Anti-gay comments not new for city politician
In face of calls for his resignation, Ruben Diaz Sr. unapologetic
Ruben Diaz Sr.’s decades-long history of insensitive comments toward the gay community has made him no stranger to controversy.
Diaz, a Pentecostal minister and former state senator from the Bronx, has been receiving and ignoring calls for his resignation since at least 1994.
So it was no surprise that Diaz held his ground when many of his fellow New York City Council members asked him to resign last week, following his remarks that the “homosexual community” controlled the council.
He has reason to feel emboldened: It is extremely unlikely the council would move to expel Diaz for his comments, although Council rules say that a member could face discipline ranging from reprimand to expulsion for conduct that includes violating “policies against discrimination and harassment.”.
The Council’s Committee on Standards and Ethics has opened an investigation into Diaz’s remarks, but several City Council members said they would be wary of expelling Diaz for speech-related reasons.
No one has been expelled from the City Council by a two-thirds vote since the 1989 City Charter revision. In July 2017, Ruben W. Wills, a councilman from Queens, was automatically expelled from the City Council per state law following his conviction for fraud and grand larceny.
In 2005, Allan W. Jennings Jr., a Democratic councilman from Queens, was censured and fined $5,000 after an inquiry determined he had sexually harassed women aides.
But the Council has already taken some action: On Wednesday, 45 Council members voted to dissolve the recently created Committee on For-hire-vehicles that Diaz had chaired.
“Twenty-five years ago I couldn’t imagine that would have happened,” said Daniel Dromm, a gay councilman from Queens who said he was deeply offended by Diaz’s remarks. Still, Dromm said, expulsion might be too severe a punishment.
“He has been elected by the people in his district, although I don’t think he represents the views of the people there,” Dromm said. “We have to get him out at the ballot box.”
Diaz had referred to gay people as “cursed” and placed them in the same category as “drug addicts.” He was also opposed to the Gay Games coming to New York, saying it would lead to people being “infected with AIDS,” and would teach children and young adults “that homosexuality is OK, that it is not immoral or sinful behavior.”
On Thursday, Diaz held a boisterous part political rally, part old-style church revival outside his Council district office. Supporters held signs that said “Don’t apologize,” “Ruben Diaz has a legal right to speak” and “He is a man of God.”
Diaz remained unapologetic, and insisted that he was not homophobic. He introduced a granddaughter who is gay and a nephew from Texas whom he said was also a member of the LGBT community.
He made one concession: He promised to stop using the word homosexual. “The word homosexual has become unacceptable,” he said in Spanish, his words translated over the public address system.
Diaz doubled down on his remarks about the power of gay people on the City Council, citing the involvement of Jimmy Van Bramer, a gay councilman from Queens, among those who fought Amazon’s now-quashed campus in Long Island City.
“Using the Amazon decision to pull out as proof of a vast gay conspiracy just proves what I have been saying,” Van Bramer said on Twitter. “Resign already.”
In the quarter century since Diaz began publicly lashing out at gay people, attitudes toward intolerance and how it should be addressed have changed.
The #Metoo movement launched a reckoning for powerful men accused of sexually abusing women which has led to more people being publicly held responsible for other types of poor behavior, such as racist and homophobic remarks and activities.
“We have gone through a huge change in how we understand equality and justice,” said Gabriel Blau, chair and co-founder of Equality New York. “This
hate is not new. What’s new is these people are being called out by their colleagues and the general public.”
Even in Diaz’s district, signs of change are evident.
In the September 2017 Democratic primary for the 18th district, Diaz won with 2,370 votes, approximately 40 percent of the total vote. Amanda Farias, a nonprofit director, came in second with 1,301 votes, almost 22 percent of the total.
The next two candidates, Elvin Garcia, who is gay, and Michael Beltzer, received 30 percent of the vote combined.
“He does have his base but you can see those numbers slipping,” said Farias, who was recently endorsed for the 2021 primary by Scott Stringer, the city comptroller.