Pastor Dennis Hodges, who stirred controversy over anti-transgender remarks, alleged the San Diego mayor violated his free speech rights by removing him from a police advisory board
A trolley passes the San Diego’s City Administration Building on Monday, March 18, 2024. A federal judge has dismissed a discrimination lawsuit by a pastor who claimed that San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria violated his First Amendment rights by vetoing his reappointment to the city’s police-community advisory board, allegedly as retaliation for the pastor’s religious beliefs and controversial anti-LGBTQ remarks he made as a member of the county’s human relations commission.
“The and City Charter establish that commonality of political purpose is an appropriate requirement for Advisory Board members,” Whelan wrote in his order granting Gloria’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. “The Court finds that as a matter of law, Hodges cannot maintain his First Amendment retaliation claims against Mayor Gloria.”, which judges often allow at this stage in a civil case, meaning Hodges’ only recourse would be to appeal the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Hodges joined the commission in 2021 and was at the center of a controversy that erupted in November of that year when the commission discussed and voted to sign a letter condemning transphobia and recommitted to work to end discrimination against transgender people. Hodges abstained from voting and, when asked about it, made disparaging comments.In June 2022, the commission held a vote on his potential removal that required 13 commissioners to approve.
Gloria’s lawyers from the City Attorney’s Office filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in January, arguing that 9th Circuit precedent recognizes that political appointees such as Hodges can be dismissed — or in his case, not reappointed — for lack of political compatibility. “The First Amendment does not immunize Hodges from the political fallout of his speech which, in this case, was Mayor Gloria’s veto of his reappointment to the Advisory Board,” the city attorneys argued.
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