San Jose LGBTQ+ community grapples with Omar Torres scandal

The allegations were hard to believe.

Initial reports of a child sex abuse investigation into San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres reeked of a political smear to his supporters, who had yet to see key details, in early October. For more than a year, the District 3 official faced incessant online vitriol for being an openly gay elected leader, which often pushed myths about queer people grooming children. Homophobic emails flooded his office for inviting a drag queen to perform at a council meeting last year — a historic gesture for the LGBTQ+ movement at a time when conservative states outlawed public drag shows.

But Torres’ reassurances — that the investigation was baseless and he was the victim — later spelled a shocking betrayal for people who found not only inspiration, but hope, in his success as a gay Latino political figure. Police filings made public in the subsequent weeks revealed Torres not only asked for sex with minors in 2022, but admitted to molesting an underage relative in the 1990s. Authorities are now trying to uncover more potential victims.

“We’ve already seen the resurgence of anti-LGBTQ forces,” Shane Patrick Connolly, the openly gay chair of the Santa Clara County Republican Party, told San José Spotlight. “Then something like this happens.”

As Torres waits in jail for a plea hearing — originally set for Friday but postponed until Jan. 31 — LGBTQ+ leaders across the valley are grappling with how the scandal might perpetuate untrue myths and embolden people who are anti-LGBTQ+.

“Incidents like this, regardless of the individuals involved, fuel harmful stereotypes and misrepresentations about the LGBTQ+ community as a whole,” reads an Oct. 25 statement from Silicon Valley Pride’s board of directors, Qmunity Foundation President Nathan Svoboda and BAYMEC Community Foundation Executive Director Ken Yeager.

Yeager didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Silicon Valley Pride condemned all forms of abuse and exploitation in its statement and also circulated hotlines and legal resources for domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault victims, as well as support services for LGBTQ+ youth.

“As an organization dedicated to promoting equality, acceptance, and understanding, Silicon Valley Pride finds it crucial to dispel any unfounded beliefs that members of the LGBTQ+ community are more likely to engage in predatory acts toward minors or other forms of sexual misconduct. Such harmful stereotypes only undermine the progress made toward inclusivity and acceptance,” the organization said.

There is no scientific evidence that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to molest children than heterosexual or gender conforming people, according to the Zero Abuse Project, a nonprofit organization committed to the elimination of child sexual abuse.
Connolly said it’s important to emphasize one individual’s actions don’t reflect the community overall.

“The important thing is to continue to reiterate the facts and ward off the old stereotypes we’re unfortunately revisiting,” he said.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.