LGBTQ group revokes Coral Gables mayoral endorsement after Carrollton letter surfaces

Coral Gables mayoral candidate Vince Lago lost an endorsement and faced new political attacks over the weekend after the Miami Herald reported that Lago was among dozens of parents who signed a letter that denounced a Miami Catholic school’s effort to address racism.

Lago, who sends his two daughters to Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, an independent Catholic girls school in Miami’s Coconut Grove, was among more than 150 parents and alumni who signed an 11-page October letter stating that the school’s efforts to address discrimination were incompatible with its Catholic foundation. The school had adopted an inclusion policy last fall after complaints about its culture.

Parents who signed the letter said the school had sought to address complaints by adopting “tired atheist tropes of division and hopelessness” rather than finding solutions in theology. They also argued students felt “targeted and ostracized” when they expressed more conservative viewpoints on other topics such as abortion and euthanasia.

Lago told the Herald he signed the letter because he wanted to see his kids’ school return to its Catholic roots, not because he is opposed to addressing racism.

Still, news of Lago’s stance caused SAVE, a group that aims to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people against discrimination, to pull its endorsement of Lago. In a statement announcing the decision, SAVE Action PAC, the group’s political arm, wrote that “racism and anti-LGBTQ perspectives are intertwined and the advancement of one community can’t prevail without the other as a matter of basic human rights.”

Orlando Gonzales, the executive director of SAVE, told the Herald Monday that last week’s article “gave us some pause” and led the organization’s board of directors to re-evaluate the endorsement.

“The people who signed this letter should have separated Catholic identity and how this school addresses race,” Gonzales said.

The group had co-endorsed Coral Gables Commissioner Patricia Keon, who is running against Lago and Jackson “Rip” Holmes in the three-way race for mayor. It did not donate to any candidate’s campaign.

Keon, who attended Catholic schools for most of her life, said she thought Lago’s signature on the letter is “a reflection of your core values.”

“The Catholic Church does teach inclusion and does call for empathy and does ask you to walk in the steps of Jesus, who washed the feet of lepers,” she said Monday in an interview.

Starting Friday, Keon’s campaign spent about $400 in Facebook advertisements slamming Lago for signing the letter. On Monday, a robotext sent by Floridians Against Career Politicians alerted voters to “newly uncovered racist & bigoted behavior.” The political committee — which has paid for attack mailers throughout the campaign — was formed last fall by Broward attorneys Jason Haber and Jason Blank, who also serve as the chair and treasurer of Keon’s political committee, South Florida Accountability Project.

Lago said Monday that he did not have the opportunity to speak to the SAVE board before it made its decision to rescind, and said if he had, “they wouldn’t have made this decision.”

“I wish the SAVE Board would’ve acted with the same level of diligence regarding my opponents’ undisclosed donors and secret political committees,” Lago wrote in a statement. “For all we know, there could be people who don’t share any of SAVE’s values funding her campaign.”

Lago also punched back at Keon in a Sunday night campaign email.

“Over the last 24 hours, my opponent, Pat Keon, has launched personal attacks on me, my wife and our young daughters. Lies and conjectures have no place in Coral Gables, nor do attacks targeting young children. We expect better from our elected officials,” he wrote. “Using racism to attack political opponents is a new low in our community.”

It’s not the first time SAVE has pulled a political endorsement. The group made a similar move last year when a Miami-Dade County School Board member it had endorsed accepted an endorsement from the Miami-based Christian Family Coalition Florida, which calls itself “pro-family” on its website.

The Miami Herald Editorial Board, which is independent of the Herald’s newsroom, did not rescind its endorsement of Lago, but published a disclaimer noting that the endorsement was made “less wholeheartedly” than before.

Lago told the Editorial Board that his main goal in signing the letter was to jump-start a discussion among parents and administrators. Lago said he agrees “110 percent” that systemic racism and systemic inequality actually exist, even though he signed a letter that takes issue with such terms.

Early voting for the Coral Gables election is Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11. Election Day is Tuesday, April 13.