Sen. Ruben Diaz offers free rides to DC, doesn't mention anti-gay NOM rally

My friend Scott Rose brought this to my attention yesterday and I find it both desperate and hilarious.

As the battle for marriage equality in the United States winds down and the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage slips into irrelevance, the organization has been desperately trying to rally participants for one last hurrah: The so-called "2014 March for Marriage" scheduled for June 19th.

As in years past, NOM's president Brian Brown has turned to New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. as his savior having shown proven ability to rally thousands of people to previous anti-gay rallies.

From one of Brian Brown's increasingly desperate newsblasts:

I just recently got off the phone with my good friend, New York State Senator, Rev. Ruben Diaz, who will be speaking at the March again this year. He told me that he plans to bring down over 100 buses to the March from the Bronx this year!

He is calling it the "Second Annual Bus Vigil to Washington." He plans to depart New York at 4:00 am in a spiritual convoy of activists coming to the nation's capital to defend marriage! That's over 5,000 people — overwhelmingly Latino and African-American constituents — that a single political and spiritual leader wants to bring to Washington DC this summer!

Diaz is calling it the "Second Annual Bus Vigil to Washington" because in his pitches for the rally he actually never mentions the NOM or the word "marriage" for that matter.

Excerpts:

I'd like to invite you to participate in the "Second Vigil on Wheels to Washington." We will be traveling to Washington, DC - the nations capital - to testify and say that we are still a powerful church... We are offering any pastor or organization that wishes to accompany us to Washington a bus completely free of charge. Each bus holds 55 passengers and we will send the bus to any place you tell us to do so... The bus will pick you up there, will bring you to Washington and will bring you back to the same spot. And you won't have to pay for a single thing... Join us! Take advantage of the opportunity. Ask for your bus! Fill the bus! And let's go to Washington!  Let's go on a trip! Visit the monuments in Washington and testify that Jesus heals and saves and is the King we await.

That's right. Reverend Diaz is selling the free bus rides to DC as an opportunity for people to visit the various monuments throughout the city.  A wonderful opportunity for members of Latino churches throughout the area who might not get a lot of chances to visit DC.

This is not the first time Diaz has rallied people to anti-marriage equality demonstrations using deception. At previous rallies I have heard church leaders say that they had no idea they were being taken to such a rally and I have heard other religious leaders that they felt pressured to participate or risk losing the Senator's support.

But this is the first time Diaz has been caught at it so openly. Hilarious.

By the way, as long as you can fill a bus with 55 occupants, Senator Diaz says he will send the bus wherever you want it to go and transport everyone to DC. All you need to do is call (718) 991-3161 and ask for Reverend Samaris.

Reaction: 

• NY state senator filling #March4Marriage buses without mentioning march itself (Good As You)
• Ruben Diaz is busing people to NOM's anti-gay rally but not telling them the purpose (Towleroad) 
• NOM surrogate tricks people into attending anti-gay rally (Bilerico)

NYC mayoral candidates break bread with Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage

NYS Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. reveals long-shot Democratic mayoral candidate Erick Salgado donated $4,000 for buses carrying New Yorkers to anti-gay rally in Washington, DC.

In a crowded political race it's not surprising to see candidates look for every opportunity to sell their message and in New York City that means finding ways to reach an incredibly diverse population not only in terms of ethnicity but also religion.

Of course, that sometimes means alliances with religious leaders and attending church services and events with large congregations.

In past years New York State Senator and Pastor Ruben Diaz, Sr. has shown the ability to bring large numbers of people to rallies against marriage equality here in New York as well as Washington, DC. So does that mean that his demonstrated power to influence a segment of the community is too rich an opportunity to pass up for a politician if Diaz invites you to an event?

You might expect candidates to think twice about saying yes to a man who has been the leading voice against LGBT rights in New York State, who has compared homosexuality to bestiality, who proudly claims there is no separation church and state and sees eventual passage of marriage equality throughout the United States and a sign of the end of days. Oh, and a man who laughs uproariously at "birther" jokes made about Barack Obama when made in his presence. 

OK, I'll give you this. Perhaps if Diaz himself pushed you to run as a mayoral candidate - as Diaz did with long-shot Democratic mayoral candidate Erick Salgado - you might feel obliged to attend.

But what if most mayoral candidates had no issue whatsoever in accepting the invite?

Well, that's what happened on April 13th when Diaz invited all mayoral candidates to a banquet celebrating the 25th year anniversary of Hispanic Ministers of New York Organization - the same organization that pulled together all those anti-marriage equality rallies - and actually got all but two of the leading mayoral candidates to attend.

