Miami-Dade government employee who wrote tirade against trans people suspended for 3 days
The media aide at the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners who wrote a slur-laden column against transgender people was suspended for three days without pay this week as a result of the tirade.
John Labriola, 49, who has worked in county government since 2006, was disciplined after publishing an opinion article earlier this month in the March 2021 edition of “Sophie’s Voice,” a newsletter by South Florida-based Sophie Publishing House, which is linked to Sophie’s Corner in Miami International Mall.
According to a disciplinary report, Labriola acted with “conduct unbecoming an employee of the county on or off duty” and violated provisions of his department’s rules when he wrote an opinion against the “Equality Act,” which the House of Representatives passed last month and would amend civil rights laws to include protections from discrimination for LGBTQ individuals, specifically related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
The bill would also expand the definition of public spaces where individuals would be entitled to protections, including retail stores.
In Labriola’s column, he said the bill was meant to attack and harass small business owners “who resist surrendering their consciences to the new ‘tranny tyranny.’”
“It’s going to be a choice of either baking that sodomy cake and hiring the scary-looking, child-molesting tranny with a beard or being drowned in legal bills and driven out of business. Local governments also will be forced to submit or die,” he continued.
Jose ‘Pepe’ Diaz, chair of the county commission, said in a statement attached to the disciplinary report obtained by the Miami Herald that the article’s comments were “unacceptable.”
“Your article went well beyond discussing the policy implications of the law. Instead you made several inflammatory and insulting statements that are offensive to the community we both serve,” Diaz wrote.
He added that publishing “insulting language that attacks people based on gender identity and sexual orientation is inconsistent with your position as a Media Aide.” The statements, Diaz added, also went against anti-discrimination policies of the Board of County Commissioners.
“In your position as a Media Aide for the Board of County Commissioners, you are responsible for drafting and communicating this Board’s policies in an effective and positive manner to this County’s diverse population,” Diaz continued.
“Let there be no doubt, these insulting statements are unacceptable,” he said.
Labriola, who makes about $70,000 a year, according to county records, did not respond to a request for comment from the Herald.
Labriola was suspended from Monday, March 8, to Wednesday, March 10, and was mandated to participate in a training session on the county’s anti-discrimination policies within the next 30 days, the disciplinary action report shows.
According to his personnel file, Labriola had not received any other disciplinary action, aside from verbal counseling and a written warning in March 2020 for three separate incidents where he raised his voice, used expletives and other offensive language at another colleague.
After one of the incidents in Aug. 20, 2019, Labriola was told by his supervisors that the language he used against a colleague in the office was inappropriate.
“He was also told that while he is entitled to his personal religious beliefs, he should avoid discussing these matters in the workplace unless it was related to his work,” the record shows.
Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 6:32 PM.
