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Echo, Oregon Councilman Leaves Meeting When Asked About Child Porn Conviction (VIDEO) ~ KAPP TV
- Posted on 15th Dec
- Category: news
By Galen Ettlin - December 15, 2017:
ECHO, Ore. - A KAPP-KVEW investigation reveals a sitting city councilman and volunteer with local kids programs was convicted of possessing child pornography.
Following an incident in October when Echo councilman Louis Kauhane Nakapalau used a homophobic slur online, several concerned Echo residents alerted KAPP-KVEW of the councilman’s possible criminal history.
Court documents later obtained by KAPP-KVEW show Nakapalau, 66, was arrested on Oct. 21, 1999.
An arrest report filed in Clark County, Washington said a witness alerted authorities of pornographic videos on Nakapalau’s computer that showed underage females engaged in sexual conduct with adults.
Investigators then received a search warrant.
“I observed ten video images, depicting females engaged in masturbation and oral sex,” the investigator wrote in a probable cause report. “Each picture shows females that have not developed breast, or pubic hair, appearing to be under 13 years of age.”
On Feb. 24, 2000, Judge Roger Bennett of the Superior Court of Washington in Clark County found Nakapalau guilty of nine counts of possessing child pornography, sentencing him to 540 days in jail – 60 days per charge. However, the ruling ordered sentences to be served consecutively, so Nakapalau served a total of 60 days.
In the sentencing document, Nakapalau was ordered to pay $1,310 in court fees, plus $1,200 for a psycho-sexual evaluation.
Nakapalau received 12 months of community supervision, and was required to notify the community corrections officer of any change in his address or employment.
A handwritten note on the court documents also dictated Nakapalau not possess a personal computer except for use of employment.
Further down in the sentencing document, the sex offender registration requirement was crossed off. KAPP-KVEW spoke with former judge Bennett in Vancouver, who did not recall the 17-year-old case or why the section was scratched through.
Multiple other law enforcement sources in Washington speculated the specific conviction or circumstances of the case in 2000 may not have required Nakapalau to register as a sex offender.
KAPP-KVEW requested Nakapalau’s jail booking photo, which is protected under Washington state law for non-sex offenders. As of the publication of this article, a public records request for the photo and full police report is pending.
Articles and photos published to the East Oregonian and City of Echo websites show Nakapalau in recent years giving a speech to high school students, sitting with the Girl Scouts and volunteering at a Halloween event with children this year.
On Thursday afternoon, KAPP-KVEW reporters attended an Echo City Council meeting to ask Nakapalau about the documentation.
Before the meeting started, our reporter asked to speak with Nakapalau for a few minutes, without stating the reason. Nakapalau walked away and said, “No sir, no comment.”
KAPP-KVEW presented the court documents and asked for a response regarding the conviction for felony possession of child pornography. He refused to look at the printed probable cause sheet and guilty judgment, quickly leaving the council chamber repeating the words, “No comment.”
“Would you like to say anything about it or your volunteer work with kids in the community?” our reporter asked.
Nakapalau said no, then got in his car and drove a block away to his home.
This is the full video of the interaction that lasted less than two minutes:
After the meeting, Echo mayor Jeanne Hampton told KAPP-KVEW she could not comment directly on the conviction, saying this was the first time she had seen the court documents. She did, however, confirm the city recently looked into concerns of citizens who discovered the conviction. She said because there was no history found in Oregon, Echo officers did not look further.
However, an incident report obtained Friday from the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon shows Nakapalau was reported for “Harassment Offensive Physical Contact” on April 18, 2005 against a victim who was underage at the time.
Over the course of KAPP-KVEW’s investigation, discrepancies in Nakapalau’s date of birth slowed down the confirmation process tying him to the 1999 child porn conviction. Documents in Washington showed his birth year as 1951, while Morrow County documents for a traffic ticket showed the year as 1953.
The newly uncovered Morrow County incident report for harassment, however, matches Nakapalau’s full name and date of birth as shown on the Clark County child porn conviction.
Mayor Hampton said any further action would not be from the city, but rather would have to be from Echo residents who want a recall. After a complaint is filed, the decision would be put to a citywide vote needing at least 50 percent approval.
