Santa Barbara DA Speaks Out for LGBTQ+ Protection
New Board of Supervisors Unanimously Passes Resolution of Support for Members of LGBTQ+ Community Against Threats, Violence, or Discrimination
The first action taken by the new Board of Supervisors with Laura Capps as chair was a resolution of support for members of the LGBTQ+ community against threats, violence, or any form of discrimination.
Capps and new supervisor Roy Lee sponsored the measure, which stated “that recent and potential threats to the rights and protections of LGBTQ+ individuals demand unequivocal and proactive reaffirmation of our values of inclusivity, equity, and justice for all.” It marked the first action taken by Supervisor Lee upon being sworn in. The resolution added that “hateful discriminatory language when perpetrated by political leaders of individuals in positions of influence must be condemned, as silence only enables harm and marginalization.”
While representatives of Pacific Pride Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and Santa Barbara Transgender Advocacy Network spoke forcefully in favor of the measure, it was District Attorney John Savrnoch who provided the most personally dramatic testimony. Savrnoch recalled driving alone to Wisconsin in 1990 to visit a brother then dying of AIDS. His brother, he said, was “emaciated beyond recognition” by the time he arrived.
The country had been slow to respond to AIDS, he added. “It was only a ‘gay disease.’”
Worse yet, Savrnoch said, some family members “were more upset my brother was gay than he was about to die.”
Given this experience, he stated, his department would vigorously prosecute acts and threats of violence that were the “result of who you are and who you love.”
Only one person spoke against the resolution, stating that school officials should not be allowed to speak to her kids or anyone under 18 about their sexual orientation or gender identity. To allow this, she said, was akin to “normalizing bestiality” or targeting kids to “become future eunuchs.”
The supervisors voted 5-0 in favor of the resolution after supervisors Capps and Lee posed for photos with six LGBTQ+ advocates by the speaker’s podium while handing them a copy of the proclamation.
