05/28/2026
YES! YES! YES!
On Monday, Pride Month 2026 officially begins.
Over the past few years, I have learned firsthand just how many local politicians, elected officials, and community leaders genuinely do not care who someone loves. Many privately support LGBTQ+ people, have gay friends and family members, work beside us, worship beside us, dine beside us, laugh beside us, and live everyday life beside us.
Because the reality is LGBTQ+ people are not some outside force descending onto rural America. We are already here. We always have been.
We are your neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family members. We sit beside you at church, coach your children, serve in the military, volunteer in the community, own businesses, pay taxes, vote, and build lives right here in towns like Freeport.
Yet publicly?
Silence.
Why?
Because both sides of the political aisle have turned the LGBTQ+ community into a political talking point, a litmus test, and a political weapon instead of simply treating people like human beings.
And the truth is, most people do not suddenly wake up angry about gay people on their own. They are conditioned to believe they should be angry because outrage has become profitable in American politics.
Ask yourself this:
When was the last time you heard a local elected official publicly speak about Freeport’s LGBTQ+ community in a meaningful way? Not during a national controversy. Not during election season. Not when it was politically convenient.
Just openly acknowledge and support their own neighbors.
It rarely happens.
Not because they hate us, but because too many have been conditioned to believe publicly standing beside LGBTQ+ people is political su***de in rural Illinois.
That silence has consequences.
It creates an environment where some Republicans demonize LGBTQ+ people for outrage and division, while some Democrats use the community as a moral prop to claim superiority without ever truly advancing equality.
And honestly, one of the clearest examples came after the last presidential election.
Vice President Kamala Harris was asked why she did not choose Pete Buttigieg as her running mate. The answer was essentially political reality: America was not ready for both a Black woman and a gay man on the same ticket.
Think about that.
One of the most powerful Democrats in America openly acknowledging that being gay was viewed as a political liability.
That is not equality.
That is not courage.
And that is certainly not allyship.
That is political calculation.
So this Pride Month, join me and Fighting4Freeport in saying something very simple:
We honestly don't give a f**k who you love or sleep with as long as they are consenting adults.
What we do care about are corruption, hypocrisy, pedophiles, predators, and the politicians and community leaders who cower and stay silent about those actual issues.
Stand Proud. 🏳️🌈
