HUMAN RELATIONS PANEL TO VOTE ON MEMBER’S REMOVAL
A San Diego County human relations commissioner was once again under fire for his controversial remarks during this week’s commission meeting.
After months of heated debate, the Leon L. Williams San Diego County Human Relations Commission is set to vote on the removal of Commissioner Dennis Hodges, who expressed disparaging opinions about the LGBTQ community and transgender individuals. The vote will take place during a special meeting to be held in the next couple of weeks, commission leaders said.
The vote for Hodges’ removal follows updates to the commission’s bylaws, which now include a code of conduct and new process to remove a commissioner for just cause. The updates were approved by the county Board of Supervisors last month.
Commission Chair Ellen Nash previously said the updated bylaws will not apply retroactively to past incidents. However, Commissioner Cara Dessert, CEO of The San Diego LGBT Community
Center, disagreed and brought the matter before the commission during its monthly meeting on Tuesday.
“This is a commissioner who has spoken in appalling and dehumanizing ways, consistently and repeatedly, about our LGBTQ community here in our commission meetings, causing harm and trauma, and then doubling down on those comments, writing in letters to the chair, to the press and in the public,” Dessert said.
The conflict first arose six months ago, when Hodges, pastor of the nondenominational Church of Yeshua Ha Mashiach in Lemon Grove, abstained from voting with commissioners to endorse a letter condemning transphobia and recommitting to work to end discrimination against transgender people.
When asked about his abstention, Hodges made disparaging remarks about transgender and LGBTQ people, including that “transgenderism ... is an abomination in the eyes of God.”
Since then, dozens of LGBTQ supporters and some of his fellow commissioners have called for his removal, to no avail. Hodges has reaffirmed his remarks and said he has a right to remain on the board while maintaining his religious beliefs.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the commission received about a dozen public comments regarding Hodges, a majority of which also sought his removal.
“(Hodges) has demonstrated that he’s unable to fulfill the mission of this commission with his hateful rhetoric towards the LGBTQ community, which is causing real harm to our community,” said Hillcrest resident Gus Hernandez.
“I ask you to signify to the county that outright discrimination and hate speech from an appointed commissioner ... will not be tolerated in San Diego County,” added Rebekah Hook-Held.
However, Francine Maxwell, chairwoman of Black Men and Women United San Diego, said the commission shouldn’t remove Hodges, invoking the name of Leon Williams, the first Black person elected to the San Diego City Council in 1969 and the man the commission is named for.
“If you listen to Dennis Hodges, the first thing that comes out of his mouth is that he loves all human beings, so let’s push that. Let’s love on each other. And let’s move past this,” Maxwell said. “Leon Williams thinks that everybody loves everybody and should get along and move past this. But to remove a Black man, you need to remove Leon Williams’ name from this HRC.”
Nada Higuera, of Advocates For Faith & Freedom, who identified herself during the meeting as Hodges’ legal counsel, warned the commission not to vote for his removal.
“I just plead with you not to make this into a lawsuit and not take him off the commission for his speech and his religion, which will be a long, litigious battle I don’t want to engage in,” Higuera said.
A handful of commissioners, both for and against Hodges’ removal, also spoke during the meeting. The commission resolved to settle the matter with a vote during a special meeting.
Moreover, Nash says the issue has shown the commission still has work to do in promoting positive human relations and educating each other and the public on how to do so.
“I will be 69 in November, and I thought I knew it all, but let me tell you, going through the commission ... and listening to you, I am learning a whole lot through this experience,” Nash said. “We will have to continue these conversations, and we will have to do the hard work ... to learn from each other.”