Cambridge City Councilor and former president of the state’s teachers union Paul Toner said he was ashamed of his ensnarement in a massive brothel scandal and the charges pending before him for buying sex, but he gave no indication he planned to resign, even as calls rise for him to step down.

“First, I am ashamed to have my name associated with this case,” Toner read from a prepared statement before the posted start time of the meeting. “I would like to apologize to my fellow councilors, my supporters and the community for taking up the time of the council and the public discourse on this matter. All Americans – including elected officials – are entitled to the right to due process but some have already judged and convicted me.”

As of Friday, Toner was one of 23 men charged with buying sex from a busted Boston-area brothel ring named in probable cause hearings. Three leaders of the ring have pleaded guilty to related crimes, including sex trafficking. Twenty-eight men total are expected to be named as “johns,” and Toner is the only public official named so far.

In the statement ahead of the 5:30 p.m. Cambridge City Council meeting on Monday, Toner said he had been  “advised to not make any comment on details related to these matters” and has “a duty to fulfill my obligations to the voters who elected me to represent their views on the many issues before the City Council.”

Toner was first elected to the position in November 2021 and is in his second term on the council. He is the former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

At the council meeting Monday, one high school student, Madeline Nohrnberg, a representative of Title IX Aurelia Advocates, was given permission to give public comment on the charges against Toner. The City Council typically only allows public comment on items on the meeting agenda. Toner’s statement was not on the agenda.

Toner was the only vote against allowing Nohrnberg to speak. Mayor Denise Simmons voted present.

Nohrnberg asked Toner to resign and said Title IX Aurelia Advocates “strongly urges” the council to call for his resignation.

“What message are we sending young people if Toner is permitted to stay in office?” Nohrnberg asked. “While it’s unclear whether his interactions at the brothel were consensual, one of the owners has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking. Toner’s connection to this case signals that those involved in sexual violence are rewarded with positions of power. Rewarding this behavior is a slap in the face for survivors.”

The sex trafficking victim advocacy organization Eva Center also called for the councilor’s resignation in a statement over the weekend, arguing his position on the council sets “dangerous precedent” regarding gender-based violence.

“At the very minimum,” the center stated, he should go on “leave pending the investigation of these serious allegations.”

In a statement Saturday, Toner said he will be “forever sorry” and “caused pain for the people I care about most.”

Toner previously served as a social studies teacher at Harrington Elementary School and later as the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

The MTA said Monday “the charge Toner and others face is counter to our union’s values,” and noted he has not had an active role in the organization in over a decade.

On the City Council, Councilors Burhan Azeem, Patricia Nolan, Sumbul Siddiqui and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler called the charges against Toner “deeply concerning” and said he has the “right to a fair process through the judicial system.”

“If convicted, his actions would not simply be a lapse in judgment of a private individual but a crime and a violation of the trust placed in him by the public,” the councilors said, calling illegal prostitution “inherently exploitative” and “not a victimless crime.” “We call on Councilor Toner to consider the impact of this situation on the City Council and his role as a leader in the community.”

Nolan expanded her statement on Facebook, adding that she “would support legalization of sex work” but noted “exploitation is inherent in illegal prostitution rings, where consent is impossible to ascertain.”

Sobrinho-Wheeler went a step further in a separate statement, saying it is “in the interest of the body and the public that (Toner) resign” and asking the mayor to re-assign Toner’s six committee chair positions “to ensure that the Council’s work is not obstructed.”

State Rep. Mike Connolly also issued a call for Toner’s resignation on X, and cited similar calls from educators, survivors and others. The councilor’s initial statement, Connolly argued, “tacitly acknowledges he was a frequent client of this sex trafficking operation” and “only acknowledges the harm he has caused to his own family.”

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“(A)s a society and as a community, we must reject all forms of sexual coercion and sexual violence, including sex trafficking,” said Connolly. “Therefore, Councilor Toner cannot continue representing the City of Cambridge and its residents.”

“I stand before you this evening deeply grateful and humbled by the love and steadfast support of my family, friends, and voters who have voiced their strong support for me to continue my service as a Cambridge City Councilor,” Toner said Monday. “I respect the institution of the Cambridge City Council.”