Employee fired for not denouncing his MAGA candidate sister’s anti-gay rhetoric sues Fulop, Jersey City

An aide to Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and member of the city’s LGBTQ+ task force who was fired for refusing to denounce his MAGA conservative sister’s anti-gay rhetoric has filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the mayor and the city.
Jonathan Gomez Noriega, who worked for the city since 2018, says in the 37-page lawsuit that he was unjustly fired in August for supporting the political campaign of his far right-leaning sister, Valentina Gomez, who unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state in Missouri earlier this year.
“My First Amendment right was violated. I was retaliated against, coerced, wrongfully fired, and humiliated by the mayor of Jersey City Steven Fulop, and his staff,” Gomez Noriega said in a post on “X” Wednesday.
Gomez Noriega’s MAGA conservative sister made headlines from Missouri to Jersey City with a bevy of posts on “X” that consistently bashed the LGBTQ+ community.
Just this week she posted a video supporting Matt Gaetz’s nomination for Attorney General, saying the former congressman accused of having sex with at least one underage girl will protect the country against pedophiles.
“Gomez’s termination was not based on job performance, but on his familial and political association, showcasing Fulop’s willingness to sacrifice an employee’s career to maintain political favor,” the lawsuit says.
City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione, Chief of Staff John Minella, Business Administrator John Metro and city Director of Employee Relations and Workforce Management Mobin Yousaf were also named in the suit.
“This lawsuit has no merit,” Wallace-Scalcione said. “Jonathan was an at-will employee, and part of his responsibilities were focused on the LGBTQ community along with diversity and inclusion.
“Once he decided to partake in a hate-filled campaign, the community in Jersey City no longer wanted to work with him, making him unable to do his work responsibilities. It’s as simple as that, and we wish him luck in his next chapter.”
Gomez Noriega also contends in the suit he was fired appease political progressives as he runs for governor in 2025.
The suit also claims the firing violated Gomez Noriega’s civil rights, he was discriminated against because of his race, and he was also defamed when Wallace-Scalcione made comments to the media that “painted Mr. Gomez (Noriega) as a bigot and racist.”
Wallace-Scalcione’s statement, provided as part of the lawsuit, did not refer to Gomez Noriega as a bigot or a racist. The lawsuit did not provide any mention of negative actions by the city based on Gomez Noriega’s Colombian heritage.
Since being fired, Gomez Noriega has applied for dozens of jobs, “and despite being an Olympian with a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, he is unable to secure employment due to defendants’ defamatory public statements and retaliation.”
As an aide to Fulop, Gomez Noriega’s job consisted of appear “at non-controversial events” on behalf of the mayor, such as flag-raisings.
The lawsuit claims the Jersey City mayor was well aware of Gomez Noriega’s support of his sister, including his campaign contributions; and it wasn’t a problem until media outlets linked his position on the LGBT+ task force and his sister’s anti-gay political stances.
Gomez Noriega issued a statement Aug. 5 saying he would step down from the task force and noting: “I do not support any hateful remarks directed toward the LGBTQ+ community or any individual.”
According to the lawsuit and recorded conversations between Fulop and Gomez Noriega (which were posted online by Gomez’s sister), Fulop was angry that while denouncing anti-gay rhetoric, Gomez Noriega failed to denounce his sister’s anti-gay comments.
Jersey City officials did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which describes in great detail the tense conversations between Fulop and Gomez Noriega and the number of calls from Fulop and other city officials that Gomez Noriega declined to answer.
Gomez Noriega is seeking compensatory damages, nominal damages, punitive damages, interest, costs of suit, attorneys’ fees any other relief the court deems appropriate.