California city councilman who often wears dresses lashes out against 'predictable transphobia' amid recall effort

Two members of a city council in southern California are facing a recall effort, and one of them believes that latent "transphobia" is partially motivating it.

Raúl Ureña was first elected to the City Council of Calexico, California — a city of nearly 40,000 residents that sits along the U.S. southern border — in 2020. At the time, he was just 23 years old and dressing in male attire.

Two years later, Ureña was re-elected, but rather than continue with his usual appearance, he began wearing makeup and low-cut dresses that expose his chest hair as a manifestation of his supposed transgender identity. Ureña, now 26, prefers feminine pronouns and claims he looks "sexy as hell" in many personal photos that have since been shared by the media.

The changes in Ureña's gender identity have coincided with steady rises in crime and homelessness in Calexico. As a result, he and fellow council member Gilberto Manzanarez face a recall on April 16.

Statements in the voter information guide for the recall election accuse both Manzanarez and Ureña of "poor leadership" and of voting "to deny essential weapons to police, referring to the police force as too militarized and pursuing to defund our first responders." Manzanarez is separately accused of "unexpectedly place[ing] his campaign partner, Raul Ureña, as mayor and ... taking actions that caused citizens to lose confidence in official transfers of power."

It does appear that Ureña spent some time serving as mayor, but when his tenure as mayor began and how long it lasted are unclear.

The voter guide further alleges that while in office, Ureña has shared posts on social media that demonstrate "open and public indecency and intoxication." He has also failed to keep parks clean, address the needs of business leaders, ignored "increased crime and vagrancy in downtown," and accused other officials of racism and transphobia to silence "those with differing views," it said.

And indeed, Ureña has described the recall effort against him as "tried-and-tested, predictable transphobia."

In his statement in the voter guide, Ureña warns voters: "DO NOT SIGN this dishonest and dangerous recall."

For his part, Manzanarez blamed the recall against him on a combination of his youth and dirty local politics. "It’s clear that this recall, led by candidates who lost their bid to council, is a political attempt to overturn the overwhelming vote of the people in the 2022 election," he said.

Ureña agrees. "It’s as simple as power," he said in a recent interview. "We’ve de-established a lot of establishment and status quo interests ingrained in the city for many decades."

However, the woman behind the recall, 58-year-old former Calexico Mayor Maritza Hurtado, described Manzanarez and Ureña as "disrespectful" and "toxic." "We're losing business because people do not want to come here because it's disgusting" said Hurtado, who considers herself "a normal Democrat.

"They’re activists with very dark intentions," she added.

"They are some of the biggest supporters of Black Lives Matter in Imperial County," Hurtado continued. "You guys are anti-police? We are a border city. You don't belong here."

It's unclear at this point whether the attempt to recall the two men from office will pass. But if it does, Ureña said he'll just run again. "It’s up to the people," he said.

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