Diaz should quit: Corey
Slams ‘out of touch’ pol
Bronx City Councilman Rubén Diaz Sr. should step down for making an inflammatory remark about the gay community, Council Speaker Corey Johnson said Monday.
“I think he should resign. It’s not up to me, but I think what he said is totally unacceptable,” Johnson said during a press briefing in Albany, where he testified on the state budget.
Diaz, 75, who chairs the council’s For-Hire Vehicle Committee, was quoted Friday on a Spanish-language radio program as saying that the council is “controlled by the homosexual community.” He has since defended himself as the “real victim.”
“And him doubling down on those comments and saying he’s the victim clearly shows how out of touch he is,” said Johnson, who is gay. “No level of contrition. I think that he should resign.
“What it says is that a leopard hasn’t changed its spots,” Johnson added, referring to previous comments that Diaz — a Pentecostal minister — has made angering gays.
Johnson said he’d leave the decision of whether to strip Diaz of his committee chairmanship or face other punishment up to the entire council.
He called his appointment of Diaz to chair a committee “a mistake.”
A defiant Diaz stood his ground Monday, as he did Sunday, saying the calls to punish him or pressure him to resign only prove his point.
“I have said the gays have power and they have proved it,” Diaz said, vowing not to resign. “I have not said anything wrong.”
The council’s ethics committee will meet Tuesday and is likely to discuss the Diaz controversy, sources said.