Nakapalau has served as a council member for about one year, elected to the at-large position by write-in vote during the November 2016 election. Umatilla County Election records show he received eight votes.
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"Gay-bashing Oregon City Councilor Convicted of Possessing Child Porn" ~ East Oregonian
- Posted on 15th Dec
- Category: news
COUNCILOR LOU NAKAPALAU LEAVES MEETING AFTER BEING ASKED ABOUT CRIMINAL RECORD
The Echo City Council adopted a code of ethics and social media policy Thursday.
By Jade McDowell, December 14, 2017:
The Echo City Council adopted a code of ethics and social media policy on Thursday night, but Councilor Lou Nakapalau was not there to cast his vote after being confronted before the meeting by a member of the media about documents showing he had previously been convicted of possessing child pornography.
Pam Reese, an Echo business owner, said Nakapalau showed up early to the VFW hall where the meeting was being held, but walked out without a word after a reporter from KVEW-TV in the Tri-Cities asked him about the documents.
Reese has been a vocal opponent of Nakapalau since October, after the Echo councilor told Joe Wilson, a gay filmmaker from Hawaii, that he would spit on Wilson’s grave after he died of AIDS and called Wilson an anti-gay slur on Facebook.
According to court documents obtained from Clark County, Washington, by the East Oregonian on Thursday morning, Nakapalau was found guilty in 2000 of nine felony counts of possessing “a depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.” Sentencing records state he was sentenced to 60 days custody in the county jail (52 served on work release) and was not allowed to possess a personal computer during his post-incarceration supervision. Another document states that in 2007 it was ordered that “the defendant’s civil rights lost by operation of law upon conviction be hereby restored.”
Nakapalau was sworn in to the Echo city council in January after earning eight write-in votes for an empty seat. He spoke at Stanfield Secondary School’s assembly the week of Veteran’s Day as an Army veteran from the Vietnam War.
Nakapalau did not return a phone message left Thursday night and has not responded to previous attempts by the East Oregonian to reach him after his comments to Wilson. After those comments came to light, he attended a city council meeting on Oct. 19 in which Councilor Robert Harris asked that the council make a public apology for Nakapalau’s words and work on adopting a social media policy.
Nakapalau did not comment during the meeting. The city issued a public apology afterward referencing “comments made by a councilor in a Facebook dialog” and stating that the city did not endorse discrimination or disparaging remarks against someone based on their sexual orientation, race, etc.
An ethics policy and a social media policy were both unanimously adopted by the Echo city council on Thursday night. The social media policy tells councilors and staff that they are “solely responsible for what you post online.”
“Posting inappropriate remarks about co-workers, council members or members of the public, which may be viewed as discriminatory, harassing, bullying, malicious, obscene, threatening violence, intimidating, comments meant to intentionally harm someone’s reputation, retaliation to what you preserve (sic) to be another’s negative post, and similar inappropriate or unlawful conduct as a representative of the City of Echo will not be tolerated and may be subject to disciplinary action up to or including dismissal if you are a city Employee,” the policy reads.
It also asks people to be mature, fair and accurate in their posts.
Both city administrator Diane Berry and city attorney Bill Kuhn stressed that it was only city employees, not public officials, that could be removed from their position with the city if they violate the policy.
“The only recourse for removing a council member is through the recall process,” Berry said. “Oregon does not have an impeachment process for local officials.”
The ethics policy covers Oregon law about conflicts of interest and other issues, and asks that councilors realize their actions affect the city, possibly for years or generations to come. It also asks them to be aware of how their conversations and appearance outside of council meetings reflects on the city.
“Do not speak for the council to citizens or the press unless you have been given that duty or responsibility specifically by the council as a whole through a council motion,” the policy states. “The council is a body and you as a council member have no power or jurisdiction outside the body unless specifically given by the council.”
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"When Online Worlds Collide" ~ East Oregonian Editorial
- Posted on 27th Oct
- Category: news
Editorial - October 23, 2017
The internet troll, once an anonymous denizen of message boards and chat rooms who held little sway in the real world, has come into the light with the prevalence and power of social media.
