Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

VIEWS May the best woman win
by Matt Simonette
2019-03-27

This article shared 3169 times since Wed Mar 27, 2019
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


On April 2, Chicagoans will go the polls and, for the first time, elect a Black woman to be the 47th person to hold the office of mayor of Chicago.

Whomever wins—Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle or attorney Lori Lightfoot—would be the third Black mayor in the city's history, and the second woman to occupy the post. If Lightfoot were to win, she'd be the city's first openly lesbian mayor as well.

When Mayor Jane Byrne was in the throes of her election in 1979, People Magazine referred to her having the looks of a "harried suburban housewife." When Mayor Harold Washington was in office, 29 City Council members banded together to stall his agenda. Now, decades on, we don't yet know who will be mayor come May—but we know the next mayor, without question, will be a Black woman.

Lightfoot being part of the LGBT community has most loudly become an issue twice during the runoff—the first time when Preckwinkle seemingly complimented her on how she navigated that part of her identity, the second being when homophobic and racist fliers were distributed at or near South Side churches, presumably to stoke supposed homophobic impulses among the parishioners.

Nevertheless, in an election as fiery as this, only two such incidents is noteworthy. Lightfoot even received endorsements from some such as Bishop Larry Trotter, who had opposed the LGBT community on marriage equality some years back. When officials such as Judge Tom Chiola, Ald. Tom Tunney and state Reps. Larry McKeon and Greg Harris entered their offices, it was big news. With Lightfoot, one noteworthy aspect of her being a lesbian is that, for many Chicagoans, it's not very noteworthy.

This has been a long and difficult election season. Lightfoot, for her part, announced her candidacy early on when it was presumed that she'd be challenging an incumbent Rahm Emanuel. But Emanuel unexpectedly said last fall that he was stepping down, opening the floodgates for numerous politicians, businesspeople and other residents to throw their hats in the ring.

Turnout for the Feb. 26 election was depressingly low, with just about 30 percent of eligible voters showing up to the polls. It's nevertheless difficult to blame the Chicagoans who didn't turn out; with well over a dozen candidates, many voters simply didn't have time or inclination to learn everyone's specific viewpoints and qualifications and, rightly or wrongly, quite likely preferred to wait it out until a runoff.

Lightfoot and Preckwinkle have pulled no punches in their criticism of one another; nobody can accuse either woman of simply phoning this election in. Both candidates are profiled in this week's issue of Windy City Times, and neither misses a chance for a barb against her opponent. Each has also been taken to task for her past work—Preckwinkle has had to repudiate and defend connections to the Chicago Machine she's had to make in her long career as a city and county politician, as well as problematic hiring decisions. Several community members have wanted to hold Lightfoot accountable for her work adjudicating police corruption and violence, maintaining that she both was not diligent enough and brusquely engaged with victims and their families.

We hope that Chicagoans won't sit out the April 2 polls—that they will at least look at the coverage of these candidates to make their most educated choice.

The first question that voters should consider: Does the candidate seem capable of doing the work of governing? All too many politicians get caught up in the ego-fueling world of campaigning, and are not cut out for the administrative drudgery that comes with executive office—coordinating staff, multitasking complex problems, listening to constituent concerns, working the phones fundraising, proposing budgets, and so on. The second question: Does the candidate understand the wheels of power and how those are greased? We've seen two notable examples in recent years—President Donald Trump and former Gov. Bruce Rauner—of a candidate coming into office without comprehending the power the legislative branch is capable of wielding, expecting to coast on the force of their personality. This city election is happening just as the figurative tectonic plates beneath the Chicago City Council are shifting, and many constituents are especially weary of the Chicago Machine. Chicago's next mayor will need to navigate rough terrain to get things done.

Make no mistake: Once the mayor takes office in May, her real work begins. She will have to wrestle with dozens of stultifying ( and usually overlapping ) issues, among them wealth disparities; violence, public safety and policing problems; structural racism; school issues; crumbling infrastructure; widespread homelessness and housing instability; informationally-siloed city agencies; and underfunded pensions, to name just a few. She can expect only so much support from Springfield, perpetually locked in its own political and fiscal dysfunction, and no solid support whatsoever from the federal government led by Trump, who has taken several opportunities to mock this city.

