COVER STORY
I just wanted to talk a little bit about something that happened last week.
As most of you know, Glen Ellyn’s own Sean Hayes won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play for his brilliant performance in Good Night, Oscar.
I was so pleased and proud that Sean’s great talent won this recognition. (I have to admit that I teared up a bit when I heard Sean thank his husband, Scott Icenogle, during his acceptance speech.) Frankly, it was a no-brainer to showcase Sean Hayes in our weekly Pride Month Spotlight, in this newsletter, and on our Facebook page. The post about Sean was one of our most-shared and most-liked FB posts ever. There were so many comments from people who went to school with Sean or who knew him as he was growing up. It really showed how much impact one talented person can have on an entire community.
Over the past few days, however, there was a sudden burst of hateful comments on our post. It was frankly stunning to see the number of people (or bots) who found our page and decided to spew hatred and ugliness. I’m very pleased that my vigilant staff swiftly noticed these homophobic attacks and turned
off comments on the post. They also noticed that most of these hateful posters lived far outside our district. (At least one of them actually lives in Australia.)
Like so many of you, I have been left heartsick by the recent attacks on the LGBTQ+ communities in other states. Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures across our country, and the hateful rhetoric has ratcheted up even further during Pride Month this year. Please know that we will not be intimidated. I was elected to represent all the people in our district, and I am very proud to stand up on behalf of our LGBTQ+ constituents. We will not be bullied, and we will not back down.
So congratulations again to Sean, and to everyone who makes our district such a great, vibrant, diverse place to live and work.
Happy Pride, everybody!
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