In a sign of solidarity and support, the community of San Pedro, Los Angeles flew a rainbow flag for Ryan Gierach, a gay Air Force veteran who has recently been harassed in his neighborhood.
Gierach moved into his San Pedro apartment two years ago, and says the level of harassment he’s received has escalated ever since.
Gierach says his neighbors have posted signs harassing him, calling him “pedophile” among other names. They’ve even thrown dirty diapers at him. The abuse has been caught on camera.
“[They] looked up at me and began calling me gay epithets and a child molester,” Gierach says.
LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino led the flag-raising ceremony at Welcome Park.
“We are a town, we are a city that’s inclusive, that regardless of who you love, how you love, how you pray, what you look like, or how you live, that we are welcoming to everyone here in San Pedro,” Buscaino said.
Gierach hopes that the abuse will stop after Saturday’s ceremony and the public show of support from his San Pedro community.
“This is not about me," Gierach told CBS LA. "This happens every day in every place in this nation.”
A rainbow flag was also raised at the LAPD’s Harbor division on Saturday.
Gierach is formerly the editor of WeHo News, which he launched in 2005. He sold the url a few years back amid financial and addiction struggles he was very public with. He recently told KTLA he was discharged from the Air Force in 1979 for his sexuality.
h/t: https://www.advocate.com/crime/2018/6/07/gay-veteran-alleges-homophobic-abuse-neighbors
It just didn’t seem right,
It just didn't seem right, the way the gay man was accusing different ones of saying and doing what he said, hurling insults at him. I don't believe anyone made negative comments about him being gay. The truth will come out, always does.
Ok , So Im hoping people will
Ok , So Im hoping people will read this fully before commenting. (stay with me it’s a doozy)
So this is a news story of Ryan Gierach. He lives across from my relative in San Pedro (I don’t wanna release a name because they are pursuing legal action) He is claiming that his neighbors have created a "Smear campaign" against him. That he has been on the receiving end of unprovoked slander and how he is being accused of being a sexual predator.
Well unfortunately all the local media outlets he has contacted have only reported his side and an untruthful side at that. He is actually only sharing a small amount of the story..
I am By NO MEANS condoning the usage of racial or homophobic slurs, but it kills me to see him use he LBGTQ community in vain as a back up method to avoid being exposed for the problems he has caused.
Ryan has lived at this current residence for about 1-2 years. Maybe a bit longer, the time line is a lil messy since I don’t personally live there. However when he first came around, he seemed respectable and quite friendly. Often bragging about all the Advocating work hes done and how he was a Veteran. He also mentioned his Bi-polar disorder and seemed very sympathetic about those with mental illness. Never shying away from an opportunity to share a bit of his background with anyone.
As far as I know all the tenants in the accused Apt Building across from him had nothing bad to say about him at this point. He had encountered a problem with the tenant in the opposite building who was butting heads and causing problems with several people. This particular woman had harassed both her Direct neighbors, as well as Ryan and a few others down the block. Collectively, Ryan with the Help of some of the other tenants proceeded to follow thru with Restraining orders, as well as setting up personal cameras which resulted in everyone getting this Nuisance evicted. They even had a lil bar-b-que to celebrate.
He had mentioned a few times how he was well educated on the steps it took to have someone removed and that he had "very high up connections" in both the city and the county. No one ever really paid any attention to those comments because while dealing with that unruly neighbor he was always pretty calm.
Well around March 20th the tenant in the opposite building was home with her Autistic son. She was staying with her father who is also a Veteran. Her son who was not taking his medication at the time seemed to have an episode and had taken off out side in a bit of an emotional breakdown. The mother went to try and gather her son and get him to come back inside as to not disturb the neighbors… as Would any parent while their child (sick or not) was crying hysterically. Well at this point Ryan came out and had appeared to be chuckling and making remarks in a mocking manner. At one point even telling her to "Shut her kid up" She, Naturally responded out of embarrassment, fear, anger and agitation and responded in a harsh manner.
Telling him to mind his business and leave them alone. He started calling them "idiots" and "bigots" so she started responding just as harsh. Which prompted her to respond with "I don’t even know why your watching us outside. Are you some kind of Pedophile?" That was basically the straw that Broke the camels back apparently. It was around this time that her father was arriving home to the commotion out front. He tried to intervene and calm everyone down and figure out what had happened. His daughter and grandchild went back inside and he tried to get the story from Ryan. Ryan immediately got aggressive, which was understandable but a bit extreme and proceeded to come at this man a lil too aggressively. When he got too argumentative the opposing tenant said he was going to go back into the house.
That he refused to speak to him until he calmed down. After they had calmed down the opposing neighbor did in fact try and apologize for his daughters actions and the way she behaved. He was trying to explain their side of the situation so that all parties could deal with it. Well it wasn’t good enough for Ryan! He started demanding that she needed to not only apologize to him, herself but that she would be required to make a formal apology in writing to him to prove she meant it. (What??) She as well as her father refused. They basically told him that they understood the hurt they called but were also not going to gravel for forgiveness. That seemed to only Set Ryan off further.
