowa: Residents Upset Over New City Manager Because He's a Gay Dad

The people of Carroll, IA, are quickly developing a reputation for themselves. The week started out with news that members of the football team were upset about a gay classmate being selected for this year's homecoming court. They gathered on an online group chat and vented a bit, saying that the gay student "should go die" or that "he should kill himself," among other things. Someone printed out the content of the group chat and left a copy on the football coaches windshield and now the school is left trying to figure out how to move forward.

Now we're learning about community push-back against the man who's been picked as Carroll's new city manager, because he's a gay dad:

Days after the students’ texts flew, a Carroll resident, Nick Topf, 88, spoke to City Council Monday evening against the hiring of Fort Dodge native Michel Pogge-Weaver, who has a husband, Jonathon, and a 3-year-old daughter, Jane. Pogge-Weaver is expected to start as Carroll’s new city manager in October. 

The hire doesn’t jibe with Topf’s decision three decades ago to move to a city he believed would always “do the morally right thing” — legality aside, he said during the meeting. “We shouldn’t spend tax money on someone who’s deliberately chosen to take a young child and deny them a mother,” Topf said. “I think all of us had a mother in our life. Should my tax money be used to support a system like that? I don’t think so.” 

In an interview with the Daily Times Herald, Topf reiterated his belief that a child should have a father and mother. “You don’t deliberately go out and set a child up without both parents,” he said. “It’s a form of child abuse, as far as I’m concerned.” Topf said he’s not the only person in Carroll with this belief and added that he wouldn’t comment on whether Pogge-Weaver’s family and personal life would affect his work as city manager. City Council members have received a few calls expressing sentiments similar to Topf’s, Councilwoman Carolyn Siemann said, but she added that Pogge-Weaver’s sexual orientation didn’t play into his hiring and won’t play into his work.

Frankly, Topf doesn't know anything about Jane's relationship with her mother. I don't know anything about her relationship with her mother, nor do I know if their family came about through an adoption, through surrogacy, through a co-parenting relationship, through a prior heterosexual relationship. We don't know if either man is biologically related to their daughter. And it's really not my business, nor is it Topf's business. But I guarantee that their relationship makes sense to them and to their daughter and that's what's important.