Bexar County Official Removed After Accusations of Sexist Slur Against Commissioner Clay-Flores

The Bexar County Commissioners have taken a firm stand against uses of derogatory language on Tuesday by unanimously voting to terminate the chair of the county's small business advisory board. The ousted chair, Chris Forbrich, was accused of using a sexist slur against Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores. His controversial term, which Forbrich deemed an exercise of free speech, has sparked conversations around sexism and freedom of expression within the county's governance.

Forbrich's troubles began after alleging to have referred Commissioner Clay-Flores as a "crusading c—", a comment reported to Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai. Forbrich, who also unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the San Antonio City Council and owns an IT company, was facing opposition from Clay-Flores just the day before being reported. Clay-Flores had expressed interest in reducing the size of the board and voted against Forbrich's reappointment, according to the San Antonio Report.

The complaint brought before Judge Sakai was supported by notarized testimonies from Edward Pape, another member of the board, and Renee Watson, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Director. With these accounts, Commissioner Tommy Calvert found enough ground to make the motion to rescind Forbrich's appointment, leading to the unanimous vote that finalized Forbrich's removal from the position he held.

Forbrich, who attended the meeting, defended his comments as a rightful exercise of his First Amendment. But, in an interview after the meeting, Judge Sakai was clear in his condemnation of the language used, asserting that the word choice was "offensive," and stating, "There is no justification for the use of that word," as reported by the San Antonio Report. Forbrich went on to hint at potentially suing Bexar County over the decision, although specifics about any legal action were not immediately forthcoming.

Commissioner Clay-Flores, the target of the alleged slur, said she wasn't aware of the comments until the issue was brought to the Commissioners Court's agenda. During the proceedings, she expressed gratitude toward Judge Sakai for taking the matter seriously and making it clear that the county would not tolerate "sexism or verbal abuse." "This county, for decades has been simply the good old boys network, until now," Clay-Flores said.