We used to be able to dismiss his presence as the ugly fringe of cyberspace, a reaction-seeking miscreant spewing inciting, hateful speech from a basement somewhere far away. We used to be able to rationalize that his words represent no real human being, and certainly none we respect or admire or who have any actual power in our lives. And we could altogether ignore him quite easily, as our daily lives weren't so intertwined with the internet.
But now that we've all (or nearly all) moved into his domain, the troll is everywhere we turn. And we've come to the chilling realization that he is among us in real life, too.
We saw it earlier this month as Echo city councilman Lou Nakapalau weaponized his Facebook account in a war of words with a documentary filmmaker. Nakapalau accosted director Joe Wilson, who is gay, on the page for his film "Kumu Hina," using slurs and saying if Wilson died of AIDS he would spit on his grave. The men have never met in person. Nakapalau has since removed the comments from the page.
Nakapalau has not responded to several attempts to ask about the encounter, and as the city council met Thursday about how to address the remarks he sat silent and expressionless in the chambers. He didn't say a word as the council voted to apologize for his offensive words, and none of his fellow council members addressed him.
That's shameful, and a real shame.
The city issued a broad apology to any who were offended by the comments and noted that the personal accounts of individual councilors are not endorsed by the city. It also said the city does not and will not enact policies that are biased against classes or groups of people. And in the final line it says the council is made up of volunteers who have the right to free speech.
It's the kind of statement that doesn't make anything better, but is issued to make sure things don't get worse. It's a safe and generic stance that declines to mention the offending party — Nakapalau — by name, though it does take the time to mention the East Oregonian, who first reported the insults, and Facebook, the platform on which the comments were made. As if either are more responsible for the behavior than the man himself.
Nakapalau has the right to speak his mind. He's a volunteer councilman solely on the merit of earning eight write-in votes last November. And because he was elected, his words — even the ones he fired off to antagonize and belittle a stranger from another state, but never meant to be seen by friends and neighbors — carry weight. The citizens of Echo deserve to hear what he has to say for himself. The people of Umatilla County and beyond deserve to know how the city responds to this kind of hate.
Echo is not the sleepy town it once was. New wineries, downtown dining and Main Street restoration have created a beautiful place for a visit, and events like last weekend's Oktoberfest and the springtime Red 2 Red mountain bike race have brought in new life and the potential for even more tourism.
While some have demanded an apology from Nakapalau, we don't believe forcing such a statement has value. If he regrets the statement and the effect it had on another person, we want to know that. If he just regrets the trouble it has caused himself, he should say it.
If he doesn't have the decency or courage to even own his words, we'd suggest he step down.
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"Oregon Councilman Attacks Hawaii Filmmaker" ~ KITV 4 Island News
- Posted on 26th Oct
- Category: news
By Paul Drewes ~ October 25, 2017
An Oregon Councilman fires anti-gay slurs at a Hawaii film maker.
Then came an apology, but not by the man who took aim at the LGBT community.
The documentary film Kumu Hina shows the challenges and struggles of Hina Wong-Kalu, known as Kumu Hina, who is a Native Hawaiian transgender woman.
"Those who are in touch with our culture and history know to be mahu or transgender is part and parcel of our daily life," said Wong-Kalu.
Earlier this month on the film's promotional website, Oregon Councilman Lou Nakapalau expressed his displeasure over the upcoming movie. He stated he was "sick of the LGBTQ crowd shoving their hokeyed up agenda down my throat."
"This is a facebook page for a film that you wouldn't be seeing unless you were following it," said movie director Joe Wilson.
Wilson, who is gay, responded to the comment. Which prompted Nakapalau to add "when you croak of AIDS.... I'll spit on your grave."
Nakapalau's online comment was later deleted, and he declined to comment for this story to our mainland news partner. But as word of what happened spread, the social media story started making its way around the country.
"You really need to keep those things just to yourself," said Robert Harris, a fellow Echo Councilman who apologized on behalf of the city.
Nakapalau has not said or posted any apology, publicly or even privately to the Hawaii filmmaker.
