The owner of a popular San Jose-themed social media account has been ordered to stay away from Councilmember Peter Ortiz over posts that the elected official says put him and his girlfriend in danger and fuel hateful messaging toward the LGBTQ community.
Ortiz filed the restraining order on Dec. 20 against Robert Saenz, who owns the Instagram page “ESSJ Times,” an account that has garnered nearly 70,000 followers and purports to be a news source for San Jose’s east side.
The page features videos and pictures that mostly center around crime and public safety in San Jose. More recently, Saenz has also published controversial posts about medical treatment for transgender children, and in some instances using the term “groomer,” which falsely links legitimate medical care for transgender kids with child abuse and encourages violence against the LGBTQ community, according to advocates.
Ortiz says a post from Dec. 17 pushed him to file the restraining order when Saenz published a photo of Ortiz with the words “brown puppet” pasted over the elected official’s face. In the post, Saenz accuses Ortiz and his colleague Omar Torres, who are both Latino, of “not representing the Latino or Mexican community at all. Especially the majority of the community that is against grooming our children.”
In another post on Dec. 13, Saenz published a video that included an image of transgender medical treatment leading to sexual encounters with adults. The post also included video and images of both Ortiz, his girlfriend and Torres. Ortiz represents the city’s east side, while Torres represents parts of downtown.
Both posts remained on Saenz’s page as of Tuesday afternoon.
Saenz’s posts appear to be in response to Ortiz and Torres’ support for San Jose’s LGBTQ community. In October, councilmembers unanimously passed a resolution in support of transgender and LGBTQ individuals, with Torres, who is gay, offering passionate testimony about the importance of elected officials standing with the community.
The resolution came shortly after a local “parental rights” group advocated against area schools using LGBTQ-themed materials in the classroom. The incident comes amid a wider cultural debate across the country along partisan lines over how LGBTQ curriculum should be taught in schools that has sparked heated discussions in the Bay Area.
In a filing with the court, Ortiz wrote, “I believe that Respondent’s posts on social media falsely accusing me of ‘grooming’ or sexualizing children are a danger to my safety, the safety of my girlfriend, and my family. Respondent’s false accusations and implications that I am supporting (the) sexualization of children has led his followers to attack me and my girlfriend online.”
Ortiz cited an incident in 2016 in Washington, D.C. where an individual entered a bar with an AR-15 after being convinced of a right-wing, online conspiracy theory that the establishment was home to a child sex trafficking ring overseen by Democratic Party officials.
“The combination of Respondent’s words and images make clear Respondent’s message to his followers: that I am a danger to children,” wrote Ortiz in the court filing. “Based on Respondent’s course of conduct, I am afraid that Respondent or one of his followers will act on Respondent’s calls to ‘protect our children’ by physically attacking me or my girlfriend. Respondent is aware of how his posts are interpreted by his followers and encourages them to attack my girlfriend and me online by including our Instagram account usernames in his posts.”
Ortiz did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement released on Dec. 28, Saenz accused the councilmember of violating his First Amendment rights and press freedoms.
“I’m just an independent journalist who reports the media,” said Saenz in an interview on Tuesday. “I feel bullied.”
Ortiz’s restraining order, which was filed through the city attorney’s office, was approved by Judge Johanna Thai Van Dat on Dec. 21 and also restricts Saenz from posting more “defamatory” statements about the councilmember and his girlfriend. It also prohibits Saenz from approaching the councilmember’s girlfriend. The court did not approve of the order covering Ortiz’s girlfriend’s children’s schools, with Judge Thai Van Dat calling that part of the request “overly vague and unenforceable.”
The order will expire at the case’s next hearing on Jan. 23. City Attorney Nora Frimann did not respond to a request for comment.