The LGBT community has every right to have the mayor's ear from time-to-time as well. The city has excellent protections for our community in place fortunately, but having the teeth to enforce and publicize those protections—through community liaisons and adjudicating bodies, for example—takes money and willpower. Even then, those solutions often address very specific incidents and perpetrators of hiring, housing and public accommodations discrimination.

The next mayor must be able to address structural and systemic anti-LGBT discrimination in institutions such as police and service providers. Members of the community are impacted by the same problems as other residents in any urban environment, but their sexual orientation or gender identity often means they cannot find the proper means of support. An LGBT person experiencing homelessness or housing instability can be made to feel uncomfortable at shelters or agencies. A bullied LGBT public-schools student might find no recourse if they have the wrong principal. Community members might not know for days that a transgender friend or family member has fallen victim to violence, since the police report will likely indicate the gender they were assigned at birth. Our community will have a big punch-list for this next mayor.

Windy City Times does not endorse candidates. We do focus coverage on LGBT politicians by virtue of our newspaper's mission, but this is no better year to emphasize our impartiality and wish the best to whichever candidate—one a member of our community, the other a stalwart ally—wins. We'll likely be a thorn in your side sometimes in the years ahead but, come April 2, may the best woman win.

Matt Simonette is managing editor of Windy City Times.


This article shared 3169 times since Wed Mar 27, 2019
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Thailand parliament passes landmark marriage bill
2024-03-27
On March 27, Thailand's parliament approved a marriage-equality bill by an overwhelmingly large margin—a landmark step that moves one of Asia's most liberal countries closer to legalizing same-sex unions, media ...


Gay News

Kara Swisher talks truth, power in tech at Chicago Humanities event
2024-03-25
Lesbian author, award-winning journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher spoke about truth and power in the tech industry through the lens of her most recent book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, March 21 at First ...


Gay News

Wyoming is latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors
2024-03-24
On March 22, Wyoming became the latest state to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, The Hill noted. In doing so, it joined 23 other states that passed laws restricting or banning the treatment. Legislators in both ...


Gay News

Chicago alder proposes renaming street after Obama
2024-03-22
Openly gay Black Chicago Ald. Lamont Robinson has proposed renaming Columbus Drive after former U.S. President and city resident Barack Obama, media outlets noted. The street stretches through the Loop from East Grand Avenue to DuSable ...


Gay News

Congressional Equality Caucus on FY24 bills passing the house
2024-03-22
--From a press release - WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), released the following statement after the House successfully passed the final funding bills for Fiscal Year ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds
2024-03-21
It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Va. marriage bill, AARP, online counseling, Idaho items, late activist
2024-03-21
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills protecting same-sex marriages at a state level, surprising some, WRIC reported. The bills—passed out of both chambers along mostly party lines—will require clerks ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ candidates Marcelino Garcia, Precious Brady Davis win primary elections to keep MWRD seats
2024-03-21
Marcelino Garcia and Precious Brady-Davis, the two openly LGBTQ+ incumbents in the race to keep their seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), won their primary elections and will move on to the general this ...


Gay News

Small LGBTQ+ candidate pool nevertheless scores some important victories March 19
2024-03-20
Relatively few openly LGBTQ+ candidates were running in the March 19 Illinois Primary Election. But there were some significant contests in play at the local, state and federal levels. Openly gay Ald. Ray Lopez (15th Ward) ...


Gay News

Gay Irish prime minister to step down
2024-03-20
In a surprise move, openly gay Irish Prime Minister (or Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar has announced his resignation, citing "personal and political, but mainly political reasons," according to CNN. Varadkar said he felt he was no longer ...


Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course
2024-03-18
Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools
2024-03-15
In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood
2024-03-13
LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77
2024-03-12
On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner
2024-03-12
--From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.