Dear Editor:

I will not share my name and remain anonymous because of the cyberbullying I have been subjected to on Councilmember Catherine Alvarez’s Facebook page and because I’m a minor.

Today I want to share with our community what Councilmember Alvarez did to me. On June 26, I went to the LGBTQ flag event in Downey with my mom and a fellow LGBTQ+ member. There was an exchange of words between my friend and Alvarez that I was not a part of in any way, shape, or form, and Ms. Alvarez wanted to kick the friend out of this public event.

She took photos of all three of us and posted them on Facebook. She wrote all of us off as homophobes when all I did was stand there. My mother didn’t even do much, all she did was tell Alvarez you can’t kick someone out of a public event just because you disagree with them.

Ms. Alvarez made two posts about us, talking about how homophobic we are, both in Spanish and English. All I wanted to do was show support for my own community and go to my first LGBTQ+ event. Instead, I get blasted all over Facebook, getting called homophobic, when I am literally a 15 year old gay, trans-man, who has been out publicly out since 2018.

I don’t know what Alvarez’s problem is, but she should know as a LGBTQ+ member what I go through every day. I have been called every slur and I have been outcast many times within school and outside. And I also deal with dysphoria every day, so I don’t know how Alvarez thinks it’s a good idea to bully a teenager like me online.

Why would we, as the LGBTQ+ community, want Alvarez to represent us? All she does is harm others and take responsibility for what isn’t hers. So take responsibility for this or say sorry. She has had multiple chances of saying sorry to me in person, but all she does is ignore me. Just like she did at Downey Pride. She passed by my booth multiple times and acted like I wasn’t even there.

In all honesty, all I wanted from her was an apology.

Anonymous

Editor’s note: The Downey Patriot does not usually print anonymous letters but an exception was made for this author, who requested anonymity for personal safety reasons.