On July 21, the El Paso City Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning all forms of discrimination. The resolution is the product of a struggle that broke out around five men who were kicked out of a Chico’s Tacos restaurant because they were gay. In the early morning of June 29, Carlos Diaz de Leon called 911 twice to report that he and his friends were being harassed by a security guard after two of his friends kissed in the restaurant. The guard used an anti-gay slur against them and called the police. When the officer arrived, he threatened to arrest the five men under an anti-sodomy law that was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. El Paso enacted an ordinance in 2003 that criminalized discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation, but that law has not been enforced. LGBT activists around the country have used this latest display of homophobia, among others, to continue to demand full equality.
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