Homophobic, racist commenters bombard Atascadero City Council meeting
An Atascadero City Council meeting was bombarded with people spewing anti-LGBTQ+ and racist remarks on Tuesday, just days before the city’s first-ever scheduled Pride event.
After the City Council opted not to declare June as Pride Month as part of a change in its overall policy on proclamations, several members of the LGBTQ+ community members and activists gave public comment urging the council to revisit the decision.
They also invited members to the Pride event on Sunday at the Charles Paddock Zoo.
“I wanted to personally invite each and every one of you, honorable council members and city officials and staff of this city, to our-first ever Atascadero Pride festival,” Nadia Levine, Atascadero resident and co-producer of the upcoming event, said during the meeting.
Levine added that the amount of hatred that the LGBTQ+ community faces on a daily basis has been “very concerning” and that the Pride festival is meant to “spread love.”
Levine’s 14-year-old daughter also speak at public comment and talked about her personal experience being bullied and how people at school have repeatedly told her to kill herself.
“Declaring June as Pride Month in this city would make me as a person feel so much safer, because I felt like I was in danger,” she said.
The question of recognizing June as Pride Month arose after a change last year regarding how the city issues proclamations.
Last year, the council issued a proclamation recognizing Atascadero LGBTQ+ citizens during Pride Month, but since then, the city elected to stop issuing proclamation and instead offer letters of recognition for policies.
That’s what Councilwoman Funk did with Pride Month this year.
City spokesperson Terrie Banish said the city decided to change its policy in July because the “sheer volume of keeping up with proclamations” got in the way of city business.
“We really have to focus on our government services, and what we’re doing is getting that information consistently out there,” Banish said. She added that the change applied to all groups that wish to have proclamations from the city.
What was meant to be a typical public hearing, however, spiraled into hate-filled, homophobic rhetoric by people who joined to give public comment online.
Online commenters spew hate speech
When comments transferred from in-person to online, three callers entered the Zoom call and spewed homophobic speech for nearly 10 minutes.
“I heard that we are having our first Pride event, and I find this to be quite scary,” said the first Zoom caller, who identified herself as a resident of Atascadero. The speaker said that it was an “oxymoron” to have “Pride” and “family-friendly” in the same sentence.
She then spread misinformation about the LGBTQ+ community for the remainder of her speaking time.
The second speaker came on beginning with a scripture from the Bible, before saying that LGBTQ+ people should be hanged or drowned.
A third speaker said the Pride event was something he did not wish to promote, especially toward children. He then made disparaging comments directed at the 14-year-old who spoke earlier in the meeting, saying that he hoped she would realize “she’s not what she claims to be.”
During City Council meetings, callers have the option to join by video, and they are not required to have their cameras on. Though each of the callers identified themselves by a name, the identities seemed fictitious, and their faces were not shown.
Co-producer of the Pride event Thom Waldman, who also spoke during the meeting, told The Tribune the comments were traumatizing for everyone in the room.
“I’m all for free speech,” Waldman said. But he said he felt threatened in the moment.
Waldman said he was concerned with the City Council and mayor’s handling of the situation, and he wished someone could have shut off the microphone sooner.
The last Zoom caller did get cut off as he started to spout racist remarks.
It was unclear whether the plan to Zoom-bomb the meeting was premeditated, but Waldman said it was possible the callers had heard him on Dave Congalton’s KVEC radio show where he announced he would be at the meeting.
Organizer says hate continues to spread ahead of weekend Pride event
Levine told The Tribune on Friday that she felt the comments should have been cut off a lot sooner.
“When it turns from a free speech issue into a hate speech issue, I feel like they should have done that,” Levine said.
Levine said she was furious about the comments made toward her child and the other hateful remarks directed at members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Where is our humanity?” Levine said. “She’s a 14-year-old kid. She’s a good kid.”
Levine was also frustrated by the lack of response from the City Council. She said aside from hearing back from Funk and city manager Jim Lewis, others with the city have not reached out to her after the incident.
She was especially concerned considering as of Friday, a post shared on the private “Everything Atascadero” Facebook group promoting the Pride event had been overloaded with hundreds of comments, many denouncing the event.
The Gala Pride & Diversity Center posted a statement on social media about the meeting, saying it was derailed by “hate speech and violent rhetoric” targeted towards BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people.
“We are gravely disappointed by the Atascadero City Council’s decision to not recognize June as Pride Month this year,” the social media caption read.
“We are furthermore appalled by the failure of the council or city manager to intervene in explicit hate speech and violent rhetoric against BIPOC, LGBTQ+ people, and a mother and child in the chambers in front of the council.”
JBird, director of operations for GALA, said the original idea for the Pride event was to create a space for showing love and unity.
“My personal hope is that we can show love and appreciation for our community,” JBird said.
City responds to hate speech comments during meeting
The city of Atascadero issued an official statement in response to the meeting. Here is the statement in full:
“Unfortunately, like many cities across the state, Atascadero experienced hateful and derogatory comments towards members of our community via the Zoom platform. The speech last night was painful and hurtful to the public, Council and staff and does not reflect the values of our community.
“However, because a topic was brought up by those supporting a proclamation and an event that were both arguably within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Council, it opened the matter to comments from all, including those not in favor of it. We are a country of rights and laws, and while we were shocked and repulsed by the content of what a handful of speakers said, they have a right to speak.
“Free speech, protected by the First Amendment, allows those comments, however the Zoom link was temporarily suspended after a third commenter made comments disruptive to the meeting and not within the subject matter jurisdiction/purview of the City Council. The zoom link was reinstituted as soon as possible.
“Numerous social groups approach the City that want recognition or affirmation of their cause. In Atascadero, our priorities are on the services that local government commonly provides and that benefit all such as public safety, homelessness, housing, public infrastructure, and economic development. The City of Atascadero is a loving community where people are appreciated, valued and all are welcome. We will continue to focus on serving, building community, and enhancing quality of life.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2024 at 10:00 AM.
