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* The latest uproar in the Chicago mayoral race has given us an interesting insight into how much attitudes can change. As you may already know, some disgusting fliers are being distributed outside some South Side churches…
On one side of the flyer is a picture of Lightfoot and her wife, Amy Eshelman, with a sign beneath the couple that reads, “The Gay Equality Act !!! It’s our turn.”
Beneath that is a line in red print: “1st openly gay woman in City Hall.” Above the couple is another line in red that says, “The Feminist and Gay Movement Have Come Full Circle.”
The flip side of the flyer says, among other things, “ALL CONTRACTS, JOBS AND EMPLOYMENT NEWLY ASSIGNED EXCLUSIVELY TO GAY PEOPLE!”
* Willie Wilson denounced the fliers…
#NoPlaceForHate #LeadershipIsWhatMatters #drwilliewilson @LightfootForChi @ToniPreckwinkle @toniforchicago pic.twitter.com/kVH9r1nFaN
— Dr. Willie Wilson (@DrWillieWilson) March 19, 2019
* But here’s Wilson in 2014…
“The black community… does not support same-sex marriage,” Wilson told me. “I believe marriage is between a man and women. I’ll die going to grave believing that.”
* Moving along…
Bishop Larry Trotter, the senior pastor of Sweet Holy Spirit Church, who lobbied against the same sex marriage act in Illinois, now is supporting Lightfoot and denouncing the anti-gay fliers. Trotter says “I think the church at large is beyond that.” He also adds “I’m not voting for her because of her lifestyle, that has nothing to do with it.”
* Bishop Trotter on gay marriage in 2004…
“When Mayor Daley and [Cook County Clerk] David Orr said they’d love to allow this, they opened this city up to another legion of demonic experiences,” Trotter told the audience.
* Rex Huppke…
When LGBT activists fought to legalize same-sex marriage, opponents believed the sky would fall and the earth would be torn asunder. Again, the sky didn’t fall and the earth kept right on spinning.
With each step toward equality, fewer people have the capacity to hate. That’s because we start to understand differences, and we stop fearing them.
Most of us, anyway.
Hatred eventually reaches a tipping point where it becomes more broadly rejected. Are those anti-Lightfoot flyers hateful? Yes. But they’re also almost comically feeble, a voice from the past screeching into a present that no longer cares.
* Last word goes to Rev. Ira Acree, a Lightfoot supporter and pastor of the Greater St. John Bible Church in the Austin neighborhood…
“Black people, at the end of the day, are like any other ethnic group,” Acree said. “They have their biases, but when they go inside the booth they vote their interests. We are against adultery and extramarital affairs, but we still supported Bill Clinton. We know how to support our interests. Lightfoot benefits our interests. Regular people don’t benefit from machine politics. We need someone to advocate for the little guy.”
* Related…
* How Willie Wilson changed his mind on LGBTQ people and endorsed Lori Lightfoot: “I used to think the same way.” Now, he says, “Let Christ do the judging. Not me.”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:36 pm
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It’s so good to see people willing to reconsider once firmly-held negative beliefs. And good to see those hateful fliers backfiring by encouraging more community and religious leaders to stand up for Lori.
Comment by Leslie K Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:46 pm
Tons of earned media for the homophobic people pushing their message. I wonder if that was their plan all along. Disgusting.
Comment by Just Me 2 Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:47 pm
Opinions haven’t changed as much as political expediency demands lock step compliance with the LGBTQ agenda, especially when there has been such an incredible out migration of African Americans from Chicago.
Comment by Unpopular Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:49 pm
Wilson’s press release asks the FBI to investigate the flyers as a hate crime. That’s ridiculous. There is still something called the First Amendment, and the flyers don’t even seem to be targeted to provoke violence. It is still maybe the best PR Mr. Wilson has ever paid for.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:50 pm
===political expediency demands lock step compliance with the LGBTQ agenda===
lol
Dead-enders gonna dead end.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:51 pm
By hook or crook, it’s great to see people coming around on SSM. Absolutely nothing bad happens when two people of the same gender get married, so we need to get over homophobia.
“Let Christ do the judging.”
The Grandson of Man reports that the Father and Son of Man accept SSM and are happy when consenting adults love each other, no matter the gender.
Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:52 pm
I wish I shared Huppke’s optimism. An awful lot of people these days are conditioned to believe all kinds of ignorant, ridiculous, made-up things, because they’re getting a steady diet of it day in and day out on social media (and elsewhere).
Comment by South of Sherman Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:57 pm
Lori’s “LGBTQ Agenda” seems to be not to vote against her because of who she loves. Some agenda.
There clearly is still a group of socially conservative voters in the African-American churchgoing community. The question is is Toni tacitly trying to tap into it to win an election?
Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 2:58 pm
===The question is is Toni tacitly trying to tap into it===
You’ll likely never get an answer to that question. The question that will be answered is: Will this stuff work? That’s the point of the post.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:00 pm
-Will this stuff work?-
I hope not Rich, and this time I think it won’t. I think Lori wins pretty big.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:02 pm
The homophobic morning radio host on WVON has long wondered out loud about Lori’s “gay agenda”. These flyers are exactly the kind of thing he’d do or at least inspire.
