Ald. Raymond Lopez ( 15th Ward ) has recently called for additional law enforcement in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, where he says gang-related violence has gotten out of hand. But the City Council member says some neighborhood opponents have met his calls for action with homophobic remarks on social media.
Lopez, who is openly gay and a member of the City Council's LGBT Caucus, on March 29, wrote to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and asked for officers from the Sheriff's gangs, vice, human trafficking and guns teams to coordinate with the Chicago Police Department in combatting crime in the ward, located on the city's Southwest Side.
"In terms of raw data from the Chicago Police Department's ClearMap Summary Report, Back of the Yards/New City is ranked #2 for 1st/2nd Degree Homicides, #3 for Aggravated Battery, #3 for Weapons Violation, #5 for Aggravated Assault, #5 for Prostitution, and #9 for Criminal Sexual Assault," Lopez wrote in the letter, which was first reported March 29 in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Lopez told Windy City Times, "We are in the Top 10 in every [crime] category monitored in the city."
But the alderman said that he's been met with resistance from some residents, who "are trying to fight me in changing the culture of the neighborhood" and using homophobic slurs online to do so.
On March 25, Lopez wrote a Facebook post with a photo of an incident wherein gang members exploded a truck mid-afternoon in a city park.
"This is not how we are meant to live: in fear of gangs and wannabes trying to to show their 'street cred' by terrorizing their own communities, damaging their own own parks, and striking fear in the hearts of those they grew up with," wrote Lopez, who ended the post with the hashtag "#UrbanTerrorist."
The post set off a tumultuous Facebook thread, with other posts and threads following. Lopez was tagged on some that included homophobic slurs about him. Some included a photo of comedian Chris Kattan playing an effeminate gay character on Saturday Night Live; it was captioned "Ald. Lopez & His Thugs Get Tough on Crime."
Lopez said he was not in the habit of policing social media, but only noticed the picture and remarks because he was tagged.
"These are people who are often trying to appease the LGBT community by trying to show how 'progressive' they are, until they realize that we live here," Lopez said. "Thankfully most of my residents are supportive no matter what."
He added that the persons behind such remarks are "trying to turn the conversation away from what's important, which is making the neighborhood safer. … This is not a 'gay vs. straight agenda,' unless they're trying to undermine efforts to reduce crime in the neighborhood."
