Temecula city councilmember walks out over Pride proclamation

TEMECULA, Calif. - After delivering a six minute diatribe with a slide show presentation to shore up her complaints against the LGBTQ+ community in advance of the city’s Pride proclamation by Temecula Mayor Zak Schwank, City Councilmember Jessica Alexander got up and walked off the dais.

During her speech, Alexander kept demanding to know what the ‘plus’ in LGBTQ+ stood for then answered her own questions claiming, by use of a slide show with various LGBTQ+ flags and their definitions that the plus was strictly to acknowledge ‘sexual deviant behaviours.’

Addressing the proclamation she warned that she would walk out and then said:

“Where is your moral and ethical line for each one of you as a city council member?”

“If you don’t oppose this proclamation being given to minors, we are celebrating and encouraging sexual activity and giving them (a) sexual credit card with no limit,” Alexander said. “You are encouraging them to expose them to all sexual possibilities and exposing them to predators.”

The Press-Enterprise reported:

Saying such proclamations were divisive, the council voted 3-2 in January to stop issuing citywide proclamations recognizing months such as Black History Month that celebrate cultural diversity, women’s history or the LGBTQ community.

Instead, those proclamations were left to the 2-year-old diversity commission, which took up the Pride Month proclamation at its June 7 meeting. Copies of the proclamation were given to LGBTQ clubs from the city’s high schools

Prior to that, in June of 2022 Alexander opposed a similar Pride proclamation, she espoused views that are considered homophobic and she referred to “sexual lifestyle” and “sexual preference” repeatedly. Then claiming her allegiance as a Christian she insisted she could not in “good faith” support the proclamation she deemed harmful and wrong.

She has also targeted the local Drag Queen shows and a Drag Queen Story Hour labeling them as “grooming” and has previously made references to LGBTQ+ people as pedophiles.

At this council meeting, Alexander said there are more than 50 LGBTQ flags representing “different identities, sexual attractions and most concerning sexual behaviors … Why is this city supporting children 17 and under to become involved in over 50 groups that fall under the LGBTQ+ flag?” She then claimed that a newly passed Connecticut bill creates a special ‘protected class’ for pedophiles.

However, the Associated Press fact-checked this claim, and found it to be patently false. What the bill does is update the state s definition of sexual orientation in its statewide non-discrimination ordinance, and adds age as a protected class to said ordinance.

Jorge Reyes Salinas, a spokesperson for Equality California, in an emailed statement said:

“In a year where we have seen seemingly unceasing attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, Temecula City Councilmember Jessica Alexander’s comments at the June 13 council meeting continued to add fuel to the fire of anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and trafficked in long-tired tropes and outright misinformation.

Alexander s comments about Pride flags are extremely and dangerously inaccurate.In saying that supporting the city’s Pride proclamation would ‘celebrate and encourage sexual activity’ and ‘expose [children] to predators,’ Alexander elevated dangerous rhetoric linking LGBTQ+ people to sexual predation, a long-used tactic by members of the far-right to discredit, stigmatize, and place in harm’s way the lives of LGBTQ+ people.

Alexander took a page out of the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist playbook by equating being LGBTQ+ with being a danger to the community, particularly young people. These offensive tropes have been thoroughly and completely debunked and it is shameful to hear them coming from an elected official in 2023.”

Mayor Schwank, responding to a press request for comment in an email wrote:

«He’s been reading “every proclamation that has been presented at (the commission) … so this isn’t something new. I find that there is value to the community to also acknowledge the proclamations during” a portion of the meeting reserved for councilmembers’ comments.

He added: “It’s disappointing to see one of our council member representatives refusing to recognize a valued and important group within our community, because I think it’s antithetical to our purpose here on the City Council.”

“More than anything else, behavior like that from the dais continues to divide this community in ways that are not conducive towards building a better Temecula.”

By BRODY LEVESQUE