By Lisa Storment —
This story begins 20 years after arriving in Sonoma Valley in 1996, and after “coming out” as the true me. I was then suddenly aware that I had become a lesser person in the eyes of the far-right judge and jury. My introduction to homophobia was just about to begin.
I first came out at the age of 42, and went through tremendous losses of family, friends, and acquaintances. My world got smaller at the same time as my heart and love grew bigger. I had finally arrived at who I am, and these losses made no sense to me. I met and married my now wife 18 years ago. It was a time when we had to be careful about holding hands in public and couldn’t be obvious that we were a couple. Our mantra was, keep a low profile.
My children’s father then tried to pursue full custody of our children because in the eyes of his church, I was not fit to be a mother because of who I loved. I went to the pastor of that church to introduce myself and say, look – this is who I am, and he looked me in the eyes and said that I was a sinner and not fit to be a mother. It was an incredibly surreal moment, one that hurt me deeply. I couldn’t believe that people could feel this way. It felt like a battle for my life. But, over the next decade or so, I felt that I had won that battle.
The last 10 plus years my wife and I have enjoyed an open, welcoming community in Sonoma. We own a home and are volunteers, workers, and contributing members here. Our son successfully transitioned from a shy and somewhat depressed teenage girl to an out and thriving young man with the support of our community. It has been a joy. It seemed we had arrived.
Present day, 2023, and we are threatened again. Real Estate moguls Tim LeFever and Ken Mattson who are verified to be directly connected to alt-right conservative organizations, are trying to own Sonoma Valley. Suddenly, we look around and see that over the past 5-7 years, they have bought 110 properties and counting – many of which are well established businesses that give Sonoma Valley its charm and economic edge. LeFever/Mattson is linked to alt-right evangelical hate groups that have been openly homophobic, racist, and promote hate policies. Stacy Mattson, Ken’s wife, made homophobic comments on her public Facebook page (which is now private) when they first arrived in Sonoma Valley and this was then publicized. Realizing the impact they could have on the Valley, I feel alarmed!
This has me remembering, with sadness, those days when my wife and I could not walk freely in the community holding hands, openly talk about our beautiful family in the workplace, or enjoy a harassment free date night. I thought those days were behind us.
Now with the threat of the LeFever/Mattson takeover of our community, and clear ties to the Council on National Policy (CNP), an alt-right big money conservative think tank that promotes hate policies, this is a clear and present threat to me, and those who love like me.
People say, “It’s a free country, they can use their money in whatever way they want,” and “What they are doing is perfectly legal.”
Whether what they are doing is legal or not is still not settled in my mind as well as the minds of other more legal minds than mine. And while they may be within their rights to spend money as they see fit, is it ethical and/or moral? Tim Lefever has campaigned for anti-gay legislation that would take away my civil rights. They come into Sonoma, buy up property under the guise of development, but in actuality develop nothing, and give nothing back to the community. As they move about like a voracious alligator eating everything in their path, one has to ask, what is the end game? Are they after culture shift here that threatens to take away my rights? It appears that they have intent and the resources to do harm to the LGBTQI+ community.
This is not happening suddenly. It is, and has been, slow and insidious. One day we may look behind us and realize we are a lesser community. We are no longer an attractive and sought out tourist community. We are no longer a place where LGBTQI+ people feel safe to dine, shop, walk about as couples. How did we get there?
In October 2022, I realized there was no action to stop them. Why isn’t anyone doing anything? Can’t they be stopped by our local City or government officials? I found the Wake Up Sonoma group via a letter by Veronica Napoles, and saw an opportunity to take action. And that is what I am doing, because it’s the only thing I see happening in Sonoma that’s addressing this danger.
I urge the LGBTQI+ community and allies to take action – get involved, show our strength and that we will not be pushed back into the shadows.
Lisa Storment is the co-founder of Wake Up Sonoma!
I speak in support of Lisa’s commentary. It’s tragic that our founding principles of freedom of choice and religious freedom from persecution aren’t being recognized by the very religious groups who have those freedoms, yet would deny them to others. Very un-American in my view. We are all children of the same universe. Ignorance of this breeds trouble.