Mayor stands firm despite backlash after he mocked androgynous lesbian 'creature'

A Long Island mayor is standing firm despite calls for his resignation after he ridiculed a local activist online.

The Sag Harbor Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to formally request that Tom Gardella resign as mayor of his Long Island village. Gardella said he would participate in social media and anti-harassment training but that he wouldn't think of resigning.

'Church man. He's a Christian.'

"I will not resign from the office of mayor," said Gardella, reported the Sag Harbor Express. "That is not going to happen. You have me confused with somebody else. I’m not the guy that runs from a crisis. I’m the guy that runs into it."

While the board members provided other justifications for Gardella's ouster, their ire centers on a comment the mayor left on an Instagram post last month.

Animal rights activist Rebecca Chavez shared a video on March 6 in which she grooves to a song with a dog in her lap while her masculine lesbian lover dances in the background.

Gardella — a Sag Harbor resident for over 30 years who runs a plumbing company, served as chief of the local fire department, and served in military intelligence during the Cold War — reportedly commented, "What's that thing in the background? A guy? A girl? Some creature?"

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ENGIN GUNEYSU/AFP/Getty Images

Chavez wasted no time tracking down Gardella and making a stink, noting in a video, "Church man. He's a Christian. And a mayor?!"

Chavez's characterization of Gardella as a "church man" may be the result of her superficial reading of an event posting advertising a talk the mayor gave at "The Church," a creative center on Long Island.

The Texas-based lesbian, committed to giving a "Master Class in pettiness and accountability," stated, "I would expect an elected official and Christian man like yourself to behave better."

Chavez then directed her followers to "send him a few emails to remind him that his behavior is unbecoming of a public servant."

Deputy Mayor Edward Haye noted during a village board meeting last month, "We were made aware on March 9, yesterday, of a social media comment attributed to Mayor Gardella that disparaged members of the LGBT community."

"Sag Harbor has long prided itself being a welcoming and a tolerant village, and those values deeply matter to us both as members of the village board and as residents," continued Haye. "While the comment appears to have been made on a personal social media account, it has understandably caused concern and hurt within our community."

Gardella apologized, but that evidently wasn't enough for the activist.

"They always make an apology after the fact. So for me, his apology is not genuine," Chavez told News 12 Westchester, revealing an apparent confusion about how apologies work.

The mayor's thin-skinned peers had the village launch an investigation into his comment.

The investigation culminated in a report that accused the mayor of violating the village government's social media policy and anti-harassment policy and claimed that his 12-word comment was "disruptive to operations, negatively impacted members of the community, and created the false impression that village leadership does not support or tolerate diversity," reported the Express.

On the basis of the report, the board voted to censure the mayor.

"I’m not going to resign as mayor of this village," Gardella, who was first elected in 2023, reiterated on Tuesday. "I would also say that I never sought to be mayor of this village. The residents of this village came to me and asked me to lead them. And I hope I can lead us out of this mess and at some point be able to work together with the board."

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