Comment by Chito Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:03 pm
Haters gonna hate
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:05 pm
=== These flyers are exactly the kind of thing he’d do===
Maybe, but he despises Preckwinkle, so it would have to be a dirty trick on Toni. Which… come to think of it, might make the most sense. lol
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:05 pm
==Are people moving on?==
I believe they are.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:14 pm
“Opinions haven’t changed as much as political expediency demands lock step compliance with the LGBTQ agenda, especially when there has been such an incredible out migration of African Americans from Chicago”
What does this mean? What does not marginalizing LGBTQ people have to do with African American outmigration?
Comment by Actual Red Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:23 pm
Ah nasty fliers in church parking lots, the old Karl Rove play from the 2000 South Carolina presidential primary. What kind of maroon thought this would work in Chicago in 2019?
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:34 pm
In my youth pedophile and gay were synonyms. Now, most people think of them as distinct and, though occasionally overlapping, things. Knowledge helps.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:41 pm
This is not the same divisive issue it once was and I gather that Team Toni folks will soon learn that to be the case on Election Day.
Comment by Shytown Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 3:48 pm
==Will this stuff work?==
My hope is that in this age of social media, targeted local hit jobs will backfire.
Comment by Robert the Bruce Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 4:11 pm
==It’s so good to see people willing to reconsider once firmly-held negative beliefs==
I belong to this group. My attitudes, let’s say in High School, were intolerant. Lightfoot’s being gay is a non issue to me, to the point it should be a non-mention.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 4:22 pm
As far as those whose position has changed on the issue, let he who never changed his position cast the first stone.
Comment by anon2 Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 4:22 pm
I was debating who to vote for. This flyer put me firmly in the Lori camp. (Her most recent tv ad with her daughter in the background was also really good at humanizing her while literally staying on message.)
Comment by City Guy Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 4:30 pm
=”gay agenda”=
If it is any where near as much fun as the PRIDE parade, I am all in.
Fortunately I think the vast majority of Chicagoans have moved on from this kind of nonsense. Even rural Illinois is starting to come around,
I don’t think it is even about being pro-LGBTQ as much as live and let live, treat everyone as you want to be treated. If we start there we should be in good shape.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 5:07 pm
Are you sure Jeanne Ives isn’t printing these off in her basement???
What CRAP.
And no, I don’t think Toni Preckwinkle is behind this since she has always supported LGBTQ people and equality…sounds more like right wing dark money.
Comment by Union Thug Gramma Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 5:58 pm
–Are people moving on?–
I think so, in a hurry. And the kids have it all figured out, so I guess we did good there.
Once the dam broke there was a realization among many that none-of-your-business means just that, and that it meant bupkus to your own life.
I say that as one who remains ashamed at being way-late to the party, an indifferent, cynical putz who thought DOMA was “smart politics,” and “triangulation.”
I’ll remain ashamed of that amorality until I check out.
Luckily for me, I had a true epiphany back in the day when a couple of older ladies asked me to sign a petition for the GA to recognize their civil union.
It was like getting hit in the head with a hammer, the injustice. When the physical wave of shame subsided, I got all William Lloyd Garrison, and donned the zealotry of the recently converted.
–I am in earnest - I will not equivocate - I will not excuse - I will not retreat a single inch - and I will be heard!–
Seriously, you should read that cat. Like Jane Addams and Dorothy Day, he applies the words of Jesus that the Muslims and Christians among us revere in a way you can understand and in actions that you can’t honestly ignore.
Thoughts and prayers, mates. Peace be with you.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 6:59 pm
I was opposed to same-sex marriage.
then I found out that two of my kids are gay.
Time to re-evaluate.
Comment by Old Illini Tuesday, Mar 19, 19 @ 7:18 pm
**sounds more like right wing dark money.**
So right wing dark money is helping Preckwinkle? Is that your argument?
Comment by SaulGoodman Wednesday, Mar 20, 19 @ 8:40 am
Many people have accepted this by virtue of personal experiences in their own families. That’s a powerful persuader, because you already love someone who is part of a community you may not understand or approve of. But you still love them.
Secondly, people came to the realization that it really doesn’t have a profound effect on their lives how other people socialize or engage, any more than it every did with anyone else.
Finally, great examples of great citizens doing something great makes a difference. And they happened to be gay. They didn’t succeed because of it, or in spite of it. They succeeded how anyone else did…good ideas, hard work and sincerity. People learned that their differences may have been very limited. They just got used to it, and it wasn’t a big deal anymore.
Society evolved.
Comment by A guy Wednesday, Mar 20, 19 @ 8:50 am
‘’So right wing dark money is helping Preckwinkle? Is that your argument?'’
umm, no Saul. My argument is that Preckwinkle has supported the LGBTQ community so it makes no sense that she would turn on them now.
Could she be targeting bigots? I don’t think that would help her very much since she’s always supported the LGBTQ community and that would also hurt her chances with homophobic bigots.
Comment by Union Thug Gramma Wednesday, Mar 20, 19 @ 11:10 pm