Downers Grove Mayor Bob Barnett on Tuesday proclaimed June as Pride Month in the village following several weeks of objection to the move voiced by a small group of residents.

“Suggesting bad behavior or hateful rhetoric among members of a certain group of our community are somehow factors that should compel me not to issue a proclamation — they are not," Barnett said at Tuesday’s Village Council meeting.

“There are members of this community who live lives very foreign to our own for any number of reasons.”

“Until we see ourselves in each other, until we choose to accept and understand each other despite our differences, until we see those differences as opportunities to learn and grow, I believe we’re selling our community short,” Barnett added before reading the proclamation.

Resident Ed Briner, whose wife Ilene several weeks ago asked Barnett not to issue the proclamation, chastised some commissioners for the way they characterized proclamation opponents at the May 19 council meeting.

“Many residents were deeply disappointed and offended by comments directed at those of us who have voiced concerns regarding Pride-related events, certain library materials and various village policies,” Briner said.

“When commissioners openly belittle and dismiss residents while at the same time suggesting many of them are not residents, it undermines public trust and damages confidence in local government,” he added.

Briner was referring to a comments made by Commissioner Chris Gilmartin at the May 19 meeting.

“This small group does not represent Downers Grove. They represent a small minority, many of whom, we’ve learned, don’t even live in this village, who have convinced themselves that their views are not just correct but righteous, and that anyone who disagrees is not just wrong but morally suspect,” Gilmartin said.

Briner added that proclamation opponents were “met with ridicule and accusations of political theater.”

At the May 19 meeting, Commissioner Martin Tully said, “The whole thing was disingenuous political theater in the first place. Let’s just call it what it is.”

Tully explained those remarks at Tuesday’s meeting.

He said the proclamation has been issued every year since 2021 and has not been met with opposition in the past.

“Why now is one of my reasons why I said political theater and BS. Why now?”

“Why we did we spend weeks, hours talking about something,” said Tully, adding that a controversy was created where non existed.

Resident Michael Kuper also addressed the council and thanked Barnett for issuing the proclamation.

“I’ve rarely been as been as proud of my village as I am tonight,” said Kuper, adding that it’s an expression of open mindedness, acceptance and compassion.

Responding to Briner’s comments, Commissioner Leslie Sadowski-Fugitt asked why “calling out hate speech was described as belittling, but yet the actual hate speech is not.”

“The problem here is that there are individuals trying to tell human beings ‘you can’t live that way,’” she said.

“I’m going to tolerate some folks thinking that they can tell other people how they should live. That is the whole point of Pride Month and why we need to recognize this.”

She also responded to a resident who earlier in the meeting read the Nuclear Family Month proclamation recently declared by Indiana Gov. Mike Braun.

“And you mean to tell me that a nuclear family with a man who abuses his wife and his children is somehow more virtuous than a loving gay couple? No. I’m not going to be up here and listen to this. It’s not going to happen. That’s why we have Pride Month.”