"Surprisingly enough, Lou Nakapalau is a Hawaiian... long removed from Hawaii," said Wong-Kalu.
Now some in the small Oregon town feel the councilman should no longer be in office.
"I'd like to see Mr. Nakapalau resign," said Echo business owner Pamela Reese.
Even though Wilson was personally attacked, what concerned him the most was that someone in a position of power would lash out at any single individual or group.
Kumu Hina has seen an abundance of support since her story came out, but she also knows there remain some negativity directed at the LGBT community,.
"We have a long way to go in terms of understanding and acceptance," added Wong-Kalu.
Not only on the mainland, but also in Hawaii.
"There will always be people with negative feelings. There is certainly still homophobia. There is racism and people who don't like a different group of people," said Joe Bock, the Vice Chair of the LGBT Legacy Foundation.
But Bock countered, as demonstrated by the largest Honolulu Pride events over the past week, there is also overwhelming support by the people of Hawaii, along with island businesses and organizations for the LGBT community.
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"Town rallies support for LGBTQ community following councilman's anti-gay comments" ~ KAPP-KVEW News
- Posted on 25th Oct
- Category: news
By Galen Ettlin - October 24, 2017:
ECHO, Ore. - A small town in eastern Oregon is in the national spotlight for comments made by one its city council members.
It all started in early October, screenshots showing Echo councilman Lou Nakapalou commenting on a fan page for Kumu Hina, a film about a transgender woman in Hawaii.
“Sick of LBGTQ crowd shoving their whole keyed up agenda down my throat,” Nakapalou’s first comment said.
LGBTQ filmmaker Joe Wilson responded, in what he calls a humorous, mocking way.
“Louie Louie Louie Louie – the confederate flag on your own page says it all. #Sad”
Nakapalau doubled down, saying he has relatives who are LGBTQ whom he loves, but that he did not want “your lifestyle down my throat.”
Wilson responded again:
“No one is trying to shove anything down your throat, though your protests indicate that that is what you would likely most enjoy. Rather, it is necessary that people of any and all walks of life be protected from being harmed by the bigotry of those of your ilk.”
To this, Nakapalau typed: “When you croak of AIDS (Anally Injected Death Serum) I’ll spit on your grave queerbait Beahajajaha.”
In a video call Sunday night from Taiwan, Wilson spoke with KAPP-KVEW about the incident.
“This is a Facebook Page for a film that you wouldn't be seeing unless you were following it,” Wilson said. “When I saw that it was a city council person who felt free enough to express this kind of hate and ugliness publicly-- it's quite alarming.”
As of Tuesday evening, Nakapalaou had not issued a public statement. Several unconfirmed screenshots sent to KAPP-KVEW show him commenting on a KVEW broadcast segment Monday saying: “The [East Oregonian] and KVEW blew it way out of proportion. So you now have a choice, believe the news or believe me.”
In another post only visible to friends of Nakapalou, a screenshot image shows him saying Tuesday:
“I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize for my extremely rude and insensitive comment(s) I made to Joe Wilson. There was no excuse for this and I’m not offering any. This was on a Face Book post, on a group we both belonged to and was made as a private citizen and not under color of my office. I can only reiterate that I do not in any way shape or form hate the LGBTQ community.”
This apology comes half-a-week after a Thursday council meeting in Echo, during which another councilman, Robert Harris, issued an apology on behalf of the city, also posting to Facebook, in part:
“I as a human deeply apologize for the harmful and disrespectful comments made.”
Harris said after learning of the comments last week, he consulted with council before presenting at the meeting.
Harris said he is now going through current city bylaws to consider presenting a new social media policy for elected officials.
“You really need to keep those things-- your personal thoughts and views --just to yourself,” Harris said in a recorded interview, referring to groups of elected officials as a whole. “Otherwise, you lose trust.”
Upset residents and LGBTQ advocates like PFLAG Pendleton Oregon Chapter have praised Harris’s apologies and efforts to create more future accountability.
However, some feel more should be done to address Nakapalou’s comments directly.
