Port Townsend Councilman Ben Thomas Comments "off the record" to Katie Daviscourt of Rebel News Enquiry for Comment from Mayor David Faber. Councilman Thomas wishes Julie Jaman would have handled the "situation" different, and defends Mayor Fabor's Twitter and his Support of the Violent Mob that Attacked Us. Oh and the Speaker he gave a Hug to in Tears telling him that women were already being attacked, that was me.

 They KNEW there would be Violence, yet let a 400 person mob attack us, around 20 of us, mostly elderly.  Ben Knew the Violence was already happening, all they had to do was put fencing between us, they stood there and let us be attacked, all the while, KNOWING it would and was Happening. 

Councilman Ben Thomas "hated" that we were being attacked, YET did NOTHING?

We did not Not Send the hateful emails BEN. We were not anti Trans. And over half the speakers were of the PRIDE family. We had a right to speak and not be beat down. yet BEN ONLY feels for the trans community, they matter more.  We had a right to Speak and not have a violent mob attack BEN.

BEN seems to think that Trans Women (with the strength of a man) should be protected from Elderly woman? WTF? We were not there to be violent in any way. They were violent, they were Antifa all in black, they hit us, put us to the ground, hit us with bikes, wrapped flags around our heads, pinned us to the ground and the wall. They were young strong individuals, men, women and we were all over 50 women and 80 year old women. And the Trans community is Ben's ONLY Concern. Makes me sick to my stomach, THIS IS NOT OK by any sense of the Moral Compass or the LAW. 

Email from Katie Daviscourt to Mayor David Fabor

From: Katelyn Daviscourt <katelyn.daviscourt@rebelnews.com>

Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2022 6:00 PM

To: City Council <citycouncil@cityofpt.us>

Subject: Media outlet looking for comment

Hi Mayor Faber,

My name is Katie Daviscourt and I am a journalist with Rebel News. I am working on an

article surrounding Julie Jaman and would like your side of the story.

I am specifically asking for comment on this tweet:

https://twitter.com/davidjfaber/status/1559420621896814593?s=21&t=mJbf1hx9JpdvVz1np0sPmg

Why you responded the way you did and expressed support for the group that mobbed the women’s rights activists?

Best,

Katie Daviscourt

Rebel News

ANSWER FROM COUNCILMAN BEN THOMAS

"From: Ben Thomas

To: Katelyn Daviscourt

Subject: Re: Media outlet looking for comment

Date: Friday, September 2, 2022 7:55:25 AM

Katelyn,

It's way out of my lane to respond to your email since it was addressed to the mayor and his specific tweet. But since I believe he's out of town and may not have been following Rebel New's coverage of this situation as I have, I at least wanted to clear up an understandable misunderstanding that resulted from David's tweet.

I'm intending this to be off the record, but since this email is part of the written public record, I realize I can't depend on that.

I feel confident in saying that David's tweet was in reference to the council meeting itself, not the demonstrations outside.

 It was a really moving meeting in terms of the residents who spoke and the vibe in the air. According to my memory, there was very little negativity toward Julie or Amy or the others who came to speak.

I personally feel the usage of the term "TERF" in the tweet is unfortunate, but I'm not the word police.

As for what happened outside, I have my own opinions about what happened that might not

be shared with other councilors.


We were encouraged to stay in City Hall so as not to endanger ourselves or compromise the efforts of the police force. This was in the context of swirling rumors of potential violence. 

I was the only one who decided it was more important to see it first hand and, after checking in with the police chief, went out there to see for myself. So I'm very sympathetic to the complaints of the group who were trying to have a press conference.

I even gave a hug to one of the speakers who came up to me in tears. 

I really hated seeing how they were treated. There's nothing like seeing something in person

before one judges. And now we have people all over the world judging what's going on in our little town very out of context. I wish that judgement would be tempered better by that

acknowledgement.

Personally, I have complicated feelings about this situation.

I have many transgender friends and a transgender family member, and have been very disturbed by the ranting, hateful emails we've been receiving from around the world. Fairly or not, I think those emails might be influencing our collective response to the situation. I also believe strongly in free speech and in letting people talk, so I very much do not condone the shutting down and intimidation of the press conference that Amy Sousa organized.

Honestly, I wish Julie would have handled the initial situation better, though I'm sympathetic of "mama bear" instincts and really have no place as a man casting judgement. I will say that a similar feeling of protection has welled up in many of us on the Council to protect transgender people in general, whom many of us feel are in a particularly vulnerable spot in society, hence the proclamation. I'd like to think we can defend transgender people without ostracizing Julie or anyone else who may have concerns about a specific situation.

Ben

Port Townsend City Council, position 1

250 Madison Street

Port Townsend, WA 98368

(360) 531-2211 (mobile)"

Link to Source FOI eMail

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q5957lk--nIznztNFZHB_ziunpXRWfFf/view?usp=sharing