RENWL

Long Beach 9th District Council candidate Steven Neal (photo courtesy of Ian Foxx)

We knew it was bound to happen sooner or later—an African American political candidate stuck on stupid was going to step up to the plate talkin’ crazy about their religious views and same-sex marriage—and think it was perfectly okay to do just that.  Not.

The presidents of four democratic clubs in the city of Long Beach, CA, have sent an open letter to 9th District Council candidate Steven Neal asking him to explain statements he made in an interview with the Long Beach Business Journal publication in which he said that he believes marriage is instituted by God and he does not think “man has the ability or the right to change that.”

In that same interview he also referred to LGBTs “a lifestyle that people choose.”

Neeeeegroooo please.

Now let’s stop right here. This part is the real clincher: according to his Web site Steven Neal also happens to be the Director of the AFL-CIO Community Service Department at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. He is also the recipient of the 2007 Californians for Justice Racial Justice Hero Award among many other community service awards and accolades. Oh, he’s a real winner.

But let’s get back to the part about him being an employee of the AFL-CIO. Don’t they have a policy about supporting same-sex marriage and endorsing gay folks?  We believe they do. So we went to their Web site and checked up on it. Sure enough, right under the Civil Rights and Immigration heading:

LGBT in Labor

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals are an indelible part of our society and community. The labor movement opposes all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and condemns hate crimes directed at the LGBT community. We support marriage equality and full rights for LGBT individuals on the job and in our society.

Oh but wait. It gets even better.  He’s also got some type of connection with the United Way. But we couldn’t get confirmation on that. Anyway, guess who is endorsing Mr. Neal? Why a veritable Who’s Who list of political folks that we’d always thought were friends of the LGBT community. Not so sure now with them getting behind cats like Neal:

California Constitutional Officers

Honorable State Controller John Chiang, State of California
Honorable Board of Equalization Member Jerome Horton, State of California

CA State Senate

Honorable Senate Member Curren Price, State of California
Honorable Senate Member Gloria Romero, State of California

CA State Assembly

Honorable Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, State of California
Honorable Assembly Member Steve Bradford, State of California
Honorable Assembly Member, Warren Furutani, State of California
Honorable Assembly Member, Ed Hernandez, State of California
Honorable Assembly Member Kevin De Leon, State of California
Honorable Assembly Member, Tony Mendoza, State of California
Honorable Assembly Member, Alberto Torrico, State of California

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

Honorable Mark Ridley-Thomas Los Angeles County Supervisor

City of Los Angeles

Honorable Paul Koretz, Los Angeles City Council
Honorable Kelly Candaele, Los Angeles County College District
Honorable Miguel Santiago, Los Angeles County College District

Oh, and did we mention that Neal is also an assistant pastor? Guess we forgot that part. Yea, he’s a pastor somewhere out in Chino of all places. You can find out all that on his Web site the link of which we’ll provide momentarily. But right now, we need to get some letters assembled to send out to various political luminaries on this list like former speaker Karen Bass, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Senators Curren Price and Gloria Romero to name a few. We’d like to ask to them what the hell is goin’? Why are they backing this clearly homophobic candidate? And then politely ask them to withdraw their support.

Be on the look out for action alert information to be posted here no later than tonight early evening. This is an opportunity for progressive African Americans, LGBT community members and allies to stand up and make clear that these kinds of views are are unacceptable  in the local political arena. What really hurts our heart is on his Web site local black lesbian blogger and activist Jasmyne Cannick of all people is listed as the designer of the site. We wonder is she aware of his views…

For more details on this post you can go to this link at: LB Dems Question Candidate’s Gay Marriage Stance

For more information on Steven Neal and his platform go to his Web site at: Steven Neal For Long Beach City Council

Open Letter From Four Long Beach area Democratic Clubs To Steven Neal:

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