“I would like to see Mr. Nakapalau resign,” Echo teacher and Buttercreek Coffeehouse and Mercantile co-owner Pamela Reese said. “To me silence is complicity, and there is a lot of silence right now.”
The story first published by the East Oregonian has now reached national publications, such asRaw Story and Gay Star News, putting the town of about 700 at the center of fiery debate.
“It's not going to get swept under the rug,” Harris said, referring to his efforts to create new policy. “Things are going to be put in place. And how that stuff gets dealt with will be determined.”
All the way in Taiwan, Wilson continues to feel the ripple effect, regularly posting updates of the news to social media.
“While this was an ugly incident initially, it has turned into a moment of opportunity,” he said. “And what we really need to see is the city council, the mayor, the city manager of Echo -- stand up and say something, too.”
KAPP-KVEW has reached out directly to Lou Nakapalou via Facebook for comment, as well as knocking on his door, without answer. Our reporter was told by a staff member at Echo City Hall a message left for Nakapalou was passed along.
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Oregon City Council Member Tells Gay Man: ‘I’ll Spit on Your Grave When You Die of AIDS' - INTO Magazine
- Posted on 25th Oct
- Category: news
Lou Nakapalau has deleted many of his remarks, but that may not be enough for town residents. Many are calling for his removal from the city council.
by Nico Lang ~ October 24, 2017:
An Oregon town has apologized after a member of its city council told a gay man to go die of AIDS.
Lou Nakapalau, who sits on the council of Echo City, reportedly harassed filmmaker Joe Wilson on Facebook in response to an article Wilson posted on workplace protections for transgender people. Nakapalau claimed that he was “sick of the LGBTQ crowd shoving their keyed up agenda down my throat.”
The ensuing conversation included a number of anti-gay epithets lobbed at Wilson, which were later deleted. Nakapalau subsequently began to threaten the documentarian—whose latest film, Kumu Hina, profiles a transgender woman in Hawaii.
“When you croak of AIDS (Anally Injected Death Serum),” the politician said, “I’ll spit on your grave!”Nakapalau has yet to speak publicly on his comments, but the Echo City council voted during its most recent meeting to issue an apology to Wilson. The board claimed that Nakapalau’s remarks do not reflect the local government’s views of LGBTQ people.
“The Echo City Council would like to extend its sincerest apology to those who were offended [...],” the council said in a statement. “Comments of individual council members on their personal social media accounts do not have any endorsement or approval of the council as a whole nor do they represent city policy.”
Echo City council member Robert Harris claimed that the apology was the “absolute least” the town can do to make amends to the LGBTQ community. Nakapalau was present for the decision and voted in favor of issuing the statement.
The mea culpa may not be enough for some.
Townsfolk turned up at the Echo City Council meeting to advocate that Nakapalau be removed from his position. Local resident Jenny Sullivan told the city’s leadership that she is “absolutely disgusted” by Nakapalau’s remarks.
“[A]ny self-respecting council would throw him off,” she said.
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"Oregon Council Member Ignites Online Feud With Hate Against Kumu Hina Filmmaker" - Instinct Magazine
- Posted on 24th Oct
- Category: news
By David Lopez - October 23, 2017:
Echo City, Oregon councilmember, Lou Nakapalau, recently got into an online feud with openly gay filmmaker Joe Wilson. On the Facebook page for Wilson’s film Kumu Hina, Nakapalau voice his distaste after an article that talked about transgender workers no longer being protected by federal anti-discrimination laws. Kumu Hina, is a documentary about a transwoman from Hawaii.
During the back and forth fight, Nakapalau expressed that he is “sick of the LGBTQ crowd shoving their ho keyed up agenda down my throat.”
But the argument reached crescendo when Nakapalau declared “When you croak of AIDS (Anally Injected Death Serum) I’ll spit on your grave!”
The councilmember has refused to apologize for his remarks, but after editing away some profanity and other expletives, the comments were removed from Facebook.
According to the East Oregonian, the Echo City council has issued a public apology about the events. Here is their full statement:
"The Echo City Council would like to extend its sincerest apology to those who were offended by comments made by a council member in a Facebook dialog reported by the East Oregonian. Comments of individual council members on their personal social media accounts do not have any endorsement or approval of the council as a whole nor do they represent city policy. The City would never endorse or approve any statement that disparages any person because of his or her race, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, or sexual orientation.