Even better, for most of the ceremony Diaz had Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage sit to his right as a guest of honor.

Just a couple of weeks earlier Diaz had worked with the ministers' organization and NOM to send more than thirty buses full of people to protest against marriage equality outside the Supreme Court during the DOMA and Prop 8 debate.

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer leading a chant of "Si Se Puede!"

Present at the April 13th banquet were NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Bronx Assemblymembers Marcos Crespo and Luis Sepulveda, NYS Republican Committee Chairman Ed Cox and, of course, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. - the Senator's son - who came out for marriage equality during the same week his father was riling against it in Washington.

Also among attendees were U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer promoting immigration reform, Republican mayoral candidates Joe Lhota and John Catsimatidis, independent mayoral candidate Adolfo Carrión and Democratic mayoral candidates John Liu, Bill Thompson and Erick Salgado.

That's a whopping six of the leading eight mayoral candidates with Christine Quinn and Bill De Blasio being the only ones not to show up (Full diclosure: I have publicly backed Quinn for mayor but have supported Bill Thompson in past elections and might have considered backing John Liu if it wasn't for some unanswered questions about his former and current fundraising teams).

Of course, attending an event like this rarely speaks for a candidate's view on certain issues. In fact every mayoral candidate who attended the event except for Salgado supports marriage equality but I am often asked why Diaz remains in power after all these years of demagoguing against the LGBT community and, unfortunately, here is the answer: He gets a pass by those in power who should know better.

NOM expenditures: As for Brian Brown, the event invite did not mention he would be in attendance but I find it hard to believe that people like Schumer were in any way unaware of the pro and anti-marriage equality rallies in DC just days earlier and knew exactly who NOM was as he sat next to Brian. To mayoral candidates who might not have known who he was it would not be a shocker that someone like him would be a guest of honor at the event fully knowing of Diaz's views about gays and lesbians.

The event did break some news: In a Spanish-language speech Diaz made at the end of the ceremony after most if not all of the mayoral candidates had left.  As famously guarded as NOM is about the money they spend, Diaz revealed that NOM had spent $60,000 dollars on 30 buses used to transport hundreds of people to Washington, DC, for an anti-marriage equality rally outside the Supreme Court in March.

Diaz also said that NOM had brought a check for $25,000 to the banquet as a donation to the several radio stations used by the Hispanic Ministers of New York Organization to spread their anti-marriage equality message.

Another surprise: Diaz's mayoral candidate Erick Salgado also donated $4,000 for two additional buses to the anti-gay rallies in DC.

Direct quote from Diaz:

I wanted to let you know that for the march we did to Washington, thirty buses two out of 32 buses were paid by Erick Salgado - and thirty of them, the ones we ran from here, were paid by Brian Brown. All those buses. Each bus cost $2,000 and multiply thirty buses by two and you have $60,000 spent on the "Vigil on Wheels to Washington"

Diaz also said that all the previous rallies had been funded by NOM.

I took the liberty of posting an edited clip of the two hour event.  Click on it to open it in a separate window and it will be easier to read my translated annotations. It must be said that by the time Brian spoke at the end most if not all of the mayoral candidates had left. Here is a link to a full version of the clip including speeches by each of the mayoral candidates who attended.

Turn on 'annotations' to read subtitles.

Elvis Crespo, Granda Entertainment and the Latino LGBT community

 Last month Granda Entertainment announced a series of performances by merengue music singer Elvis Crespo at different LGBT-related venues throughout the United States.

The singer hit it big in 1999 with his first two singles as a solo artist - "Suavemente" and "Tu Sonrisa" - which spent weeks at the top of Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart.

"Suavemente", the album, earned the Billboard 'Best Male/Tropical Salsa Album of the Year' honor and was nominated for 'Best Tropical Latin Performance' at the Grammy Awards.

The two songs also became huge dance-floor staples at Latino gay bars in New York and Miami and still can be heard blasting from the speakers from time to time twelve years after they were released.

In December Elvis Crespo released "Indestructible" - his 8th solo album - and launched a video for the single "Hey, Dude".  It's safe to say, though, that he's never managed to match the early success of those first two hits.  Instead, in the last few years, he's been busier confronting allegations of marital infidelity as well as a headline-grabbing 2009 allegation of public masturbation on a civil passenger flight.

And now comes his new LGBT venue tour.

In some ways, it makes a lot of sense for Elvis Crespo to engage his Latino LGBT fans in the United States.  It is a devoted fan-base and the costs of performing at gay venues far outstrip putting together a full touring schedule.

