Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is done
at six terms.
On Tuesday, the gay-friendly mayor
credited with bringing the 2006 Gay Games to the city announced he
won't campaign for a seventh term, ending a 21-year run as mayor of
The Second City.
“Simply put, it's time,” Daley told
reporters. “Time for me, it's time for Chicago to move on.”
Daley's
support for the gay community was lauded by ChicagoPride.com.
“In his time at City Hall, Daley, 68,
has shown historic and unparalleled support for Chicago's lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community,” the site wrote.
That support includes expansion of the
city's anti-discrimination policy to include gender identity
(transgender protections), giving the spouses of gay and lesbian city
workers equal benefits, creating the Office of LGBT Health, support
for a streetscaping project in the city's gay neighborhood of North
Halsted (often called Boystown), and backing of the city's
60,000-square-foot LGBT community center, the Center on Halsted,
which opened in 2007.
Daley appointed the first ever openly
gay person, Tom Tunney, to City Council in 2002 and served as
honorary co-chair of the 2006 Gay Games.
“Mayor Daley was a huge part of the
success of the 2006 Gay Games,” Kevin Boyer, a spokesman for Gay
Games, told ChicagoPride.com. “[His] commitment to the project was
clearly more than just a practical one. When he participated in
press conferences, events, and at both the Opening and Closing
Ceremony, you could tell he was enjoying himself.”
Daley supports giving gay and lesbian
couples the right to marry.
Congressman Mike Quigley, a Democrat
who represents portions of Chicago, said Daley was “one of the most
dedicated public servants this city has ever known.”