Roosevelt claimed âthe Jacques report found that there was no homophobic intent or action in the actions by Gus Bickford,â while Jacques instead said that she did not make findings either way on the “motivations” for any actions taken â a clarification helpfully located at the top of the report on the first page. Roosevelt also said, âMayor Morse responded and acknowledged there were no false allegations.â While Morse has acknowledged “concerns” and apologized for making anyone uncomfortable, he never made a statement on the nature of the allegations â since, in fact, no concrete allegations were made.
The Intercept asked Roosevelt what he made of the suggestion that while Goverman’s slur was the most explicit expression of bigotry at the meeting, the entire thrust of the opposition was touched with homophobia. Roosevelt pointed to the state party investigation which he claimed found no evidence of homophobic intent. Asked why so many people felt otherwise, he said, “I think they’re misinformed. I don’t think they understand the facts of what happened. Now, I’m not saying that there was no homophobic motivation by any of the students, but I don’t have any way of knowing that one way or the other. There’s some pretty good evidence there was some careerist motivation among some of the students. Whether there was any homophobic intent really there, I don’t have any way to know.”