Judge Dismisses Pastor’s Lawsuit vs. Mayor Gloria Regarding Removal from City Board

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a pastor who said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria removed him from a city board in retaliation for statements the pastor made about transgender people while serving on the San Diego County Human Relations Commission.

The lawsuit filed last year by Dennis Hodges argued Gloria discriminated against him for his religious beliefs by vetoing Hodges’ reappointment to San Diego’s Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations.

Hodges said the decision stemmed from comments he made while serving on the human relations commission, when he abstained from voting with other members regarding the body’s support of a letter condemning transphobia.

Hodges, who is also a pastor of the Church of Yeshua Ha Mashiach in Lemon Grove, cited his Christian beliefs when explaining his abstention and said “transgenderism … is an abomination in the eyes of God,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Those remarks, along with similar alleged statements, led the commission to vote on whether to remove Hodges, but not enough votes were cast in favor of his expulsion.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan ruled Monday that Gloria was allowed to seek “commonality of political purpose” in what Advisory Board members he appointed and can veto board members without cause.

The judge cited a similar case out of Huntington Beach in which a woman was removed from the city’s Citizen Participation Advisory Board after she was photographed at an immigrants’ rights rally close to alleged members of antifa. The woman, Shayna Lathus, sued over her removal on First Amendment grounds, but the lawsuit was dismissed.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling, writing “that an appointed public official can be removed for engaging in otherwise protected First Amendment activity if political affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the public office involved.”

In Hodges’ case, Whelan wrote that the Advisory Board speaks to the public on the mayor’s behalf. He also wrote that having a common political purpose was “an appropriate requirement for Advisory Board members” that was supported by the San Diego Municipal Code and the City Charter.

— City News Service