Five members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners recently requested to have their names removed from a Gay Games resolution that the commission had unanimously approved, a development trumpeted on the Illinois Family Institute’s (IFI’s) Web site.
At the Web site, IFI founder Peter LaBarbera asks visitors to thank the commissioners who removed their names from the resolution. (The site includes a template that guests can use to express their appreciation.) The officials, all Republican, are Peter Silvestri, 9th District; Gregg Goslin, 14th District; Carl Hansen, 15th District; Tony Peraica, 16th District; and Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman, 17th District. Peraica recently announced his bid for run for board president.
The board comprises 17 commissioners. The remaining 12—including John Stroger, 4th District; Forrest Claypool, 12th District; and sponsor Mike Quigley, 10th District—have left their names on the measure. Claypool and Quigley have also announced their aspirations for Stroger’s post.
Quigley told Windy City Times that the move is ‘disappointing at this point’ but he plans to ‘feed on the affirmative and move forward.’ However, he did pose a question for the commissioners who withdrew their names: ‘When the thousands of people [affiliated] with the Gay Games come to your district, will you tell local businesses to not accept their money?’
Gay Games VII will take place in Chicago on July 15-22, 2006.