Joel Greenberg Refuses to Apologize - Despite Calls from Community Leaders

A sign from a poster that reads "Greenberg WTH is wrong with you? Asking for a friend...."

In addition to a history of harassing and hateful rhetoric against members of the Muslim community by Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, a constituent of Greenberg's reached out to QLatinx with the below screenshot of a homophobic comment he made on social media.

A screenshot shared with QLatinx where he promotes homophobic bullying.

Homophobic language is often dismissed as ‘harmless banter’ that isn’t intentionally hurtful - however when homophobic language goes unchallenged, this has a clear negative impact on a person's sense of belonging and self-esteem. The use of homophobic language can quickly escalate into more serious homophobic bullying. Greenberg’s comment refers to former Orlando Magic player JJ Redick, while he was attending a local concert and looking down at his phone. While Redick, who was the subject of this comment, does not identify as gay - the use of Greenberg's comment refers to the action as bad or unlikable, which can lead those to think being gay is bad and that it’s acceptable to treat gay people less favorably.