\State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-53, from Central Illinois criticized the state’s funding of the gay Center on Halsted last week, using it as an example of a unnecessary state funding initiative compared to safety and environmental projects. He sent a letter outlining his concerns to Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Legislators push forward member initiatives, and one of those that recently received its long-promised funding was Center on Halsted for $2.5 million.
Rutherford told Windy City Times he did not single out the gay project because it is for gays, but because it was the largest member initiative he could find. He said he is among the very few Republicans who support the state gay bill, SB 101, but he did not commit on the issue of same-sex marriage amendments to the state constitution, saying he has not seen the bills yet. ‘I am not out trying to bash any constituency,’ he said.
‘One project that has caught the eye of taxpayers in my district is your release of $2.5 million in state funding for a Gay & Lesbian Community Center in Chicago,’ Rutherford wrote to the governor. ‘My constituents can only assume that your Administration believes a Gay & Lesbian Community Center in Chicago is a higher priority than those I submitted on their behalf for road work, safe drinking water and sewer project upgrades. … I proudly submitted these projects after establishing a very specific set of criteria. The project must be for: (1) public safety, (2) road needs, (3) water or sewer projects, or (4) education assistance and (5) help relieve the pressure on property taxes. It appears that someone in your administration believes that the expenditure of our limited state funds for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Chicago is a higher priority than our critical public safety projects. Governor, I respectfully disagree.’
Rutherford has fended off rumors of his own private life for some time, saying his own personal life is not something to discuss in public.
The timing of Rutherford’s letter is ironic, coming as it does during the national and local debate on same-sex marriage. LGBT activists note the proposed nationwide marriage ban would basically equal taxation without representation, with gays and lesbians paying billions into social security, pensions, healthcare and to state and federal governments, but not being allowed access to the more 1,000 benefits of marriage.