Yesterday, the Post reported that Bronx Pride, the Bronx's biggest LGBT group, was moving into the Ruben Diaz Sr. Gardens building, a residential-commercial space funded by State Senator Diaz's non-profit and named after him. And given his extremely anti-gay marriage stance, the Post quoted a source who said that Diaz was "furious. It’s such a direct shot at him." But Diaz tells us that's not true—he actually feels "honored" and "blessed" to have the group in the building and is only furious that the Post reporter didn't include anything he told her!
After receiving a press release from Diaz's office, we called the State Senator, who told us, "I'm a big guy. I can take criticism... But I wish that the reporter was fair and honest. I think she wanted me to say bad things." Of Bronx Pride's move, Diaz, who is a Pentecostal minister, said, "I'm not angry. I feel blessed... It's a testament to the work I'm doing [to let everyone know that] the Bronx is open for business."
When we asked Diaz about whether he would pursue a lawsuit against NY's same-sex marriage law—a law he called "criminal" back in the summer—he said, "That's over." Still, Diaz was happy that anti-gay marriage group, the National Organization for Marriage had "given me opportunities to robo-call and send mailings to the voters in the 9th Congressional District about my support for Bob Turner's pro-family values... I expect that the Hispanic vote in this race will be influential in determining who wins, and since the Hispanic community has traditional family values, I believe they will vote for Bob Turner because of his position against gay marriage."