Further the City of Echo has never taken any action or set any policy that was in any sense prejudicial or biased toward a class or group of people.
The city council is made up of elected volunteers who donate their time without any form of compensation and who have rights like other citizens such as freedom of speech."
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"City council member tells Kumu Hina filmmaker he'll spit on his grave after he dies of AIDS" - Gay Star News
- Posted on 24th Oct
- Category: news
By Anya Crittenton - October 23, 2017:
The city of Echo, Oregon issued an apology after a city council member’s disturbing Facebook comments on 7 October.
City councilor Lou Nakapalau made the comments on a Facebook page for the film Kumu Hina. The film in question is about a transgender Hawaiian woman.
Nakapalau got into an argument with filmmaker Joe Wilson about transgender rights. The debate culminated in Nakapalau telling Wilson he was going to spit on his grave after Wilson dies of AIDS.
Some of the comments have since been deleted, while others were edited for profanity.
City councilor Robert Harris proposed the apology last week at a meeting. At first, there was silence and no move to the second the motion. As the audience began to cry out, fellow councilor Janie Enright seconded. The rest of the council voted unanimously to approve the motion, while Nakapalau remained quiet.
‘You are safe here’
In the city’s statement, they ‘extend its sincerest apology to those who were offended by comments made by a council member in a Facebook dialog’.
It continues: ‘Comments of individual council members on their personal social media accounts do not have any endorsement or approval of the council as a whole nor do they represent city policy.’
Along with the apology, Harris also suggested the council come up with ethics guidelines regarding social media use of council members.
However, despite calls from some city members for Nakapalau’s resignation, Harris affirms that’s not what he was trying to do.
Furthermore, while Harris issued an apology on his own Facebook page, Nakapalau has yet to do so.
Still, some of the city’s residents are taking matters into their own hands.
Pam Reese and other business owners posted signs on their front doors reading: ‘We stand with you. You are safe here.’
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"City of Echo, OR Issues Apology for Councilor’s Facebook Comments" ~ East Oregonian
- Posted on 22nd Oct
- Category: news
Jade McDowell ~ October 22, 2017
The city of Echo has issued an apology for statements made by city councilor Lou Nakapalau on Facebook calling a gay man an anti-gay slur and telling him that when he dies of AIDS he will spit on his grave.
“The Echo City Council would like to extend its sincerest apology to those who were offended by comments made by a council member in a Facebook dialog reported by the East Oregonian,” the statement reads. “Comments of individual council members on their personal social media accounts do not have any endorsement or approval of the council as a whole nor do they represent city policy.”
The statement goes on to say that the city does not endorse any statement that disparages someone because of their identity and has never taken an action or adopted a policy that was “in any sense prejudicial or biased toward a class or group of people.”
City councilor Robert Harris proposed issuing the apology during Thursday’s council meeting — the first since Nakapalau made the comments on Oct. 7.
“I think that’s the absolute least we can do,” Harris said.
His motion was met with several seconds of silence from the rest of the council, prompting an outcry from audience members as it looked like the motion might die from a lack of a second. Harris looked at councilor Jerry Gaunt, who told Harris he didn’t have to second it, but councilor Janie Enright said she had seconded the motion while people were talking. The council, including Nakapalau, then voted unanimously to approve the motion.
Nakapalau did not offer any comment during the council meeting and has not returned requests for comment. The Facebook comments in question happened on the Facebook page for “Kumu Hina,” a documentary about a transgender Hawaiian woman. Nakapalau argued with filmmaker Joe Wilson about transgender rights, culminating in his comment about spitting on Wilson’s grave. The comment has since been deleted and Facebook shows Nakapalau edited another part of the conversation to remove profanity.
Thursday’s meeting started with public comment from Vickie Read of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Read, who is from Pendleton, said if the city does not publicly condemn Nakapalau’s words that could imply other city leaders support the ideas he expressed.