Granda Entertainment is also arguably the place to go. Over the years they have mastered the art of pulling together these kind of tours for former Latino pop stars hoping to revive their careers.  They include Mexican singer Gloria Trevi, who saw her music career reborn after she toured gay bars in the major urban markets in the United States, and - less successfully - Karyme Lozano who wanted to promote a salsa music album after years of performing as an actress in Mexican telenovelas. In 2008, as part of her Granda Entertainment-sponsored LGBT venue tour, Lozano was named as the Queen of the 2008 San Francisco Pride Parade. Two years later she was prominently featured as an anti-marriage equality ally by homophobic institutions such as the National Organization for Marriage.

I do get that this is a business venture and I do believe that - beyond the obvious commercial interests - Crespo does have a sincere interest in reaching out and supporting his LGBT fans.

But I was also incredibly bothered by the way the tour was promoted: The original press release was titled "Elvis Crespo to tour in support of the LGBT community" (italics mine) and media followed blindly. "Elvis Crespo sings in support of the LGBT community" said Puerto Rico's Primera Hora; "Elvis Crespo announces a tour in support of the LGBT community in the United States" said Yahoo News Mexico.

Excuse me? In "support" of the Latino LGBT community? In what way? Are proceeds going to any Latino LGBT charities? Is Elvis Crespo standing up for marriage equality in the same way that Gloria Trevi uploaded a video against passage of Prop. 8 in California? And isn't this actually the other way around? Aren't you asking the Latino LGBT community to spend their hard-earned money to support Elvis Crespo's singing career?

And yet, I realized my anger turned on the way that the press release had been phased rather than on what anyone else in this world might have picked up from it - so I let it go... until it actually became an issue.

On April 6th, on the eve of the first performance, Crespo was scheduled to appear at the top rated Spanish-language radio station in Chicago - La Kalle 106.7 FM - to promote his tour.  By all accounts, the singer showed up at the Univision-owned radio station but left before he had said a single word. As Primera Hora reported, Crespo alleged he simply chose to stand up an leave the studio when he was not allowed to express his support for the LGBT community.

The next day, on his Twitter account he wrote "Disappointed that there is homophobia in communication media in the 21st Century: Indestructible LGBT Tour" and linked up to several media accounts reporting he had walked out of the radio studio.

Granda Entertainment sent out a press release titled "Elvis Crespo cancels Chicago radio interview for not being allowed to support LGBT community". And Spanish-language media gladly "reported" on the incident without asking for any additional details.

Sources tell me that the whole thing stemmed from a misunderstanding between Crespo and the radio station that had to do with not observing exclusive promotional rights instead of homophobia and a source also told The Windy City Times that "it was more of an advertising decision" than anything else.

I reached out to La Kalle 106.7 but they told me they had been told not to discuss the incident with media by Univision and to provide a Univision public relations contact number instead. I called Univision but they said there would be no on-the-record statements on the incident for now.

Still, it's pretty obvious that La Kalle106.7 has felt the sting of the media reports claiming they are homophobic.  This week they have prominently Ricky Martin on their home page as the out gay singer takes his new tour to Chicago (see screen capture above).

In the meantime, last weekend Elvis Crespo continued his LGBT venue tour and performed at Miami Beach Gay Pride.  At the stop, he was interviewed by a reporter for Azteca America and asked to comment on the Chicago radio station incident. Surprisingly, Crespo evaded the question several times and told the reporter it was time to leave the incident behind.

Then I found out that Crespo had been invited to sit in as a guest host on the 2-hour afternoon gossip show "Escándalo TV" that aired yesterday on the Univision-owned Telefutura network... So I set up my DVR to tape it.  Sigh.

I have to say that Crespo was charming, funny and seemingly thrilled at getting the exposure. He also was was a better man than most for enduring jokes at his expense from the other hosts based on past controversies, including the alleged masturbation incident on a commercial flight.

BUT - I also have to say he spent all of five minutes talking about his LGBT-related tour and actually giggled as one of the regular hosts showed a Photo-Shopped image of Madonna kissing Britney Spears at the 2003 VMA awards with Juliet Cabrera superimposed in the middle as a gag example of the "racy" pictures that had surfaced lately about the recently booted Univision beauty show contestant (Google if you must).

And then the actual moment when my jaw dropped.

Half way through the show, "Escandalo TV" linked up to a live video feed from the studios of La Kalle 106.7 FM in Chicago providing a perfect chance for Crespo to confront the radio station for the homophobic treatment he alleged he had experienced.

Not so fast.

