COMMISSIONER HODGES MUST BE REMOVED
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary and queer community is currently under attack across the country. State lawmakers have proposed a record 325 bills nationwide that would limit the rights of LGBTQ Americans this year, already more than the number proposed last year. Half of these bills target the transgender community. Six states have already signed anti-LGBTQ legislation into law this year.
The LGBTQ community stands at a precipice. With anti-LGBTQ laws fomenting hate across the country, we must safeguard the gains we have made in California, and locally here in San Diego. This is why I and others in the LGBTQ community and our allies are sounding the alarm about an anti-LGBTQ appointed member of the Leon L. Williams San Diego County Human Relations Commission who has used hateful, homophobic and transphobic language in commission meetings and subsequent public statements. We are calling for Commissioner Dennis Hodges to be removed.
The mission of the county’s Human Relations Commission, on which I serve, is to promote positive relations, respect and the integrity of every individual regardless of gender, religion, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or citizenship status. During Transgender Awareness Month last November, the commission discussed an agenda item regarding a recommitment to end discrimination and transphobia. Hodges abstained from the vote, then explained that he believes that “transgendereds [sic]” are “sinners” and “an abomination to God,” and that he could never and will never support the LGBTQ community. In a subsequent letter to commission Chair Ellen Nash, and in multiple statements since, he has doubled down on his comments, misgendering a commissioner and calling transgenderism and homosexuality an abomination.
Commissioner Hodges has a right to free speech and to freedom of religion as a member of the public. However, because his persistent discriminatory and hateful comments are antithetical to the mission of the Human Relations Commission, his statements disqualify him from serving on the commission.
I was dismayed to hear a fellow commissioner describe our LGBTQ community as “sinners” undeserving of protection from discrimination and basic dignity. Discrimination and transphobia too often lead to death in the LGBTQ community.
2021 was the deadliest year on record for transgender people: 57 transgender and gender nonconforming people were known to be killed in the U.S. last year, and most were from the Black and Latinx communities. Transgender people are at a greater risk for suicide; 1 in 3 transgender youth attempted suicide in the past year. The number of calls from LGBTQ youth to crisis hotlines have significantly increased in recent years, as youth report feeling stressed or even suicidal due to the anti-LGBTQ laws being debated.
To fight this violence, rooted in homophobia and transphobia, we must work together to combat the discrimination that the LGBTQ community faces. We do this by actively supporting the community’s human and civil rights, and by working to build a safe and equitable San Diego County for us all; that is the mission of the Human Relations Commission.
The LGBTQ community called for Commissioner Hodges’ resignation on the day that he made those comments, and 50 faith, labor and nonprofit organizations and community leaders joined our call for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to take action to remove him from the Human Relations Commission. Hodges continues to assert he’s done nothing wrong and he will never support our LGBTQ community’s civil rights, and has refused to resign.
At a Board of Supervisors meeting in April, over 50 public comments expressed support for updating the commission’s bylaws and adding a code of conduct to allow the commission to remove a commissioner for violation of that code of conduct. The directive to create a code of conduct came from the Board of Supervisors because of Commissioner Hodges’ statements and subsequent actions. The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in support of the bylaws update.
We now have the tools in place to remove Commissioner Hodges from the Human Relations Commission. Keeping him on the commission signifies that outright discrimination and hate speech from an appointed commissioner during a commission meeting will be tolerated in San Diego County. That simply cannot stand.
It’s past time Commissioner Hodges was removed from the Human Relations Commission, as he is unable to fulfill his duty to serve the mission of the commission. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board agrees. We are overdue for accountability to be issued, and I look forward to righting this wrong, so that our LGBTQ community can breathe a collective sigh of relief and the work of the commission to ensure the dignity and integrity of all San Diegans can move forward — respectfully and free of discrimination and harm.
His statements disqualify him from serving on the commission.