Why I Frustratedly Still Support Joe Bray-Ali for City Council

Read the full L.A. Weekly article here

Today, the L.A. Weekly quoted me in response to the controversy that has embroiled my friend Joe Bray-Ali’s candidacy for L.A. City Council. I wanted to post somewhere to clarify part of my take on this. The other places where I write about bike stuff (Streetsblog L.A., Bikas, and L.A. Eco-Village) are non-profit (either actual or potential), so I can’t post opinions about political candidates there, so I am doing it at my kinda-backwater catch-all blog here.

If you’re unfamiliar with Bray-Ali’s offensive comments and the ensuing scandal, please read my piece at Streetsblog L.A. last Friday.

Up front, I’ll mention that I’ve been friends with Bray-Ali for more than a decade. I know that he can be a mean-spirited attacker, but he was generally attacking anti-bike folks like City Councilmember Gil Cedillo.

Here’s the conclusion of today’s L.A. Weekly article:

Bike activists are split on whether to continue supporting Bray-Ali. The group Bike the Vote rescinded its Bray-Ali endorsement; prominent activists like Damien Newton and Don Ward have done the same. Activist Joe Linton says he’s still supporting Bray-Ali and tries to put a positive spin on the whole affair.

I mainly want to clarify what I meant by what the Weekly calls putting a “positive spin” on this. I don’t and can’t put a positive spin on Bray-Ali’s comments. Bray-Ali’s online comments are offensive. His comments are derogatory to transgender people, blacks, fat people, and others. These comments marginalize and harm people. The comments are not defensible.