• "Mau" Mauricio Mejia (La Kalle 106.7): "Elvis, we love you here at La Kalle, very much so, and we hope you visit soon."
• Elvis Crespo: "I know, I know, believe me, I know."
• Me thinking silently: WTF?

So there are a couple of scenarios here:

• As [separate?] sources for this blog and The Windy City Times have said, this was all a misunderstanding in which the radio station felt Crespo had broken an exclusivity deal and the singer thought he was being silenced for his support of 'teh geyz', in which case things seem to have been resolved behind the scenes. Or;
• Crespo was right all along and left the radio station as a principled supporter of the LGBT cause (italics still all mine) who couldn't stand being banned from defending 'teh geyz' on the radio, in which case he seems to have caved in to the pressure of getting exposure of Univision-related venues.

Personally, I have a feeling that the truth lies closer to the first scenario than the second one.

I would have no issue whatsoever if the tour had been sold just as a way for a former pop music idol to connect with his LGBT fans, never mind that said idol waited all these years to speak up about LGBT issues.  But Granda Entertainment made it a point to sell the tour as a way to "support" the Latino LGBT community and I'm not sure this quite rises to that level.

In true Granda Entertainment fashion, Elvis Crespo has disclosed that he will be accepting the King of the San Francisco Pride Parade honor on June 26th - just like Gloria Trevi and Karyme Lozano accepted the Queen of the San Francisco Pride Parades in years past.

I know it's a business. But sometimes I wish the Latino LGBT community would stand up and demand that we are not sold out quite as cheaply as that.

Year in Review, pt. 1: Esteban Arce keeps his job, the man formerly known as Luke Sissyfag riles NOM's nerves...

I don't think I've ever done one these before. It doesn't mean I can't do one. So there.

January: Mexican television show host Esteban Arce got himself into trouble early this year when a clip of a show he did in December was posted on YouTube and went viral on Twitter earlier this year.  The reason?  Elsie Reyes, a well-known "sexologist" and author of a well known syndicated relationship advice column, had been invited to the show to discuss the topic of 'sexual orientation'.  It all runs pretty smoothly at first until Arce repeatedly demands to know if homosexuality is "normal" or "natural".  When he doesn't get the answers he wants, the interview quickly goes downhill.

The furor elicited by the clip on Twitter was like nothing I'd seen before in Latin America when it comes homophobia in media which, to be sincere, surprised me considering that it was not the first time something like this had been aired on Mexican television.  The clip even had its own hashtag on Twitter promoted by people who were calling for Arce's ouster from the airwaves (#EstebanArceFueraDelAire). And mainstream Mexican media, facing a slow news period in January, ran with the story for days on end.

Arce and his show were suspended for a few days by the Televisa network but was back on the air a month later. Top Mexican newspaper Milenio calls it one of the top 10 TV moments of the year and takes Televisa to task for doing nothing.

February: Valentine's Day brought same-sex kiss-in demonstrations and equal partnership rights rallies in Peru, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Expect similar demos come February of 2011.

Oh, and there was a big fire two blocks away from my apartment building.

Also in February: Luke Montgomery (formerly known as Luke Sissyfag) and his boyfriend Nate Guidas launched Cause Commandos to raise funds to help survivors of the massive January 12th earthquake that hit Haiti.

Although I haven't specifically written about it, Luke has been in the news again recently as the mind behind the FCKH8 campaign (that's him giving people the finger in the site's webpage).

I've been promoting their 2011 calendar (STR8 AGAINST H8) on my blog this month but this week this particular video drew the ire of homophobic bigots (OH.MY.GOD. I haven't done this many hyperlinks since I began the blog when I naively thought being hyperlink crazy was the way to go!).

Anyway, blooper reel!!

Next up: Latino pop singers come out of the closet, my friend Hiram, soccer players in love and how eating chicken can turn men gay...

When Latino pop stars turn their back on our rights

Yesterday something seemingly innocuous rubbed me off the wrong way on Twitter.  Well-known Mexican actress and singer Laura León was being interviewed live on Chicago's Homofrecuencia when she made the following comment, in Spanish:

For me, [the LGBT community] has given me their all, they are very creative people" [italics mine].

Or at least that's what she said in Spanish according to what a friend who was listening to the show and reporting about it on Twitter.

Nothing wrong with that, right? But if gays being creative creatures is a pretty harmless stereotype, when you hear one Latina starlet after another use the exact same phrase in Spanish to describe why they love the gays it can get pretty damn annoying.  Specially when they are promoting a tour of gay venues, as Ms. León was doing (there are shows in Chicago tomorrow, in Hollywood on Friday and in San Diego on Saturday).

