Gay dad José Rolón, a widower raising three kids on his own, faced a choice.
The social media influencer, who covers gay family life and is known as @nycgaydad, was under attack by conservative online provocateur Stew Peters. Peters is an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who “regularly promotes anti-LGBTQ+ and white supremacist beliefs,” according to the Anti-Defamation League, a watchdog organization against hateful extremists.
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Peters, who has over a million and a half followers across various platforms, had declared on his show that Rolón should be executed for sex crimes against his kids.
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“Some pervert homo has access to at least four kids around the clock all the time. He can take them to drag conventions and then post the evidence, post pictures and videos of criminal sexual conduct… and somehow not end up in jail, or better yet, the gallows,” Peters stated.
“I had two choices on how to handle @stewpeters,” Rolón posted at the time. “Ignore it or expose him for what he is to show the public that real people out there exist.”
Rolón exposed him, sharing video of Peters’ vile accusations even as those same clips led to violent threats against his family.
Now Rolón has gone a step further: He’s taking Peters to court.
The gay father of three — not four, as Peters erroneously claimed — has filed a defamation lawsuit against the right-wing host. The five-count lawsuit, first shared with The Advocate, accuses Peters of bias-related intimidation under New York civil rights law.
“Peters stirs up user engagement across his platforms by convincing his followers that Christian Americans are under attack by Jews, the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized groups, often unleashing a frenzy on specific individuals who are representative of those communities,” the lawsuit states.
Rolón’s attorneys first sent a cease-and-desist letter to Peters demanding that he remove all videos that refer to Rolón or his children. Remarkably, Peters complied.
Now he’ll face a jury that won’t look much like his rabid right-wing following.
“The sort of harassment and incitement my client and his young family suffered may be celebrated online, but a Brooklyn jury will look at it very, very differently,” said Carrie Goldberg, one of Rolón’s attorneys, in a statement.
“There’s a responsibility that comes with having as far a reach as Peters has,” she added. “Our country has fought hard for First Amendment protections. But free speech never extends to inciting people to harass private citizens and make hoax police reports against them,” Goldberg said. “It just takes one rogue believer to upend a life.”
