Open Letter to Citizens of San Jose

This is a letter that I wrote this evening to the Metro, and I thought it best to duplicate it here too.

If the mayor of a major American city in a state not affected directly by Prop. 8 can take a clear stand against discrimination, why can't our city council? Witness this statement from KOMO News: "Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels ... called Proposition 8 'a hateful measure which should never have been on the ballot.'"

Where is our elected officials' outrage? Is San Jose not the largest city in Northern California, and home to thousands of gays and lesbians, and their families? In particular, why has the San Jose City Council been completely silent about this unconscionable discrimination against gay and lesbian citizens? Does it not care about our rights, rights which our own county has acknowledged are so important that it joined the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco in a petition to overturn Prop. 8?

A few years back, our council would have vehemently decried the unconstitutional stripping of rights from citizens. But something in our city government has changed recently. A dark and sinister element seems to have infiltrated the city at the highest levels. The Metro recently featured Larry Pegram, an avowed foe of the GLBT community, in a seven-page article that hinted at his connections and influence with the mayor and the council. In addition, San Jose's new police chief, Rob Davis, is a member of the Mormon Church, which contributed tremendous resources to codifying discrimination into law in California. (It is noteworthy, too, that the Latino community is angry at the police department's allegedly overbearing activities in downtown San Jose on weekends.)

My attempts to contact the council directly about their stance on Prop. 8 have been met with rude indifference. Is that how they care about their constituents? Or are they simply afraid that Mr. Pegram will incite a recall campaign against them if they speak out in the name of justice? Are they afraid of the Mormon Church? Certainly, they have witnessed first-hand the power of the church to push through its agenda.

The council's silence has been deafening. Who will speak out for the residents of San Jose? Now, more than ever, is the time for each one of us to break the silence and demand answers from our council. As Elie Wiesel eloquently stated, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim; silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

If you live in San Jose, and assuming you're outraged over the whole Prop. 8 debacle, you owe it to yourself and your community to question your city councilmember as to why there has been no public statement from the council. If you're not sure who you're councilmember is, here is a map in .pdf format to help you identify your district, and here is the council in all its glory.