State Senate candidate accused of homophobia
SACRAMENTO — The race for a state Senate seat in the Central Valley has erupted into battle over allegedly homophobic attacks involving a bill carried by a San Francisco lawmaker.
Equality California, the state’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group, is urging Democrats to rescind their endorsements of Modesto City Councilman Mani Grewal, whom the organization accuses of “engaging in a blatantly homophobic campaign” against his openly lesbian opponent, Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, a Democrat from Stockton.
Grewal has falsely claimed that a state bill sponsored by Equality California to eliminate the discrepancy in how gay and straight young adults are punished for having sex with a minor would let adults who abuse preteens avoid registering as sex offenders. The LGBT organiza
tion took particular offense to a Grewal campaign ad that suggests the bill would protect “adults who molest our children.”
The political drama between Eggman and Grewal, who bills himself as “the different Democrat for state Senate,” recalls past culture wars and exposes lingering fault lines over criminal justice policy as Democrats supplant the GOP as the dominant party in some of the state’s more conservative areas.
Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, said Grewal is engaging in a political smear based on old stereotypes that gay people are more likely to prey on children. Zbur plans to ask the state Democratic Party to censure Grewal.
“He’s doing what (President) Trump does. He tells LGBTQ people that we’re his friends and then he does things that harm our community,” Zbur said.
Equality California’s call for Democrats to pull their endorsements of Grewal has put his supporters in a difficult spot.
Sen. Anna Caballero, a Salinas Democrat who sits on the Equality California board and voted for the group’s bill, said she takes “their request very seriously” and is evaluating what to do.
The California Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus met Monday to consider whether to rescind its endorsement of Grewal. Assemblyman David Chiu, the San Francisco Democrat who chairs the caucus, said members were still “in discussions about the situation.”
Grewal and his campaign did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment. The ad that angered Equality California disappeared from his Facebook and YouTube pages over the weekend.
In an open letter to Zbur published last week in the Capitol Morning Report newsletter, Grewal said he could be relied on to stand up for the LGBT community because of his Sikh background.
“Like you, we have lived with hatred all of our lives,” he wrote. “My support in your struggle against hate will remain unwavering.”
At the center of the dispute is SB145 by Sen. Scott Wiener, DSan Francisco, which aims to reverse a legal disparity that lingers from the historic criminalization of gay sex in California.
Under the law, a young adult convicted of having anal or oral sex with a minor must automatically register as a sex offender. But in cases of vaginal intercourse, it is left up to a judge’s discretion. Wiener argues that this leaves LGBT young people in consensual relationships vulnerable to unfair punishment.
His bill would instead treat these sex acts the same: If a teenager ages 14 to 17 voluntarily had sex with an adult who is less than 10 years older, the judge would decide whether the adult should register as a sex offender.
The measure is supported by groups representing police chiefs and prosecutors, who are concerned that the state’s sexoffender registry is clogged with too many people who are not a danger to children. The bill has no organized opposition.
Eggman, who was originally a coauthor of SB145, said she met with Grewal in March as he sought her endorsement for his state Senate campaign. She was still considering whether to run. The sex offender registry bill never came up in that meeting, Eggman said, but a few days later, she received a letter from Grewal, “writing to you as a father of four children.”
In his letter, Grewal incorrectly asserted that the bill would allow a 21yearold convicted of sexually assaulting an 11yearold, his own daughter’s age, to avoid registering as a sex offender.
“It felt like a clear attempt at intimidation,” Eggman said, by hinting at how Grewal would attack her candidacy. “He clearly doesn’t know me if he thinks he’s going to frighten me out of the race over a righteous policy proposal.”
Eggman did remove her name from the bill that same week. She said it was only because she had expected the rest of the Legislature’s LGBT Caucus to join her as coauthors; they never did.
The measure passed the Senate in May and now awaits a vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Supporters of SB145 thought the matter was resolved in early June, after Grewal and Wiener met at the California Democratic Party convention.
“He made very clear that he had misunderstood the bill and he would not continue to make an issue of it,” Wiener said. “I get it — people can misunderstand. People can have a lapse in judgment.”
But two weeks later, Grewal released an online campaign ad featuring Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse.
“Adults who molest our children are criminals, and they must register as sex offenders. Mani Grewal helped keep that law on the books,” Dirkse said in the ad. “That’s why I’m supporting Mani Grewal for Senate. He will continue to protect our children.”
The video prompted Equality California to fire off a letter last week, asking Grewal to take down the “thinly veiled antiLGBTQ attacks.”
In a statement to the Stockton Record the next day, Grewal doubled down on his opposition to the bill: “Like every parent, I was alarmed when Assemblymember Susan Eggman put her name on a bill that would allow a 21yearold man to molest my 11yearold daughter and then be exempted from registering as a sex offender.”
Zbur said he understands that some wellintentioned people simply need more education about LGBT issues.
“This is not one of those cases,” he said. “This isn’t something that was isolated. This wasn’t one small mistake.”