Galesburg City Council will vote on a resolution Tuesday night to support the LGTBQ+ community, recognizing its “ongoing struggle for dignity and equality.”
The resolution acknowledges the “many challenges that individuals in the LGBTQ+ community face, including discrimination, marginalization, and threats of violence.”
The proposed resolution comes after Mayor Peter Schwartzman said city staff and legal counsel were investigating alleged “homophobic/transphobic” social media posts by a Galesburg alderman.
Schwartzman tells WGIL that “discussions with our legal counsel led to the current resolution.”
The mayor said legal counsel decided that specifying “proper conduct on social media” was deemed to be an inappropriate action. Schwartzman tells WGIL, “The tweets/retweets (whomever their author) are offensive but there is nothing that disallows elected officers from making offensive comments. However, the resolution that will be considered on Tuesday (Jan. 19) can reaffirm our recognition that LGBTQIA are being mistreated in a variety of ways (specified in the resolution) and state unequivocally that we fully support members of the LGBTQIA community and will serve them and protect them as full members of our community.”
Schwartzman has never named the Council member in question.
Several community members during public comment at the Jan. 3 City Council meeting implied the posts came from Ward 1 Alderman Bradley Hix. Hix has not admitted that he made the posts nor has it otherwise been determined.
After the last Council meeting, Hix told WGIL, “It’s campaign season and they clearly want to take the focus off of the sales tax increase they passed.”
Other local media outlets have published screenshots of the posts that were posted by a Twitter handle Bradley A. Hix.