A Chicago lawyer who allegedly hurled anti-gay slurs at colleagues is facing a month-long suspension and two years professional probation.
Thomas Guadagno signed an agreement with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) that suspends him from practicing law for a month and commits him to anger management therapy.
According to the agreement, Guadagno's "misconduct involved multiple incidents over an extended period of time" during which he called other lawyers "faggot" and "gay scum."
In May 2009, Guadango was found guilty in a criminal case of disorderly conduct for calling another lawyer in traffic court "gay" and "a bad person." The agreement goes on to state that Guadango continued to make disparaging remarks even after a sheriff's deputy told him to stop.
Guadagno lost an appeal of that case.
The ARDC agreement notes that Guadango "acknowledged that his conduct was inappropriate and expressed regret for it."
However, despite signing the agreement, his lawyer, William Harte, told Windy City Times his client denies wrongdoing.
"He claims that people were giving him a real hard time, and he was resisting," said Harte. "He's a very decent person."
According to Harte, Guadagno maintains that he never used the slurs.
Asked why his client signed a document he disagreed with, Harte said that Guadagno "wanted to get it over."
Harte said his client has been attending anger management class for the past two years.
In his criminal appeal last year, Guadagno was represented by the Thomas More Society. That firm is currently representing three Catholic charities in their battle against the state for foster-care contracts they were denied after refusing to place children with same-sex civil union partners and single parents.
In March, the Thomas More Society denounced President Obama's declaration that Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.
"Laws that reserve marriage and the benefits of marriage to opposite-sex couples promote the State's legitimate, indeed compelling interests, in providing a stable environment in which to procreate children and in providing the benefits of being raised in a household with both a mother and a father," the firm said in a statement on their website.
According to Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, Guadagno also denied the accusations in his criminal appeal.
"No one testified that they heard him say the words that he was alleged to have said," Breen told Windy City Times, adding that his firm was concerned with Guadango's rights to free speech in a criminal case and not content of the alleged slurs.
Breen, upon reading the slurs in another newspaper, expressed surprise and commented that he could not imagine repeating the epithets. "If [Guadagno's] got an issue, I'm glad he's getting it taken care of," Breen said.