POLITICS
Ruben Diaz, Sr., Humiliated in Defeat, Exiting Politics
Homophobic Bronx politician says he won’t run for City Council re-election in 2021
BY MATT TRACY
Just weeks ago, many residents
of the South Bronx
worried that a homophobe
would be elevated to Capitol
Hill. Now that same homophobe
is leaving politics altogether.
Councilmember Ruben Diaz, Sr.,
fresh off a devastating defeat in the
Democratic primary race for the
15th Congressional District, announced
on July 13 that he would
not be running for re-election in
2021. The 77-year-old city lawmaker
made the announcement
just months after his son, Bronx
Borough President Ruben Diaz,
Jr., abruptly pulled out of the 2021
mayoral race and said he was leaving
politics.
The elder Diaz used one of his
“What You Should Know” emails —
a platform he has utilized for years
to voice his political perspectives
— to make the announcement after
initial results showed him fi nishing
in a paltry third place in the
competition to replace retiring Congressmember
José Serrano. Out
gay City Councilmember Ritchie
Torres jumped out to a signifi cant
lead, followed by Assemblymember
Michael Blake, in results that have
not yet been fi nalized.
“After serious analysis, of which
I spent in prayer with God, family,
ministers and after a political
analysis, I have made the decision
to follow the example of my two
sons,” Diaz wrote. “My biological
son Ruben Diaz, Jr., and my political
son Marcos Crespo.”
Crespo, an assemblymember,
stepped down last month from his
role as the chair of the Bronx Democratic
Party, in yet another example
of the rapid shift in the political
makeup of a borough that just two
years ago saw the dramatic rise
of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who
also represents part of Queens.
Diaz, who has mixed his homophobia
with opposition to
women’s reproductive rights, patted
himself on the back throughout
his “What You Should Know”
email, crediting himself for being
The Bronx’s Ruben Diaz, Sr., is on his way out of politics after he concludes his current term on the City
Council next year.
the namesake of a housing complex
and apartment building in
the Bronx, in addition to a handful
of other “accomplishments” he lists
in the note.
“I remained steadfast and
brought many projects and programs,”
Diaz wrote. “I did so, with
my head held high, defending those
in need regardless of race, sexual
orientation, political orientation,
nationality or religion, regardless if
they resided in my district or not,
my offi ce welcomed and served
all.”
His work in “defending” people
“regardless of… sexual orientation”
obviously did not square with his
longstanding opposition to samesex
marriage or his other anti-LGBTQ
actions, such as his 1994 assertion
that the Gay Games “would
lead to an increase in AIDS cases
and to wider acceptance of homosexuality
by young people.”
But Diaz has always been a
complicated fi gure. He once came
to the defense of ACT UP activist
Christopher Hennelly, who was a
victim of police brutality, and most
recently was among the few Bronx
political voices to stand up for Abel
Cedeno, a bullied gay youth who
is serving a 14-year sentence after
getting convicted of manslaughter
last year for fatally stabbing his
classmate, Matthew McCree.
It is likely that Diaz’s poor showing
in the congressional race was
MATT TRACY
a factor in his decision to avoid a
re-election bid. He was crushed
by Torres in his own City Council
district and only won a tiny slice
of it, according to an electoral map
drawn up by researchers at the
Center for Urban Research at the
City University of New York Graduate
Center.
Diaz is in his second go-around
on the City Council after serving
a stint there before serving in the
State Senate from 2003 until 2017.
His return to city government,
however, has largely been overshadowed
by his tendency to revert
back to themes of homophobia and
sexism that dogged him during his
time in the State Legislature. He
hurled comments last year asserting
that the City Council “is controlled
by the homosexual community,”
leading his colleagues
to punish him by dissolving his
Committee on For-Hire Vehicles,
and then he landed in hot water
yet again when he ruined a City
Council sensitivity training event
by saying he would not “rat” if he
witnessed sexual harassment, according
to the New York Post.
Diaz also had a reputation for
doubling down on the controversies
he brewed, refusing to extinguish
fi res he himself started. As
he was facing calls to resign in
the days following his complaints
about LGBTQ control of the City
Council, he told Gay City News
that he would not apologize for the
comments and even maintained
the position that got him in trouble
in the fi rst place.
“What is wrong with what I
said?” he asked at his district offi
ce in February of 2019. “That the
gay community has power and
control? Yes, they do!”
Torres, who is expected to walk
through the general election in
a district that is overwhelmingly
dominated by Democratic voters,
spent the entire primary election
process painting himself as the
underdog to Diaz. But now, having
dispatched his cowboy hat-wearing
colleague, Torres is celebrating.
“BREAKING NEWS: I cannot
offi cially declare victory until the
results are certifi ed but I can announce
that I have retired the politics
of hate and fear in the Bronx,”
Torres wrote in a tweet reacting to
Diaz’s announcement on July 13.
“Happy Belated Pride!”
According to the New York City
Campaign Finance Board, three
candidates — Amanda Farias,
Darlene Jackson, and Eliu A Lara
— have fi led to run for Diaz’s seat
in the 18th City Council District
encompassing Soundview, Castle
Hill, Parkchester, Clason Point,
and Harding Park.
Farias, a state committee member
in the 87th Assembly District,
previously faced Diaz when she
ran for City Council in 2017 and
snagged 20.88 percent of the vote.
“Diaz’s exit makes our path to
victory clearer, but a lot can happen
in the next year,” Farias wrote
in a tweet July 13. “So, the work
doesn’t stop. This is where our
movement goes full speed ahead.”
Diaz, who still has more than a
year remaining in his term on the
City Council, is at least staying
true to his word about his future
plans — even if he didn’t expect to
go down this way. He told Gay City
News in that February interview
that “the only people who could ask
for my resignation are the people of
the 18th Council District.”
Based on last month’s election
results, the people of his district
appeared to do just that.
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