Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus call out Cynthia Reyes-Revilla campaig

A text sent out by City Council candidate Cynthia Reyes-Revilla’s campaign to District H residents has been lambasted by an LGBTQ+ political group and a county commissioner as being homophobic.

The message includes a graphic with a side-by-side comparison of Reyes-Revilla with her family and her challenger, Mario Castillo, with his husband. The campaign wrote phrases including “Committed Christian Family Values” under her name and below Castillo, allegations include, “Not a man of Faith.”

The words “Lifetime Record of Creating Safer and Healthier Communities” appear beside the photograph of Reyes-Revilla and her family, along with “District H deserves a leader with Integrity and the right values” beside Castillo and his.

The text was sent Thursday urging the recipient to vote for Reyes-Revilla. The candidate wrote Friday in an email the text was a response to attacks from Castillo’s campaign. 

“The text message that was sent by my campaign was intended as a comparison piece to share facts and information about the opponent and myself,” Reyes-Revilla wrote Friday in the email.

She went on to say she has “always been a supporter of the LGBTQ community and I am proud to say that half of my team and supporters are from this community.”

Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who endorsed Reyes-Revilla and filmed videos of support for her campaign, called the message a “hateful mailer” on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. 

“The message is an affront to the LGBTQ+ community & I’ve urged Cynthia to apologize,” he said on X. “She should be better than this. Nastiness doesn’t serve anyone. The word ‘Disappointed’ does not do justice in describing how I feel.”

The Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus stated Thursday on X, “TL;DR: Homophobic campaign mailers have no place in Houston politics” and urged Houstonians to vote for Castillo. 

In another Thursday tweet, said, “Let’s call this what this is: a homophobic dogwhistle. This is why The Caucus is still necessary in Houston. @CReyesRevilla should be ashamed of herself. Focus on the issues and leave the childish drama at home.”

Grant Martin, spokesperson for the Castillo campaign, said the campaign’s comment to the text message was, “The claims are patently false. Bless her heart.”