While being LGBTQ is absolutely totally 100% awesome, most people would agree that it’s not exactly an asset if you want to run for public office. Still to this day, queer politicians have to jump through a lot more hoops than their heterosexual counterparts, even as we’ve seen huge advancements toward LGBTQ equality in recent years.
But a straight candidate running for city council in Tijuana thought that being queer might help give him the edge he needed to stand out in a crowded field. So he lied and said he was bisexual. Now, he’s been slapped with a lawsuit for misleading voters about his identity.
Teresita Díaz Estrada, a local LGBTQ activist, says candidate Alejandro Cabrera Acosta signed a document saying he is bisexual when, in fact, he is not.
“He said in a meeting that he didn’t realize that he had signed and claimed to be bisexual and that it led to a big fight with his wife,” she tells Border Report. “If you’re not bisexual, you can’t say you’re part of the LGBTQ community.”
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Acosta’s claims that the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding and that he never meant to say he was bisexual also don’t square with his campaign slogan, “Juntos haremos historia por Baja California,” which translates to “Together we will make history for Baja California.”
Díaz Estrada says that she believes he intentionally lied about his identity because he thought it would help boost his election chances. But all it really did was “steal someone’s place from a minority group.”
“This is committing fraud against a vulnerable community that has been victimized for a long time,” she said, calling Acosta’s actions an “abuse.”
According to Díaz Estrada, 10 of the 28 candidates running for office in Tijuana have publicly said they support the LGBTQ community, but so far only one has falsely claimed to be a member of that community.
Acosta hasn’t issued any comment since being outed as straight.
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Donston
We really shouldn’t be having documents asking political candidates their sexual identities. That’s an overstep. While Graham and this site has been promoting self-identity, identity being a state of mind and these identities being whatever you want them to be. With that mindset you’re gonna get even more people using identities or presented behaviors for sociology, politics, clout, money, ego, etc. It comes with the territory.
While he could indeed be inherently bi or bi identifying or whatever. His wife just doesn’t know and then came at his rack when she found out about the document. Whatever the case, it’s very unlikely that he signed that document by accident. But this is just further evidence why representation politics can be a downfall and also why the hyper-focus on what strangers identify as and who’s supposed to be “straight” or “gay” or “bi” is misguided and shouldn’t still be such a “queer” concern.
winemaker
So what, all politicians lie through their teeth to get votes, and this is considered unusual.? Wow, who da thunk. .Just look at what’s going on in California, surely nobody with half a brain would vote for the slugs destroying the place and bankrupting the residents to fulfill their socialist utopian fantasies.
radiooutmike
Donston,
I appreciate your comment. But politics eventually does come down to identity. People vote on who you are not what your policies actually. It does not matter if the identity is the alphabet soup our community…or the de facto white rich people, Republicans.
Donston
I think I said clearly that people use identity for politics. So, what you’re saying here doesn’t really contradict anything I said. The difference is it’s much easier to attach to (sometimes detach from) “queer” identities for the sake of politics or convenience or simply based on how you wish to be perceived. It’s much more difficult to attach to a race or detach from race. No one sees a pale woman with white features and white parents as “black” even if she presents herself as such (shoutout to Rachel).
All the man had to do was sign a paper and suddenly he’s perceived as “bi” and then tell the world he’s “straight” and suddenly he’s “straight” again. “Queer” politics and identities will never be directly comparable to race for a variety of different reasons. It’s malleable, too driven by ego and choice, changes for many throughout the years, and even among out “queers” there’s too much disagreement about what is supposed to mean what and who has the right to identify as what. We got dudes claiming to be “bi” but they’re almost scared pvssy. Dudes claiming to be “gay” when they’re no where near homosexual and frequently are hooking up with chicks. And of course, there’s plenty who say that they’re “straight” when they’re no where hetero or are as “queer” as a two dollar bill.
None of that means we should dismiss “queer” identities. But it’s a big reason why that type of shit should not be placed in documents for politicians (the dirtiest of folks) to fill out.
rural queer socialist
Decent people might prefer that the issues of
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION from drug cartels, sex and labor trafficking, and deceived, abused, defrauded migrants (who are often victims of the cartels and trafficking)
would take priority.
But if Queerty prefers to spend its time on such a lame story, …. duh?! ok.
It is likely, however, that THOUSANDS TERRORIZED by cartels and trafficking – including terrorized queer folks! trafficked queer folks! – would prefer that Tijuana officials spend their time on those issues?
But of course Queerty has no interest in that. But do its readers?
One international human trafficking report concluded that:
QUOTE The southwestern city of Puerto Vallarta is an active hub for gay sex tourism. More than
35% of the existing hotel capacity is dedicated to this sector of tourism. It is also the second
most visited vacation destination in the world for homosexual US males. However, within this
gay tourism culture exists the darker side of prostitution of men and under aged boys. It is
very common to find prostituted boys in Puerto Vallarta. UNQUOTE
And a Dec 2020 report said
QUOTE It’s been an extremely violent year for Tijuana. In the final hours of this weekend alone, the city registered 12 homicides, Zeta reports, bringing the total to 1,917, slightly below the previous year’s death toll.Tijuana ended 2019 with more than 2,100 registered murders and had the highest murder rate per capita of any city in Mexico. UNQUOTE
Why doesn’t Queerty do a series on the horrors of violent drug and sex tourism in Tijuana? And exposes on gay-owned gay-attracting businesses that are involved in these HORRORS!? Surely Queerly has enough has ‘connections’ to know who’s who in gay sex tourism. Why won’t Queerty name names?!
Heywood Jablowme
Cam, this is a Wendy’s.
huntsnark
‘Juntos haremos historia’ (Together we’ll make history) is the name/slogan of a coalition led by a political party called MORENA. So this candidate’s slogan does not imply (to people in Mexico, anyway) that he’s LGBTQ. It means he’s either a member of MORENA or one of the smaller allied parties.
rbernard
I think it is fascinating that we live in a time when a politician sees it being an asset to be a member of our community.
But, lying to the public about your sexual identity while running for office, is always a bad thing.