Elisa Chan says anti-gay remarks are free speech

Councilwoman Elisa Chan defended anti-gay remarks made during a secretly recorded staff meeting, saying at a news conference Tuesday that she won't change her “values or beliefs for political gain or survival.”

The statements mark Chan's first public appearance since San Antonio Express-News Columnist Brian Chasnoff reported last week that a former aide recorded the May 21 meeting, in which Chan expressed her unvarnished views on homosexuality, from calling it “disgusting” to saying that gays shouldn't be allowed to adopt because it could confuse children and lead to them being “corrupt.”

Cloaked in an argument about the constitutionality of her statements, Chan said she had an expectation she and her staff would be free to express their personal opinions and thoughts during staff meetings.

“Political correctness will not win this day; standing firm as an individual in service to the whole community does,” she said. “I stand strong in my First Amendment right to freedom of speech and our right to privacy.”

San Antonio City Councilwoman District 9 Elisa Chan addresses media during a press conference at City Hall, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013. In a secret recording by former staff member James Stevens on May 21, Chan condemned homosexuality and described it as "disgusting". At the press conference, Chan reiterated her rights to free speech and personal opinions. "Political correctness will not win this dayâ€¦.I stand strong in my First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech," she said. less San Antonio City Councilwoman District 9 Elisa Chan addresses media during a press conference at City Hall, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013. In a secret recording by former staff member James Stevens on May 21, Chan ... more Photo: San Antonio Express-News Photo: San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Elisa Chan says anti-gay remarks are free speech 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

She said her confidentiality was violated when then-staffer James Stevens, 28, surreptitiously recorded the staff meeting, where the District 9 councilwoman and her staff strategized on ways to oppose updating the city's nondiscrimination ordinance.

“I know that many people find the comments made in the meeting offensive, but again, it was a confidential meeting set in the privacy of my office where none of us are supposed to worry about what we say,” she said. “These meetings have been and always will be a free-speech zone.”

Hired in early May, Stevens began recording the conversation when he realized the direction it was going.

LGBT activist Eric Alva, an Iraq war veteran from San Antonio who lost his leg after stepping on a land mine in 2003, said he was unimpressed with Chan's remarks.

“I already had given her the benefit of the doubt and told my friends I thought she would apologize,” said Alva, a 10-year District 7 resident and a leader in the successful fight to repeal in 2011 the Defense Department's “don't ask, don't tell” policy.

Alva, who is openly gay, said Chan and her staff have refused to take meetings with supporters of the proposed ordinance, even though he said he's had no problem getting meetings with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and other conservatives in the past.

“She talked about her First Amendment rights, but what about the people who support the ordinance? What about their freedom of speech? They are not taking any of our meetings,” Alva said. “Cornyn, Hutchison and their staffs have never shut the door in our face.”

Mayor Julián Castro, who previously remarked that Chan's comments illuminate a “level of bias and ignorance that's astonishing,” said Tuesday that he's hopeful Chan ultimately will support the nondiscrimination ordinance.

“We're going to take up this issue on Sept. 5, and my hope is that Councilwoman Chan will support the ordinance,” he said. “We can bring the council and community together in support of a well-written ordinance that respects individual beliefs and protects from discrimination.”

Weston Martinez, who ran against Chan for the District 9 seat in 2009, stood Tuesday in support of her.

“Free speech is free speech,” he said. “She should be allowed her free speech.”

Martinez said Chan is defending City Hall against an attempt to run out all conservatives, which he said would happen under the proposed ordinance.

In a 2009 interview about the District 9 race, Martinez mentioned Chan's thick accent, and a third candidate always referred to her by her full name, Wan-Yu Elisa Chan.

At the time, Taiwan-born Chan said she “would be lying if I told you there were not racial undertones” emanating from her opponents.

At the Tuesday news conference, Chan said she holds dearly her right to free speech.

“I consider this to be the greatest privilege of being a U.S. citizen,” she said.

The councilwoman said Tuesday that her remarks had been “taken out of context” in the Express-News and that she used the word “disgusting” to describe her opinion of pedophilia and beastiality.

On the recording, which is posted on the Express-News' websites, Chan is heard using the term to describe same-sex couples when she's attempting to hone her argument against the city's proposed measure, which would add protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“This is my philosophy, guys. Whatever you want to do in your bedroom, that's none of my business, but do not impose your view on other people, especially (to) become a policy,” she said during the meeting. “Because personally, I think it's just disgusting just to even think about.”

Chan said Tuesday that she stands by the comments that were recorded.

The debate of the city's proposed updates to the nondiscrimination ordinance has become increasingly controversial and appears to have hit its apogee with the exposure of Chan's comments.

The full council is scheduled to discuss the measure for the first time next week. It appears Councilman Diego Bernal, who brought forth the measure, has enough support from his colleagues for it to pass.

Opponents have vowed to challenge the ordinance in court if it's enacted.

Chan was greeted with robust applause Tuesday when she entered the media briefing room in City Hall.

Communications chief Roger LeGrand had alerted the media to the time and location of the news conference 30 minutes prior.

He acknowledged afterward that the District 9 office had invited supporters to the news conference Monday night.

In one instance, when Chan was responding to questions, she blocked a question from a reporter and allowed a woman to state: “It is disgusting because it translates into abomination. Thank you for saying the truth.”

Chan declined to answer a question from a TV reporter who asked whether she thinks “gays are disgusting,” saying that she needed to take a question from another part of the room to be fair.

Asked whether she would attend sensitivity training, Chan said she is entitled to her own views.

“My beliefs, my views, are mine,” she said. “I do not impose that on anybody else.”

Chan said she didn't understand “all this pressure for me to agree.”

Local and national advocacy groups have called for an apology and for Chan's resignation.

Staff Writer Scott Huddleston contributed to this report.