Read said she regrets her own ignorance in years past, when her son, who was 17 at the time, told her he was gay and she responded by saying he didn’t fit the stereotypes she had grown up with and so it wasn’t possible for him to actually be gay.
“He said, ‘Mom, why would I choose to be something people hate?’” she said. “I realized he was right.”
She said she felt like the world had also grown more tolerant in the years since, but reading about Nakapalau’s comments gave her the realization that “we have not moved on.”
Jenny Sullivan of Hermiston also spoke up, saying she couldn’t imagine a gay person wanting to move to the area after reading the comments.
“I’m absolutely disgusted and think any self-respecting council would throw him off,” she said.
After the council addressed agenda items, Harris said he had not been able to find any sort of policy about Echo councilors’ speech or social media use, and proposed that the council come up with an ethics statement and social media policy to provide guidance for any future incidents, and also that the council issue an apology.
City administrator Diane Berry said she had brought examples of such policies before the council in the past and they had not expressed interest in adopting them, but she could bring them forward again. She cautioned, however, that cities are much more limited on what they could do to an elected official versus a city employee. City attorney Bill Kuhn said the council was “not in a position” to remove a fellow councilor from office, but the council could ask for an apology from Nakapalau or post something on their own Facebook pages.
Harris said he wasn’t trying to remove Nakapalau from the council but did think they needed to send a unified message.
“Something that goes to the public that says we’re dealing with it the best we can,” he said. “I’m saying we stand up and apologize and say we’re doing something to fix it.”
Pam Reese, a Main Street business owner who was present at the meeting, said in an email Friday that a public apology is the “least the council could do to send a message that Echo is an inclusive community.”
“It was mystifying to watch a group of elected officials struggle to understand how to do the right thing about the hate speech of one of its members,” Reese said.
She said that while she supported an apology, she thought it would be more appropriate to take a stronger stand by calling for Nakapalau’s resignation. She and a few other business owners have placed signs on their door stating that they welcome all races, religions, countries of origin, sexual orientations and genders in response to the controversy.
“We stand with you. You are safe here,” the sign states.
In 2014 Echo School’s student government president was Zach Christensen, an openly gay senior. Christensen, who lives in Stanfield, said while he was going to school in Echo he did receive pushback from some adults on a proposal to start a Gay-Straight Alliance chapter. But the chapter was approved, and he said friends, classmates, family and members of his church from the area were mostly supportive, despite Echo being a small, largely conservative town.
He said he feels Nakapalau is entitled to express his opinions. But he also said Nakapalau should realize that the consequence may be a backlash from people who disagree with his views.
“There (are) LGBT youth in Echo and they probably heard that by now and it does affect them, so I think it would be good for them to hear an apology,” Christensen said, “but I think it would make more sense for him to make the apology.”
Harris has made a post apologizing for Nakapalau’s comments on his own Facebook page, and told the East Oregonian Friday he couldn’t speak to what other city councilors were thinking but he hopes any hesitation that happened Thursday stemmed from “a lack of knowing what to do.”
“It’s not the mistakes we make that define us, it’s how we move forward from our mistakes,” he said.
A sign on the door of the Buttercreek Coffeehouse and Mercantile in Echo states people of all sexual orientations are welcome.
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"Facebook Comments by Oregon City Councilor Highlight Fears of Coming Out" ~ East Oregonian
- Posted on 11th Oct
- Category: news
Facebook Comments by Oregon City Councilor Highlight Fears of Coming Out
By Jade McDowell – October 10, 2017
When filmmaker Joe Wilson, a gay man who makes documentaries about members of the LGBTQ community, began arguing with a man on Facebook about transgender discrimination, it was hardly his first time dealing with angry comments about gay and transgender people.
As the confrontation escalated, however, and Wilson clicked on the man’s profile, he was alarmed to see that the man he was arguing with — Lou Nakapalau — was an Echo, Oregon city councilor.
“When you croak of AIDS (Anally Injected Death Serum) I’ll spit on your grave queerbait,” Nakapalau wrote, adding the anti-gay slur.
