City Council speaker wants apology for homophobic remarks

NEW YORK (AP) >> The New York City Council speaker is demanding an apology from a council member who said the legislative body is “controlled by the homosexual community.”

A spokesman for Speaker Corey Johnson issued a statement Friday saying comments by Ruben Diaz Sr. “have no place in New York City” and the Bronx Democrat should apologize to his colleagues and the LGBTQ community.

In a Spanish-language radio program, Diaz, a Pentecostal minister, said the homosexual community controls most of the 51 council members. The 75-year-old, Puerto Rican-born politician, who opposes same-sex marriage, called Johnson a “homosexual married to another man.” The speaker is openly gay and single.

Diaz is the father of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

Johnson and Diaz Sr. did not immediately respond to messages left on Saturday.

AP PHOTO/HANS PENNINK, FILE In this June 24, 2011, file photo, then-state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., D-Soundview, speaks during a session of the New York state Senate at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y.