About a dozen community members gathered inside Homewood’s Village Hall on Saturday, May 9, to discuss why the village hasn’t flown LGBTQ+ Pride flags in June, Pride Month, since 2019.
Homewood resident Quincy Crump gathered more than 380 signatures in a petition, requesting that the village fly Pride flags again this June. Crump presented officials with a copy of the petition when explaining why the group was at Village Hall.
LGBTQ+ community members told the village that they moved to Homewood because the area accepted them. They said the display of Pride flags by the village and small business community was part of how they came to realize this acceptance.
When downtown Homewood displayed Pride flags in June 2019, the flags were purchased by the Homewood Business Association and installed by the village, according to Mayor Rich Hofeld and Village Manager Napoleon Haney.
While the hour-long discussion had heated moments between the two groups, both expressed fondness and appreciation for Homewood’s diversity.
“Everyone knows from Orland Park to Highland Park that Homewood is a diverse community,” Haney said. “Before the flags, we had a diverse community. (…) Is it OK to have resources to create a diverse community, and have it just be a diverse community?”
Hofeld said officials were asked why other flags, such as Pan-African and Italian flags, weren’t being flown, so they decided to fly only the American flag.
“And one of the fears we have in the courts is if a group wanted to come in, such as the American Nazi group, they would have the right to put it up too,” Hofeld said. “I’m Jewish. That’s not going to happen. So, we made that decision.”
“That’s a cop-out. That’s not an answer,” Homewood resident Jenne Farley interjected, adding that Homewood displays a Christmas tree every year. “Why don’t we do it for everybody if we want to represent the community?”
“There’s a big difference between having a flag up that doesn’t represent something that’s hateful” and a Nazi flag, Homewood resident Sam Rummel said.
Homewood resident Chris Craddock said a Pride flag display would signal to motorists passing through Homewood that it’s a welcoming place.
“Flossmoor is flying the flags during June,” Craddock said, adding that a motorist driving from Flossmoor into Homewood may notice a sudden absence of Pride flags. “That’s communicating that, at least to people who are driving through in June, for some reason it’s not important to put that small gesture of having a flag up.”
Other community members gave short, passionate speeches, opposing Hofeld and Haney’s explanations. Some said afterward that they felt unheard, but Hofeld stressed that they listened to them for about an hour.
“This is a good example of what Saturday mornings are all about. Anyone can come speak to me from 9 a.m. to noon,” Hofeld said. “We had a group of people expressing an opinion about gay flags being put on the flag poles in the month of June, and we explained to them why we don’t do it.”
“I was hearing a lot of both sides (giving) immediate rebuttals for what both sides were saying,” Crump said. “While both sides did make good points at times, I think that there could’ve been more of a collaborative mindset and less adversarial approaches.”
Crump said he was disappointed with the village officials’ answer, but it doesn’t change his view that Homewood is a safe and inclusive place for the LGBTQ+ community.
Disclosure: Quincy Crump is the son of Chronicle editor Eric Crump.