At this point 2 of the other neighbors came out trying to defuse the situation…Just asking everyone to calm down because there were several young children in both buildings etc. Well Ryan started yelling at them for not defending him and being on "HIS SIDE" and how he saw them in "Cahoots with Fascists and Bigots". He then started to accuse the neighbors of saying that they originally accused him of not only being a pedophile but named his direct neighbors kids as the children he was assaulting. (Now we do have some video of that altercation but that is now being given to a lawyer) Which was never true. The daughter did admit to making the pedophile comment but denied naming specific children.
Almost immediately, maybe 2 to 3 days later, Ryan takes it upon himself to start writing in chalk outside the opposite apartment different phrases on the sidewalk, and a few times that first day walking into tha buildings carport, things like "Treat others how you want to be treated , the golden rule" "Fascists live here" And "Love not hate". In all honesty no one really cared that he did that. They chalked it up (no pun intended) to just him being crazy. Well the landlord for that building called one of the tenants and asked if they could remove it. They noticed Ryan on camera and wanted whatever he put there to be gone.
That tenant did removed with a broom and water. Well as some point Ryan comes out and starts accusing her of taking sides and how she was a traitor and now she was gonna be a fascists too. She told him she didn’t wanna get involved and that she was doing what her landlord asked. Well he starts yelling from his balcony how she is now violating his free speech and then started telling her to go back to her country (cause that's original *insert eye roll). She blew it off because she legitimately did not want anything further to do with this man…called him irrelevant and moved on. He then went back that night and wrote the same phrase again and added her name this time. She noticed the next morning as she was leaving and called the landlord to her building to ask what to do, as she was walking to her car Ryan was heard yelling from his door "I guess she *insert name* doesn’t wanna be my friend anymore" all while saying loudly "you'll learn that your on the wrong side" This tenant has 3 people who live her 2 of which are minors and she was genuinely worried for thier safety so she was trying to avoid it. She was making a point for her teens to go to school and come straight home and avoiding being anywhere, he could be. It had nothing to do with the accusations and it was more out of fear that he may get argumentative and aggressive. About a week after this all started he started to make flyers and started putting them on the doors of the 4 apts. Claiming it was his free speech and his 1st amendment right to do so. Again started yelling " I don’t molest children" and "you guys are disgusting" etc. He was inserting these flyers on the screen doors of these homes. All the tenants kept telling him to leave and to get off the property as he was becoming a nuisance, the police were called and reports were made.
This continued for a few weeks. All while still going door to door with more obscenities. He was trying harder than any person Ive ever seen in my life to provoke the tenants in the opposite apt complex. Anytime he would Write in chalk out side the building her would throw water from bottles and yell obscenities at the maintenance man who now had to do it so the tenants could avoid anymore conflict. That’s where the Video clip of what appears to be a dirty diaper. He was throwing those flyers and water etc at them. So they decided to do the same. So what you are seeing is Ryan making himself to be the victim as he obviously didn’t film himself throwing the items he was tossing first.
Again this went on again for a few more days verbal assaults, He could have been an adult and just chose to ignore these people from the beginning but he seemed to become obsessed with watching them and commenting/accosting them ever chance he could.
Well, a few days later The Daughter from the original altercation was talking to someone in the parking spot down in the garage when he started acting up again. Yelling obscenities, telling her to go back to where she came from. That racists and bigots were not welcomed. So she kindly told him to go "Fuck himself" he got aggravated and pulled his phone out and started filming her and said how this was going to be the proof he needed to have her kids taken and how she was "messing with the wrong person" She was over it. So she started talking to her friend laughing and pointing in an aggravating manner basically showing him if you wanna be a fool then so will I.
There is no reason to lie, the colorful language was in abundance between both parties. This went on for a bit when he allegedly threw something at her while she was walking back with her child. At which point she ran over to him. He seemed real confident and cocky that she wasn’t going to do anything. He taunted her and provoked her and set off to the point where she had spit at him. He started calling her an animal and began with the racist remarks and calling her kid retarded (Seems an interesting choice of words for someone who is preaching all about love and acceptance huh?)
The other tenants who were there were trying to end the altercation as it was starting t reach a boiling point of him pushing someone too far. This is his tactic it appears. He seems to back you into a corner and the second he can he cowers so he can play the victim. The next day a few of the tenants including neighbors in his complex got a hold of his past indiscretions that are on the wonderful internet.
The second he learned was when he started reaching out to the media claiming he was the victim of this mass witch hunt. We all collectively looked up old tenants and neighbors of this "man" and not one story seems to be too far from the other. He plays well with others until some pisses him off. Then when they don’t kiss his ass he makes their life hell.
He has been seen by neighbors in and around the actual block of where he lives putting up some of the flyers himself that he is claiming the opposing tenants are saying about him. He Is playing the victim so hard he is literally making this stuff up himself.
Im extremely disappointed in the city Of San Pedro and all the news outlets he and his "Story " have been featured on. You publically shamed people who were defending themselves from this man by just accepting his side and not bothering to get both sides. One person has lost their job to him because of these altred videos and 2 other tenants are now being harassed. I'm hoping you go back and do some research. This is a manic individual who seems fairly content on playing the victim. I really hope all these TV stations take into consideration the bullshit they have started with this man.
This man probably has good intentions but he is an example of needing better mental care. I have video and photos proof of all of this too.