Ritchie Torres, a 31-year-old gay black Puerto Rican NYC Councilman, announced his bid for the Bronx congressional seat soon to be vacated by Representative José E. Serrano, the longest-serving Hispanic representative.
Torres will run against longtime homophobe and Pentecostal minister Ruben Diaz Sr., another councilman, and several other candidates.
The NYT reports: ‘Mr. Díaz, 76, has made it clear over the decades how he feels about homosexuality. In 1994, he said that the Gay Games coming to New York would help spread AIDS and teach young people that “homosexuality is O.K., that it is not immoral or sinful behavior.” As a state senator, he vocally opposed gay marriage, once holding a rally against the legislation to authorize it as his gay granddaughter held a counter protest across the street.'
