Daniel Hernandez Jr., the heroic former intern who was credited with helping save former Rep. Gabby Gifford’s (D-AZ) life when she was shot in 2011 near Tucson, Ariz., is now facing an anti-gay smear campaign related to an effort to recall him from a local school board.
Hernandez was elected last year to the board of Tucson’s Sunnyside Unified School District. Since then, supporters of the board’s president have launched a recall campaign against him. Hernandez told the Huffington Post in a story published late Monday that parents have alerted him to flyers that attacked Hernandez for being gay and for supporting gun control.
“Put a REAL Man on the Sunnyside Board,” read one flyer featuring Hernandez’s picture, first reported by Right Wing Watch. “Daniel Hernandez is LGBT. We need someone who will support Sports and cares about our kids. We don’t need someone who hates our values. RECALL Daniel Hernandez TODAY.”
Another flyer read “Daniel Hernandez only cares about one things [sic] taking your guns away.”
“I’ve had a target on my back from my fellow board members for awhile because I don’t go with the flow, and if something doesn’t sound right or make sense, I call them out on it,” Hernandez told the Huffington Post.
“It’s disheartening that this is where we are in 2013, that people think it’s okay to put out these kinds of flyers about anybody,” he added.
