The El Paso Police Department later admitted the situation was not handled correctly, saying then rookie police officer Israel Rodriguez-Aceves made a mistake. When El Paso Police arrived they informed Diaz de Leon and his four friends that they could be arrested for “homosexual conduct,” a statute declared unconstitutional six years earlier.
In response he and the security guard called 911. Diaz de Leon said he recalled a security guard inside the Chico’s telling him and his friends in Spanish, “We won’t allow you to do faggot things here.” The five local men said they were harassed during a visit to Chico’s Tacos on Montwood Avenue when two of the men in the group kissed.
