Kim Norvell

knorvell@dmreg.com

A candidate for Black Hawk County supervisor who would be the first openly gay man to serve in that position woke up Thursday morning to find homophobic slurs spray painted on his home and in his yard.

The vandal or vandals used black spray paint to write "fag" on Chris Schwartz's campaign sign and "Lev 20:13" on his front door. Other campaign signs promoting Democratic candidates had black lines crossing out their names.

Schwartz, of Waterloo, shares the home with his boyfriend and campaign manager Logun Buckley.

"It struck some fear into me. Especially the word ‘fag.’ It's such a hateful word, and something I experienced all throughout my childhood," Schwartz, 36, said. "The Leviticus reference outside my front door, that’s a death threat to us."

According to Bible Hub, the verse referenced says: "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

Schwartz said the Waterloo Police Department came early Thursday to take a report. He has requested the case be forwarded to the FBI as a hate crime investigation.

"Under Iowa code it is classified as a hate crime," said Capt. Dave Mohlis with the Waterloo Police Department. "The whole incident is under investigation. If at some point it feels like it qualifies as something for the federal government to look into, we will be sure to get them involved."

While the incident has struck a nerve, Schwartz said it will not deter him from the campaign.

"We’re going to in the meantime keep our campaign going, which has been a campaign of love and tolerance," he told the Register. "We want to let people know we’re not going to tolerate this kind of hate. And we’re not going to be intimated by it either."

In a followup statement to the media, Schwartz said recent "hateful rhetoric" spread on Facebook by Cedar Valley Patriots for Christ likely "inspired" the vandalism. The group has called Schwartz a "pro-gay socialist who is to the left of Bernie Sanders" and does not believe he is fit for public office.

Cedar Valley Patriots for Christ's leader, Judd Saul, said in a statement the group believes the vandalism is a hoax and called the incident "a tactic right out of the leftist playbook." Even so, Saul said the group does not condone this sort of activity and has offered to help pay for damages to Schwartz's home.

"We do not hate anyone or condone violence," he said in a statement. "Becoming a Christian is a choice. As Christians we are to spread the gospel and let people decide their eternity."

Schwartz, who is the state director of Americans for Democratic Action, said as supervisor he would work to raise the minimum wage, improve access to mental health care and reform punishment for drug abusers.

He is one of six candidates for three at-large supervisor seats. The candidates are: Democratic incumbents Linda Laylin and Tom Little, and Republican challengers John Dodge, Chad Folken and Terry Scheffert.

If elected, Schwartz said he would be the first LGBT person to hold elected office in northeast Iowa.

Schwartz recently ran for Waterloo’s Ward 4 City Council seat, but came up short in a run-off election, according to The Waterloo Courier. He is originally from Dubuque, but moved to Waterloo 18 years ago to study music and political science at the University of Northern Iowa. He is one of seven people who started the Cedar Valley Pridefest, which just had its fifth annual event.