'Pueblo deserves better': County commissioner under fire for alleged homophobic slur

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Commissioner Eppie Griego, who initially declined to comment but submitted a statement through a county spokesperson after this article was published.

Pueblo County Commissioner Epimenio “Eppie” Griego allegedly called another elected official a homophobic slur Saturday evening at a Southern Colorado Labor Council dinner.

Pueblo City Councilor Vicente Martinez Ortega told the Chieftain that Griego called him a “j---,” an offensive and derogatory Spanish word that can translate to the word “f-----” in English.

Bri Buentello, a former state Representative and the current chair of the Pueblo County Democratic Party, also witnessed the incident and confirmed Martinez Ortega’s account to the Chieftain.

The incident has prompted a statement spearheaded by the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance, a local LGBTQ+ advocacy group, calling for Griego to apologize and for the other county commissioners to censure him.

Griego initially declined to comment to the Chieftain on Thursday, but a spokesperson with Pueblo County submitted a statement after the article was published online in which Griego denied the account.

What allegedly happened Saturday evening

Being honored Saturday evening for his labor activism was Nick Voss, the chief of staff at Colorado WINS who is also an openly gay man.

Griego’s remarks to Martinez Ortega allegedly happened away from the main area at the Carriage House where most people were seated. The remarks were overheard by Buentello.

Martinez Ortega told the Chieftain that he was going outside for a brief break and to thank the catering staff. Buentello said that she had left the main dining room to take her son to the bathroom.

Griego also got up to speak to Buentello outside the restrooms, Buentello said.

As Martinez Ortega was returning to the main event, he recalled passing by Buentello and Griego as their conversation was ending: “the timing couldn’t have been more precise,” he recalled.

Martinez Ortega has long been critical of Pueblo County government building a new jail between Pueblo and Pueblo West. He said he made a comment about that to Griego in passing.

“Go build another jail,” Martinez Ortega said he remarked to Griego.

That’s when Griego allegedly said back to him as he was walking back into the ballroom: “Laters, j--- boy.”

“I literally stopped on the steps — you know, when you're walking on the step, walking down the stairs, it takes effort to stop. Then I turned around and I looked at Bri (Buentello), because she was just waiting for her son to leave the restroom,” Martinez Ortega recalled. He was sitting with a group of prominent LGBTQ+ Puebloans while eating dinner, so he wasn’t sure if that’s why Griego said that to him.

Buentello also said that she felt “shocked” after she overheard Griego’s comment to Martinez Ortega.

This incident happened in a hallway separate from the main event — Buentello and Martinez Ortega said that they were the only two people around who heard what Griego said.

'I did not utter the word': Griego refutes the allegations

Griego initially declined to comment about the incident to the Chieftain and did not address the allegations during Thursday's BOCC meeting, but he later provided a written statement through a county spokesperson.

"I respect the communities that I serve including the LGBTQ+ community," Griego wrote. "As reported I did not utter the word that is being accused of me. This was a private conversation and not a public comment. It's unfortunate that someone has decided to disclose a private conversation."

Martinez Ortega publicly shared part of his account Thursday morning during public comment in commissioners' chambers.

“I would like to give this person a second chance to even say something, but f--- them. That’s not OK, that’s not something that we're going to even entertain because what's done is done,” Martinez Ortega said.

Deborah Martinez Martinez, a local publisher and educator, also spoke during public comment about the incident: “I do not think homophobia belongs on any table,” she said.

Neither Griego nor Commissioner Zach Swearingen mentioned the incident during their public comments — though both of them both reminded people about the Chile & Frijoles Festival scheduled this weekend.

Daneya Esgar was the only commissioner to discuss the issue during commissioners’ comments.

“I just want to make sure that those in this room, including up here, know that I take this very seriously as an openly gay woman serving on this commission. I know there's a lot of conversations to be had,” Esgar said.

“I'm very concerned and I know my community is hurting and they're very concerned, so I think we're going to have to continue discussions, but I just wouldn’t be standing up for myself or my community if I didn’t mention that I think further discussion is going to be needed and hopefully we can all move forward,” she said.

All three of the county commissioners were present at the dinner Saturday night. Both Swearingen and Esgar mentioned the dinner during their open comments at the BOCC's Tuesday morning meeting, but Griego was silent about the event.

Griego left the event after Buentello confronted him

Buentello recalled checking in with Martinez Ortega after overhearing Griego’s words to him. She was bringing her son back from the bathroom when she saw Griego hugging Esgar.

Esgar is Pueblo’s first openly gay commissioner. She held leadership positions in the Colorado House of Representatives before she served the maximum number of terms from 2014 to 2022. Pueblo Democrats selected her in May to fill a vacancy after former Commissioner Garrison Ortiz left for a executive job at Colorado State University Pueblo.

Buentello said that she told Esgar what Griego had just said to Martinez Ortega “and her face just went white.”

According to Buentello, Griego pulled her aside to chat, but she questioned why he would ever use that word, in any context.

“’What is wrong with you? Like, why do you think it is OK to use this word in any setting? We're here celebrating a gay man right now tonight and his contributions to the union to the labor movement in southern Colorado. Why do you think it's okay to talk to that way to anybody?’” Buentello said she asked Griego, adding that it’s “especially” not valid to speak that way to a fellow Democratic elected official.

Griego allegedly tried to say that he was just saying a word in Spanish slang, Buentello said. “He didn't turn around and deny it when I publicly confronted him," she said.

“I'm like, ‘It's Spanish slang for the f-word. Whether you said it in English or Spanish makes no difference. It is another demonstration that you don't value equity, that you don't value diversity, and that you don't respect the LGBT community as people,’” Buentello recalled saying.

Griego left shortly after Buentello confronted him.

“He pretty much kicked himself out because he was in the wrong so much,” Martinez Ortega said.

Pueblo state Sen. Nick Hinrichsen told the Chieftain that Buentello told him shortly after the incident that Griego said a homophobic slur. He also recalled that Griego, before he left, seemed to be justifying his use of the word because Martinez Ortega had said something to him first.

“Republican, Democrat (or) unaffiliated, I think it was inappropriate language and behavior for anybody,” Hinrichsen said.

Hinrichsen and Buentello are married.

Hilary Glasgow, the executive director of Colorado WINS, was emceeing the dinner Saturday night. She heard about what Griego allegedly said from Esgar and Buentello shortly after the incident and made an announcement about not disparaging people.

“We have strict rules in the house of labor: that you don't disparage people using slurs,” Glasgow told the Chieftain. “I don't actually know why we would even have to say that, but if you come to a labor dinner, you're in the house of labor and you’ve got to play by our rules.”

‘Pueblo deserves better’: a response from the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance

A letter from the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance, shared with the Chieftain, was sent to county commissioners Thursday and asked for a formal apology from Griego for “his hate speech.” The letter also asked the BOCC to consider censuring Griego.

SCEA, the Southern Colorado Labor Council, a local union representing some Pueblo County employees, and the executive board of the Pueblo County Democratic Party all co-signed the letter.

The signatories also asked for commissioners to partake in diversity training “so there is a better understanding of why hate speech is unacceptable.”

The word that Griego allegedly said “has a long and violent history as a Spanish pejorative slur against the LGBTQ+ community,” according to the letter.

“Since the word is often connected with anti-LGBTQ+ violence and hate crimes, when heard on the street it is usually safer to shoulder it and carry on, but when the word is used by an elected office-holder in our community, there must be consequences,” the letter states.

“Pueblo deserves better from its elected leaders.”

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Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo councilor claims county commissioner called him homophobic slur