\"We must stand up for our friends and neighbors, especially right now when there's too much anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric sweeping our nation,\" she said in a statement Tuesday. \"We must call out the people in our circles if they promote hateful or ignorant ideology, especially right now when the people are using public health to stigmatize and discriminate against members of the LGBTQ+ community.\"

The police department's LGBT Liason Unit is involved in the investigation, the mayor said.

The Biden administration last week declared the current monkeypox outbreak to be a public health emergency in the U.S.

Most cases so far in the U.S. have been reported among men who have sex with men, a group that includes people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary. However, health officials have repeatedly stressed that anyone can contract the virus.

Stigma against the illness has prompted concern from LGBTQ activists, who say they have seen a rise in homophobic or transphobic messages about monkeypox online.

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