Hector Gastelum, an elected member of the Otay Water District board, found himself under fire on Facebook this week after San Diegans shared screenshots of his tweets calling Muslims things like “#SubhumanMonsters.”

Gastelum accused Muslims of being rapists and murderers, among other things. Gastelum, who won his election in November with 56 percent of the vote, is director of Otay Water district 4, which lies east of the 805 and south of the Sweetwater Reservoir. Gastelum, 42, of Chula Vista is a Republican and a real estate agent.

Anisa Hagi, a Muslim woman who spent about six years in San Diego before moving to Minnesota last year, said that while she usually doesn’t engage with such comments, she felt compelled to respond because Gastelum is a public official.

“I was just really shocked by some of the comments that he was writing,” Hagi said by telephone. “He had plenty of chances to retract his comments, but he made even more inflammatory comments.”


Hagi said her friends in San Diego called the water district and were referred back to Gastelum to talk out their differences.

“That’s not a really effective strategy,” Hagi said. “If there’s a school bully, you wouldn’t tell the child to go talk to them. You would address the bully.”

She said some of her friends are now trying to organize a recall election.

Gastelum did not respond to requests for comment. When confronted on Facebook about use of the #SubhumanMonsters hashtag, he replied, “I’m trying to think of a different way, but what do you call people that treat women like second hand citizens, stone them to death, honor killings, etc, throw homosexuals from the roof.”


He added, “It is not hateful, it is the reality of how Islamic men are raised and they are not compatible with civil society.”

On Twitter, Gastelum features a photo of himself with President Donald Trump and identifies himself with the Otay Water District.

On Sunday, he tweeted, “Let’s pressure OUR Legislators to increase list of so-called #MuslimBan to prevent #SubHuman #Scum from #USA to #MAGA.”

The general manager of the district, Mark Watton, did not respond to a message left with his secretary.


Edgar Hopida, who lives in the Otay Water District, contacted his division’s director, Mitch Thompson, about Gastelum’s comments.

“For public officials to spout that kind of divisiveness and hate toward a religious minority and also immigrants is troubling and also hurts the integrity of a government institution like the Otay Water District,” Hopida said by telephone.

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Thompson, who represents district 2, said he was concerned by Gastelum’s posts.


“I do not believe in any fashion that they reflect the attitudes of the agency,” Thompson said. “Obviously individuals — whether they’re public officials or not — are entitled to their opinions and that’s part of freedom of speech. Some of the things that I’ve looked at deeply concern me.”

Thompson said he might make a proposal to “reaffirm our agency’s long history of inclusiveness” at the next board meeting, which is March 1.

With one of the tweets, Gastelum shared Fox New’s story saying rapes in Sweden are increasing because of the rise in immigrants there. That story led to Trump’s controversial comments at a rally in Florida this past weekend.

Trump’s comments were denounced on Twitter by former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt. Data from Brå, which tracks reported crimes in Sweden, show that — contrary to the story’s claim — the rate of reported rapes compared to the population have stayed relatively stable in the past decade.


Gastelum accused Muslims of imprisoning and killing homosexuals. He also accused Muslims of being pedophiles.

Imam Taha Hassane of the Islamic Center of San Diego said that while Islam doesn’t agree with homosexuality, Gastelum’s impression of the faith is wrong.

“I always tell LGBT people that I work with that I disagree with you when it comes to your lifestyle, but I respect you as a human being and I want you to understand that if anyone attacks you because of who you are, I will be the first person to defend your right as a human being,” Hassane said. “Disagreeing with someone doesn’t mean allowing them to be victimized.”

Hassane posted a comment inviting Gastelum to tea to talk about his understanding of Islam.


“As a religious leader, my preferable way to deal with these issues is through education,” Hassane said by telephone. “The vast majority of the people who carry Islamophobic thoughts, it’s not because they have studied Islam profoundly. They are ignorant.”

Hassane said Gastelum had not yet responded to his invitation.

Christian Ramirez, human rights director of Alliance San Diego, also responded to Gastelum after he received numerous messages about the discussion, he said.

“Shame on you, Hector Gastelum, as an elected official you have an obligation to be civil and not promote hate-speech,” Ramirez wrote. “Religious intolerance and xenophobic statements have no place in a democracy and it is unbecoming of a public servant.”


Ramirez said when he first heard about the posts, he thought there might be some misunderstanding, but he was shocked when he saw the contents for himself.

“We may disagree on policy issues,” Ramirez said in a phone interview. “We may have passionate debates about immigration and how to enforce immigration laws, but this is clearly a symptom of the sort of irresponsible hyperbole that President Trump has unleashed, and it makes local elected officials feel it’s okay to use that sort of language.

“It’s never okay to use these heinous stereotypes to target an entire people, an entire faith,” Ramirez added.

Hanif Mohebi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in San Diego, said, “This is essentially disturbing, dumb and absolutely disrespectful to our community. We’re looking into the details of this matter, and we urge our community to stand against any bigotry or hate of such sort.”


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kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate