A sense of institutional loyalty, between currentand formermembers of the Illinois State Senate, motivated members to confirm Gov. Bruce Rauner's nomination of former state Sen. Rev. James Meeks to head up the State Board of Education March 19, said the one senator who voted "nay."
The nomination had drawn the ire of advocates in the LGBT community who objected to Meeks' opposition to marriage equality, anti-discrimination ordinances and other LGBT rights initiatives, as well as disparaging remarks he has reportedly made about the Asian, Latino and Jewish communities, among other reasons.
But those objections seemed to have little sway over the state's Democratic-controlled Senate, which voted to ratify the nomination 45-1-1. State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, voted "present" while state Sen. William Delgado, D-Chicago, was the single "nay." Both Steans and Delgado spoke out against the nomination on the Senate floor.
Delgado told Windy City Times, "It was my understanding that others were voting out of a sense of loyalty to a colleague. I voted my conscience."
He said he was motivated by several factors, among them Meeks' 2010 remarks suggesting that persons such as Latinos and Asians were not "true" minorities, which Meeks later recanted. Meeks' various homophobic remarks were also a factorDelgado's late son was bisexual.
"My son never expected that to influence my voting, but that is something I pay attention to," Delgado noted, adding that he found Meeks' legislative career to be less-than-stellar as well. "He didn't get any major legislation passed."
Delgado praised Steans for not casting her vote for Meeks either. "A 'present' is a 'soft no.' She was willing to put her name in the 'no' column."
Illinois Safe Schools Alliance Executive Director Anthony Papini said he was bothered hearing so many of the senators praising Meeks during the hearing.
"They're not the ones who will have to sit in classrooms under his watch," Papini said, adding he was also disappointed that the vote moved from the Executive Appointment Committee to the Senate floor so quickly, leaving little time for advocates and constituents to reach out to Senate members.
The Alliance was part of a coalition of over 35 members that worked to bring attention to the nomination. "Our partners put a lot of work in on this, and we're very grateful to them, and for Senator Delgado and Senator Steans' remarks on the Senate floor."
Andy Thayer of Gay Liberation Network was harsher in his assessment of the vote, calling it "a bipartisan screwing of the LGBT community."
GLN delivered an online petition to state officials calling for a rejection of Meeks that had garnered over 1,600 signatures and had urged supporters to contact their representatives.
"We shouldn't just be praising two people just because did they did the right thingwe should be calling out the Democrats and Republicans who voted for him," Thayer added.
On May 20, Rauner met with a group of LGBT advocates and said that he would be issuing a directive that emphasizes state agencies' commitment to fighting discrimination.
Delgado, Papini and Thayer each pledged their vigilance in monitoring Meeks' work in the administration in the meantime.
"We're not giving up the fight here," Papini said.