UPDATE: Not that I thought otherwise, but Supervisor Daly issued a statement to the Bay Area Reporter (which reported this story before I did) saying "I also take this opportunity to denounce the homophobic comment reported in your column, as I denounce the many racist and anti-immigrant comments that I have received." Look for the full response at the BAR this week.
Constant Readers,
When I wrote about the public hearing on the proposed new Sanctuary City law, I mentioned that there were two people who spoke against the proposed ordinance and each was mightily and continuously hissed. (Supervisor Chiu should have brought that shit to order, but didn't. I'm just saying: Peskin would never have let that happen.)
But it turns out that hissing was only the beginning...
Let me set the stage here: At the hearing, people kept comparing the legal mess we are about to get The City into with the sanctuary city ordinance to the legal limb we went out on for gay marriage.
So, a dude named Colin Gallagher got up and said something like: I'm gay and it's not a choice. People who come here illegally are making a choice. Don't compare my struggles with theirs. (I looked for his exact statement in the captions from the meeting and it is all jacked up and incomprehensible - prolly on account of the hissing.) He said some other stuff about how this all beyond the jurisdiction of the Supes.
While I didn't see it, Campos later said that a bunch of reporters breathlessley chased Gallagher down to get quotes. Mission Local confirmed this.
This all went down on Monday, October 5.
On Wednesday, October 7, this letter from Gallagher ran in The Examiner:
As soon as the Board of Supervisors votes to prohibit the reporting of illegal immigrant youth felons to ICE, Mayor Gavin Newsom should announce that the reporting will continue as before and that he will not condone firing or disciplining any public safety officer for complying with federal law.
Certainly any public safety officer disciplined for reporting an illegal alien to immigration authorities would have grounds for a civil suit against The City that could lead to the sanctuary ordinance being struck down. This represents an opportunity for the mayor to demonstrate that, unlike the majority of supervisors, he takes seriously the safety of all San Franciscans from violent gangs like MS-13, which exploits the well-intentioned local sanctuary policy.
At some point after that letter ran in the paper, Gallagher got a voicemail message. (Full disclosure: I haven't heard the message, though he offered to let me listen to it.)
Yeah pick up the phone Colin Gallagher - I'm calling and leaving this message for you. It's always yuppie fags like you, yuppies like you, who are ruining this city. The city [unintelligible] justification for the people who have attitudes and ideologies like you. Who walk around in fear of gangs and stuff like that - that has nothing to do with you - OK - You understand what this is doing. The sanctuary policy is not even helping. You don't even have your facts straight with this silly fucking editorial that you put in the paper. I'm gonna call you every single day hour on the hour until you pick up. It's yuppies like you with your fucking ideology that's ruining the city. Chris Daly is more of a San Franciscan than anything you can possibly know. Don't say San Franciscan here when you weren't even born in this city. You don't hear people from New York saying they were New Yorkers. Fucking yuppie scum is what you are. Pick up the phone asshole.
My usual complaint about politics in this city is that people are humorless. But this is just a whole 'nother level. (Granted this is just one crazy person - there are thousands of people who didn't call Gallagher.)
The sanctuary ordinance will be before the full Board tomorrow where it will pass.
And everyone can calm down for a minute.
-Melissa
ALSO: You can read the Bay Area Reporter's piece on this incident here.
It's interesting that you make no mention of how many threats have been thrusted at Supervisor Mr. Campos on the pages of the Chronicle and how many of us, who are both Queer and immigrants, have gotten threatened as well by the those with the anti-immigrant movement. Have you read the comments underneath all the Sanctuary articles? These are filled with vile and hatred.
I can't say I agree with these gentleman's comments in light of many LGBT leaders taking a strong stance in support of immigrant kids, but no one should receive a call like this-though most of us in the pro-immigrant movement have often been told via email and in the blogs that we should be killed. I guess we're just used to mainstream press not caring about the value of our lives and the families we work with.
This message was left by someone who is not an immigrant nor associated with our movement.
There seems to be a very clear double-standard in your reporting. Are immigrant children also responsible for the ranting and ravings of one individual?
Please also note, that it was a Chronicle reporter who received an award from a hate group-as designated by the Southern Poverty law center. Where is the outrage over this?
Now I grew up in the South and had the displeasure of having the KKK come to my house. I can be a pretty funny and definitely enjoy my fun time in this city, but I don't have the liberty to take hate speech lightly-not in my life experience nor in the everyday Latino families I work with.
Sincerely and Not anonymously,
Bobbi Lopez
Below please review some of the hate speech made on the chronicle blogs-did not include death threats to Campos:
"Deportation is too easy. I say throw him and those involved off the Oakland Bay Bridge. You call it cruel and unsual punishment...I call it Justice. If they are here illegally, deport them to Iraq drop them off. Let their fellow members see them on youtube with a bag of their head and a knife being sharpened behind them."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2008/11/13/BA691439UB.DTL#ixzz0UVP5V7NX
"So another inocent child dies because Duffy, amiato, pesking and the rest of the scum including the mayor. A curse on on all you in city gov i hope something like this happens to your familys so you will know how awful it is that your in gov."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2008/11/13/BA691439UB.DTL&o=4#ixzz0UVPccGOw
Did the WHITE CAUCUS show up and defend us against the La Raza -- of the [hispanic] race everything, not of the hispanic race nothing.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2009/10/03/BA0L1A0DGM.DTL&o=3#ixzz0UVQp8vH6
How can Campos legally take office? This is ridiculous. This will continue more and more as more illegals get elected into office. We'll have mandatory Spanish soon.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2009/08/22/EDAQ19AH1A.DTL&o=4#ixzz0UVSWApR2
Posted by: Bobbi | October 20, 2009 at 12:41
Bobbi,
Thank you so much for commenting. Your point about the fact that members of the immigrant community have also been singled out by hateful people is certainly well-taken. However, I can only post what I'm aware of. (Ultimately, anonymous sewage in the Gate comments just isn't the same as a call to one's house.)
If you or any other proponent of the new law has gotten a similar personal phone call, letter or email about the ordinance, you are invited to send them along and I'll put them up, too. This is about civility in discourse, not taking sides on the sanctuary city issue.
Posted by: Melissa Griffin | October 20, 2009 at 13:16
Apparently not everyone--or at least not Bobbi--can calm down for a minute.
Posted by: Be_devine | October 20, 2009 at 13:23