To Ms. León's credit, she apparently went on to say she supported marriage rights for gay couples in Mexico, so her love for the gays might go further than appreciating us as a pretty creative bunch. It's certainly leagues ahead of Mexican singer Paquita La Del Barrio who famously said she, too, respected the gays, but argued in the same breath, that orphans would be better off dead than be adopted by a gay couple. 

Pretty innocuous stuff, no? 

Yup, I wasn't even going to write about it - except for something posted earlier today at the politics blog of the San Francisco Chronicle ("Star endorser at Latino 'values' event to help Fiorina -- the 2008 Queen of SF Gay Pride Parade?").

From that post:

That "Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles" fundraiser in Los Angeles to reach conservative Latinos, celebrate "Tus Valores" (Your Values) and help U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina had an interesting twist: among the star celebrity backers in the lineup was Mexican-born telenovela star Karyme Lozano -- who also happens to be the crowned Queen of the 2008 San Francisco LGBT Pride events and parade.

And, who brought Ms. Lozano to San Francisco to receive said crown from the San Francisco gays in 2008? Why, it was Granada Entertainment, the same organization who organized Laura León's gay bar tour this week!
 
The Chronicle goes on to quote a passage from a Wikipedia entry for Ms. Lozano which apparently has been deleted since it was quoted by the paper.

Karyme Lozano, after the death of her father, is dedicated to promoting values and defend their Catholic faith, his testimony has joined the many who leave everything to follow Christ and make Him known. He has served on several Catholic Congress in the U.S., Central and South America and has initiated pro-life action with Eduardo Verastegui by standing outside a clinic near downtown Los Angeles, handing out pamphlets, trying to stop women from obtaining health services such as contraception, pap smears, and abortion.

Ah, Eduardo Verastegui, that other Mexican-born singer / actor who became the Latino face for the successful homophobic Prop. 8 campaign in California back in 2008.

This is not really a dig at Granada Entertainment.  For years now, they have made a business of bringing popular Spanish-language pop music stars to their gay fans in the United States and there is certainly no way for them to know which of the stars that agree to perform at gay bars will turn their back on the gays in the future.  Among others they've brought to Latino gay clubs throughout the United States are also gay-friendly Fey, La India and Gloria Trevi.

But sometimes I feel our community confuses the fact that it's all about the business of getting their gay money rather than the performer's true support for the community and our rights - and it frustrates me to no end that performers such as Verastegui, Lozano and Paquita and Yuri can simply use the community to advance their careers and then turn their backs on us in hurtful ways.

Worse still is that they know they can get away with it.  Ms. Paquita "Let the baby die rather than be adopted by a gay couple" La Del Barrio? Why, she'll be performing at New York City's Madison Square Garden on October 16th as if nothing had happened and it wouldn't surprise me to see more than a few gay fans in the stands. And yes, before her mouth got her into trouble, Paquita also was crowned Queen of the gays during one of her US tours.

As for the group calling for the $1 million dollar Fiorina fundraising drive? The Los Angeles Times calls The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles "hard to trace" but names some of its founders and I'm not sure some of them could call themselves Latino without making people laugh.

The great Jeremy Hooper at Gay As You digs in deeper:

This Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles coalition is an outreach of the American Principles Project, and this Fiorina effort is the work of APP's action arm, American Principles in Action. Robert George is the founder of APP/APIA. The same Robert George who -- wait for it, wait for it -- CO-FOUNDED NOM! So essentially we have NOM signing on as one of two sponsors (the Susan B. Anthony List being the other) of a pro-Fiorina effort that was setup by their own founding chairman and current prominent spokesperson!

So where's the money coming from? That we can't answer. But we do know that this Partnership for Conservative Principles is not a Latino coalition that just so happens to put some focus on gay issues. In fact, it seems to be a largely gay-interested coalition (marriage in particular) that just so happens to put particular focus on Latinos! 

Got that? The so-called "Latino" partnership is an outreach arm of the non-Latino APP and the main force behind it, as well as it's lead board member, is the non-Latino Robert George who also happens to have been the founder of the incredibly homophobic National Organization for Marriage.

Note to Karyme Lozano: You are being used as a tool. I hope, down the line, Laura León stops at expressing platitudes about the gays and doesn't join Lozano and Verastegui in stabbing our backs.

Related:

• Another crowned Queen joins the anti-LGBT dark side (Hispanic L.A.)
• NOM supports Fiorina campaign to Latinos (Box Turtle Bulletin)