Newly released audio now shows that San Antonio, Texas councilwoman Elisa Chan also targeted a transgender former city council member with her hate speech.
The homophobia scandal surrounding San Antonio, Texas Councilwoman Elisa Chan (District-9) is not going away and is now picking up steam down a very ugly track.? Audio from the May 21 meeting that was previously not released for reasons of privacy to a private individual now reveals that Councilwoman Chan used the forum of the meeting to also disparage the personal lifestyle and family of a former city council member. Here’s the audio:
The newly released audio concerning the personal lifestyle and family of former Councilwoman Leticia Ozuna (District-3), was previously hidden to respect the privacy of her family.? Ozuna, who had lost re-election in May, has now come forward as a result of Chan’s news conference last week where she refused to apologize for the remarks she made, refused to resign from office, and refused to recuse herself from voting on the ordinance concerning veterans, disabled persons, and the LGBT community.
In a statement issued to the media, Ozuna says:
I am terribly saddened to learn that me and my family were used as subjects of ridicule and criticism by Elisa Chan and her staff. No words can adequately express both the anger and sadness our family feels as we deal with this disclosure. She has unequivocally disrespected all LBGTQ families, including mine. […]We wholeheartedly believe that the public trust has been compromised. I believe that Elisa Chan should no longer remain in a position of making prejudiced, ill-informed decisions that could cause irreparable harm to the good people of San Antonio.
You can read the entire statement here, courtesy of KSAT News of San Antonio.
Ozuna has called for the resignation of Councilwoman Chan as a result of her homophobic slurs heard on the full regarding, the disparaging remarks toward Ozuna’s family, and Chan’s abuse of office and intention to release false propaganda of LGBT people.
In response to the newly released portion of audio, Elisa Chan issued a printed public apology specifically to Ozuna and her family Friday, but not to the LGBT community that her remarks centered on.? In the “apology,” Chan still claims to be a victim of a malicious attack on her own privacy, and states that she never addressed the commentary concerning Ozuna’s family previously because it was not “her intention to hurt anyone.”
Councilwoman Elisa Chan states:
I apologize profusely to Councilwoman Leticia Ozuna and her family for referencing their lives in our private conversation. I did not address the withheld minute of the recording earlier because it was never my intention to hurt anyone.
As a matter of fact, Chan lied to the public during her news conference of what she called “a brain storming session.” Chan claimed that she had used the word “disgusting” in reference to pedophiles.? In truth, she used the word “disgusting” several times during the recording when referring to LGBT people, whom she and other staff members equated with pedophiles and people who practiced bestiality or incest.
For example, take a look at the following exchange from the May 21 meeting:
STAFFER ONE:? “If a woman who’s bisexual, like, that’s fine. Even though she’s bisexual, but that’s OK.”
CHAN:? “Disgusting.”
STAFFER TWO:? “Anything goes.”
CHAN:? “So disgusting.”
STAFFER TWO:? “No morals and values.”
As far as Chan’s assertion that it was “never her intention to hurt anyone,” that is perhaps a response left for the judgment of Purple Heart recipient U.S. Marine Staff Sergeant Eric Alva.? Alva, a San Antonio native who also happens to be gay, has an extensive military background, and served in the military under the archaic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.? After 13 years of military service, Alva was the first Marine to be injured during the Iraq War while in charge of 11 Marines when he stepped on a land mine and lost his right leg.
Three days prior to the revelation of Chan’s comments from the May meeting, Alva was one of 200 people to testify before the City Council at a Citizens Heard Hearing regarding the new ordinance.? At the same hearing, there was a crowd of more than 300 anti-gay protesters led by local religious leaders that conducted prayer vigils on the steps outside the city hall before entering the building to “watch” the debate.? As soon as Alva mentioned in his testimony that he also happened to be gay, he was booed and hissed out of the hearing by the protesters.
Alva responded:
To all you people that preach the word of God, shame on you, because God loves me, like the day I lay bleeding on the sands of Iraq, and that’s why he saved me.
Alva also had this to say in reference to the hearing and the remarks made by Councilwoman Elisa Chan:
I said that if this ordinance doesn’t pass, I could be fired from a job and even thrown out of a restaurant, and people started to boo me. I was real hurt by that. It was unbelievable.? […] She’s entitled to her opinion, but she is supposed to represent ALL the people in her district. If I lived in her district, I’d run against her.
According to the FBI, in 2011 the city of San Antonio had only one agency reporting on incidents of hate crimes for a population of 1,355,339 people, and only accounted for 2 hate crimes total on the basis of sexual or gender orientation.? However, other agencies reported more than 17 separate violent hate crime incidents for 2011. With the increasing animosity toward LGBT people in the community, we should be asking ourselves where the line is drawn on acceptable behavior before resulting in a hate crime.? Chan herself instructed her staff to create false propaganda to circulate to the local media in advance of the introduction of the ordinance so that voters would not be upset when she voted against it.
It’s time that the people of San Antonio, as well as the rest of America, ask themselves if this is what Freedom of Speech really means to them.? With all of the different recognized hate groups rallying to support Councilwoman Elisa Chan, I have to wonder, “Where are the voices that are actually representing the people of San Antonio?”
Rick Casey of the San Antonio Express said it best:
When the founding fathers, having thrown off the yoke of British tyranny, wrote the First Amendment, do you think it was mainly to protect the speech rights of government officials, or of the citizens who seek to criticize them?
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Featured photo of San Antonio, Texas City Councilwoman Elisa Chan screen captured from KSAT 12 via Concerned In USA.
edited by eap.
