SAMMAMISH, Wash. — A Sammamish planning commissioner who made anti-LGBTQ+ remarks during a meeting last week has resigned.
Sammamish Mayor Kali Clark accepted Wassim Fayed's resignation immediately Monday.
The city strongly condemned Fayed's comments, but activists say there needs to be more accountability.
During a June 1 meeting on the first day of Pride Month, Fayed spoke to his fellow Sammamish City Council-appointed commissioners for more than three minutes.
“I don’t believe that LGBTQ should be part of the minority,” Fayed said during the meeting.
“These are people who are promoting diseases and infestation in the minds of our children in our schools," Fayed continued.
Noah Wagoner with Seattle Pride and Eastside Pride PNW said Fayed's comments were disgusting and traumatic and that they are hate speech.
“We are humans. That is the fastest way to dehumanize people is to use language like that," said Wagoner.
At one point Fayed said the LGBTQ+ community is the most wealthy and connected, a statement Wagoner said is objectively wrong.
“We are overrepresented in unemployment, underemployment, housing insecurity and housing concerns," said Wagoner.
He said while these views are unsurprising, it’s harmful coming from a person of power.
“The reason we have pride is because we are a marginalized community," Wagoner said. "It is important for us to get together and share in queer love and queer joy.”
The city of Sammamish released a statement saying in part, "While we acknowledge the Commissioner’s right to free speech, we were shocked to hear the comments made and we strongly condemn them."
The city council was set to review Fayed's comments at Tuesday's city council meeting. Eastside Pride PNW and P for Peace still plan to speak at that meeting. They said the planning commission had just gone through a diversity training and Fayed's comments were met with silence. That meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Sammamish City Hall.