Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Courtesy photo.

The Puerto Rican Day Parade on a recent Sunday in Bridgeport brought out marchers, floats, flags and families with kids in tow. Their pride was loud and colorful, as it should be. There is much for the Puerto Rican community to be proud of. The countless impactful contributions to the civic, religious and social life of that city and others around the state should be recognized and celebrated.

It is unfortunate the day was marred by the recent revelation by the Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Journalism. That group exposed the odious chat carried on by Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico since 2017.

The governor and 11 other government officials and staff used an encrypted app to spew some 800 pages of vile, sexist and homophobic comments. The fact that the app was encrypted certainly suggests some intent to keep their knowingly unacceptable comments from public view.

Some examples are telling. The governor called New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito the Spanish word for whore; told the financial oversight board to go “f—” yourself, with several middle-finger-raised emojis to follow; and used homophobic derogatory language toward other officials and openly gay entertainer Ricky Martin.

There are calls for the governor to resign, including from Martin, and you can add this page to that list. Such disgracefully disrespectful animus should not be accepted from those holding public leadership positions. We can and should demand better.

Now it may be argued that this space has no business opining about what the governor of a U.S. territory chats about with his political pals. We do so because we are invested in its success. We do so not only because Puerto Rico is asking congressional assistance to cover its $120 billion indebtedness, and many of those dollars will come from pockets in Connecticut, but we also do so to fight the maligning of the notion of “political correctness” in America.

If it is politically correct to uphold respect and dignity for women in leadership positions, then we stand for political correctness.

If it is politically correct to demand that our public leaders refrain from using vile and profane language, then we stand for political correctness.

Anyone entrusted to hold public office should be held to those standards.