It's never something new from Councilmember Rubén Díaz Sr. For decades he's presented a delusional and dichotomous double helix of intersecting bigoted paradigms: He holds LGBTQ people to be beneath him, unworthy to love whom we love or keep our homes or jobs because of who we are, while at the same time proclaiming that we have an immeasurable power to somehow victimize him and dominate him.
A recap of what happened over the weekend:
On Friday evening, Diaz Sr. said in an interview that the New York City Council "is controlled by the homosexual community". Attributing non-existent power to a minority population is an ages-old tool of bigots intended to garner animosity and hate.
Council Speaker Corey Johnson was quick to respond, issuing a statement: "Council Member Díaz Sr.'s homophobic comments are offensive to both the Speaker and the body, and have no place in New York City. He should apologize to all of his colleagues, and the entire LGBTQ community."
SDNYC agreed, refusing Diaz Sr.'s bigoted notion: "Voters control @NYCCouncil, and they're rejecting homophobia and bigotry."
The call for an apology was soon joined by a wide swath of current and former elected officials, many of whom demanded more than an apology. Click through to see individual statements:
Mayor Bill de Blasio
Comptroller Scott Stringer
Congressmember Max Rose
Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr.
State Senators Alessandra Biaggi, Gustavo Rivera, Luis Sepúlveda
Assemblymembers Michael Blake, Marcos Crespo, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Harvey Epstein, Nathalia Fernandez, Ron Kim, Yuh-Line Niou, Danny O'Donnell, Karines Reyes
Former Council Speaker: Melissa Mark-Viverito
Councilmembers Andrew Cohen, Rafael Espinal, Vanessa Gibson, Barry Grodenchik, Brad Lander, Mark D. Levine, Carlos Menchaca, Donovan Richards, Carlina Rivera, Helen Rosenthal, Rafael Samanca Jr., Ritchie Torres, Mark Treyger, Jimmy Van Bramer, Jumaane Williams
Díaz, Sr. brushed off the criticism from his colleagues, his community and his constituents and refused to apologize.
The Council LGBTQ and Women's Caucuses issued a statement saying, in part: "We demand he resign from his position effective immediately. It is time that we stick by the pledge we have made to our communities that hate and fear have no place in New York City."
The Progressive Caucus joined them in calling for Diaz's immediate resignation, "His failure to respect the institution in which he serves and the Bronx constituents that rely on him to protect them combined with his inability to understand that his comments have real world consequences leave us with no other option but to call for new representation."
As of the time of this email, Díaz, Sr. continues to dismiss any opinion other than his own.
Diaz's homophobia and refusal to even acknowledge the offensiveness of his bigoted comment are fully unsurprising. As stated above, Diaz has a decades-long legacy of bigotry. And SDNYC has called him out for decades as well. In his 2017 election, we not only endorsed and campaigned for an opponent, but plainly stated: "Supporting Diaz Sr.'s campaign in any manner is unacceptable to our club and our community."
So again: Rubén Díaz Sr. should resign from public office and never hold office ever again.
Please show your support to those elected officials that have spoken out already, and let others know that hate and homophobia have no place in New York City.
A rally at City Hall is planned for Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. We will provide more details over social media as we receive it.
As always: Thank you for being a Stonewall Democrat.
