NYC City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is demanding an apology after Ruben Diaz Sr., a longtime homophobe and anti-equality activist, attacked Johnson for being gay and claimed that the City Council is “controlled by the homosexual community.”
Said Diaz to a Spanish-language radio show: “When I get to the City Council, I find that the City Council is controlled — most council members out of 51 council members — over there, everybody is controlled by the homosexual community.”
Diaz also told the show that Johnson, who is gay and single, “is a homosexual who is married to another man,” NY1 reports.
Said Johnson in a statement: “Council Member Díaz Sr.'s homophobic comments are offensive to both the Speaker and the body, and have no place in New York City. He should apologize to all of his colleagues, and the entire LGBTQ community.”
Diaz Sr has a lengthy homophobic history, has attended and was in charge of busing people from NYC to the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM) hateful, anti-gay March for Marriage for many years, and has called same-sex marriage “against nature“.
Johnson earlier this month announced his intention to explore a run for mayor in NYC.