Councilmember Resigns After Peeing on Gay Bar
A gay councilmember has resigned his post after being accused of urinating outside Precinct, a popular gay bar in downtown Los Angeles.
At around 2 a.m. on March 9, a security camera outside of Precinct, a gay bar in downtown Los Angeles, caught two men dressed in black and carrying cocktail glasses walking around the corner from the bar’s main entrance. They entered an exterior hallway leading to the bar’s employee entrance.
The men set their glasses on a nearby railing, unzipped their pants, and appeared to urinate in a corner between the door and the entranceway.
In the video, two other men are seen passing by the entranceway but not entering it, just moments as the taller of the two men appears to zip up his fly and looks around furtively. The video cuts out shortly after that.
The video was posted to Precinct’s Instagram account, along with a clearer picture of two men — taken from inside the bar — whose attire appears to match those of the men urinating.
According to the Instagram post, the men then rounded the corner, where one of the managers spotted the drinks and tried to take them away. The larger of the two men “reacted by physically assaulting him, throwing him to the ground.”
It remains unclear if the employee was injured during the altercation.
“Precinct is a safe space for all; let’s have a good time. Don’t be a dick,” Precinct’s Instagram post reads. “Oh, yeah, we also have several bathrooms.”
According to Out, which first reported on the incident, several drag performers familiar with the bar began reacting to the post, with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 4 alum Willam, who hosts the Race Chaser podcast, tagging the private Instagram account of Crescenta Valley Town Councilmember Chris Kilpatrick.
Other commenters also identified Kilpatrick as the taller man in both the photo and video.
Kilpatrick was elected in 2020 to the Crescenta Valley Town Council, which represents the Los Angeles suburbs of Montrose, Sunland, and La Cañada Flintridge, along with sections of Glendale.
He ran on a platform of promoting public safety, supporting small businesses, and curbing “out of control” development, according to his old campaign site, a version of which can still be found on the Internet Archive.
Last Tuesday, Crescenta Valley councilmembers learned about the surveillance video and asked Kilpatrick for a statement.
By that time, however, he had retained an attorney, according to a letter detailing the council’s response obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Crescenta Valley Town Council President Harry Leon said in the letter that he had called a special meeting about the issue, but claimed that before it could take place, Kilpatrick “expressed his desire to resign from the council.”
Kilpatrick tendered his resignation, which was accepted by the Council, and became effective that day.
“While we do not condone any of the behavior we observed on social media, we appreciate his 3 years of commitment and dedication to the community while serving on the council,” the letter from the Council said of Kilpatrick’s departure.
Kilpatrick’s attorney, John Duran, said that, prior to the alleged assault, two bar employees approached Kilpatrick and his boyfriend and grabbed him, asking if he had been at the bar.
“My client instinctively pushed back in self-defense,” Duran said in a statement to the Times. “It was reasonable for him to believe that they were about to possibly be gay-bashed” by the men, who allegedly were not in uniform and did not identify themselves before putting their hands on his clients.
Duran added that public urination is not a criminal offense, and battery is a misdemeanor offense, including “unlawful touching as exhibited by individual one who grabbed my client first.”
Kilpatrick does not appear to face any criminal charges at this time.
Some Instagram commenters took shots at Kilpatrick’s political stances, criticizing him for “vague” social media posts or past policy positions that suggest he holds more conservative political beliefs — although there is no evidence of outright support for one political party. Council elections in Crescenta Valley are nonpartisan, although the area is more conservative than nearby areas of greater Los Angeles.
“Not the blue lives matter sympathizer being messy in public,” wrote one.
“He is a Trumper, but the gays don’t care because he is hot,” wrote another.
Landon Cider, the winner of Season 3 of Dragula, quoted a descriptor in Kilpatrick’s bio on his Instagram account, writing, “‘100% American in the profile is such a [red flag emoji].”
That Instagram account, and a separate account that appears to have been created to document his work as councilmember, both appear to have been deleted.
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.