Anti-gay fliers have surfaced in the Chicago mayor’s race with a photo of Lori Lightfoot and her partner on one side and on the back side, various messages.
One of the says “all contracts, jobs and employment newly assigned to gay people.”
The fliers, first noticed on cars outside black churches on the city’s South Side, have expanded to cars parked near the 95th Street Red Line station. Should Lori Lightfoot win, she would be the city’s first lesbian mayor.
Lightfoot's opponent, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, said “I condemn them; they have nothing to do with our campaign, it’s disgraceful.”
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.”
Congressman Mike Quigley who also endorsed Lightfoot today said “I think the most important and valid way to respond to that is to not meet it with equal anger towards others.”
Lightfoot tells NBC 5 she and her partner discussed what might happen before Lightfoot announced her campaign “we know that prejudice still lurks, and prejudice still lurks in lots of different forms.”
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Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said no police report has been filed but the department is monitoring the activity.
"The language in the flyers is detestable and has no place in Chicago," he said.
