As Mayor Richard Daley was leaving the annual Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame gala Oct. 27, an activist from the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network and Equal Marriage Now! coalition asked him if he would sign a petition supporting gay marriage. Daley consented, thereby underscoring the vocal support he has expressed about the issue.
In fact, in a statement, Bill Greaves, the mayor’s liaison to the GLBT community said: ‘Mayor Daley’s strong personal support for gay marriage is well-documented. The Mayor reiterated that support at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and, afterward, when politely asked to sign a petition in general support of gay marriage, the Mayor backed up his verbal support with his signature. He was unaware of any additional terms of the petition regarding specific courses of action. The LGBT community greatly appreciates the Mayor’s support on this issue, as shown by the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the Mayor’s speech that night.’
However, what seemed like a clear-cut celebratory situation has developed some twists. It turns out that the petition also demanded that Cook County Clerk David Orr issue licenses and let the courts decide the matter—and Daley, at least right now, does not intend to pressure Orr.
However, the mayor admitted that he signed the petition without reading it because he was told the document supported same-sex marriage. Andy Thayer, a member of the activist coalition, attacked the mayor for claiming he hadn’t read the petition before signing his name. ‘He’s an attorney and he doesn’t read what he signs? That’s amusing … It’s like a three- or four-sentence petition. I would hope that, in this day and age, politicians read what they sign,’ Thayer said in a statement published in the Chicago Sun-Times. Thayer then went on to say that if ‘that’s the tune [Daley] is singing now, he’s taking a pretty cowardly approach.’
Thayer’s remarks have not gone over well with some members of the GLBT community. One Windy City Times reader e-mailed a message asking someone to ‘kindly explain to Andy Thayer … that bashing Daley is a really … stupid thing to do. We need friends like Daley; we do NOT need loose [cannons] like Thayer,’ Rich Hugunine said. Others have echoed these sentiments.