As the LGBTQ community and their allies prepare to celebrate National Coming Out Day on Wednesday, Wilson said the fact that a city official would feel so comfortable saying things on a public Facebook page shows how much work remains to help people feel safe coming out as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer).
“It’s taking a big step in life, if you know people have that kind of horrific and visceral reaction that can have very dangerous consequences,” he said.
It can set a tone for other people in a community to feel that they can echo their leaders, he said, or can make LGBTQ community members worry their leaders will set discriminatory policies or be prejudiced against them.
“If somebody is an elected official, it means they have a soapbox, a platform, to say things,” he said.
Nakapalau did not return a Facebook message, email or voicemail asking for comment, and Echo city administrator Diane Berry declined to comment. Nakapalau, a Vietnam war veteran, was sworn in as a new city councilor in January after receiving the most write-in votes for an uncontested seat in the town of about 700.
The exchange between Wilson, who lives in Hawaii, and Nakapalau happened on the “Kumu Hina” Facebook page, named after a documentary Wilson released in 2014 about a transgender Hawaiian woman. Wilson had posted an article about the Trump administration’s statement that transgender workers are not protected by federal anti-discrimination laws. Nakapalau commented that transgender people already have rights and he’s “Sick of the LBGTQ crowd shoving their ho keyed up agenda down my throat.”
Wilson responded by calling Nakapalau “sad” and said that the Confederate flag on his profile “says it all.” As the men continued to argue, Nakapalau called Wilson a profanity and said he has “relatives that are LBGTQ whom l love and I’ll defend them to my last breath” but didn’t want to be forced to support something he didn’t believe in, while Wilson accused Nakapalau of bigotry and said “no one is trying to shove anything down your throat, though your protests indicate that that is what you would likely most enjoy.” That’s when Nakapalau said he would spit on Wilson’s grave.
Wilson said his quip was trying to use “humor and mocking” to show the comments weren’t welcome. He said comments like Nakapalau’s, and silence from others in response, has a chilling effect on members of the LGBTQ community coming out. Wilson said the incident was especially jarring because in 2010 he visited nearby Hermiston and Pendleton to screen his film “Out In the Silence,” about the experience of being openly gay in a small, rural town.
Haley Talamontes knows what it’s like being gay in a small town. She said her experience living in Hermiston has included wonderful people, but also closed-minded people. A few years ago when she volunteered at a booth at the Umatilla County Fair for Umatilla Morrow Alternatives, a since-disbanded group that advocated for equality for minorities, she said a few people called her homophobic names in front of her children or told her she was “not right in the head.”
She said when she came out as a lesbian she finally felt truly free. But it didn’t come without consequences.
“You lose friends, you lose family,” she said. “My mom doesn’t talk to me.”
In November President Donald Trump told CBS he was “fine” with gay marriage, and years before becoming president indicated his support of the LGBTQ community numerous times, including a 2000 interview in which he said he would support adding sexual orientation to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But some in his administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, have been vocal opponents of gay marriage, and since Trump became president his administration has announced a ban on transgender soldiers in the military and argued in court that federal law does not protect gay or transgender workers from discrimination by employers.
Talamontes said the Trump administration’s attitudes toward LGBTQ issues has caused some people to treat their sexual orientation more carefully, similar to undocumented immigrants who are now more careful about revealing their status.
That’s why she caused a scene at the doctor’s office the other day when the nurse insisted her 12-year-old daughter had to answer a question about her sexual orientation as part of a well child check-up. Talamontes said her daughter isn’t gay, but Talamontes worries for young people who are and may have parents who would kick them out of the house or abuse them if they found out.
She also worries that if she were the patient, answering the question truthfully could cause her problems later if she moved to a state with fewer anti-discrimination protections and any nurse or insurance agent could pull up that information.
Talamontes said she just wants to be loved and respected and not treated like she has some sort of “grotesque disease” that someone may catch from standing too close.
For members of the LGBTQ community or their friends and family who are looking for support, Pendleton has a chapter of PFLAG, short for Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. They can be contacted at 541-966-8414, pflag.pendleton.or@gmail.com or the PFLAG Pendleton Oregon Chapter Facebook page.
