Illinois State Senator Rickey Hendon
said Monday that he won't apologize to gubernatorial candidate Bill
Brady for calling him a homophobe.
At a get-out-the-vote rally Saturday,
Hendon wasn't mincing his words: “I've never served with such an
idiotic, racist, sexist, homophobic person in my life.”
“If you think that the minimum wage
needs to be three dollars an hour, vote for Bill Brady. If you think
that women have no rights whatsoever, except to have his children,
vote for Bill Brady. If you think gay and lesbian people need to be
locked up and shot in the head, vote for Bill Brady,” he said
before introducing Governor Patrick J. Quinn.
After the rally, Quinn distanced
himself from the remarks, telling reporters that he “believes in
civility.”
“I disagree with people in politics,
like my opponent Senator Brady,” Quinn said. “I don't engage in
name calling. Never have, never will.”
In comments to the Chicago
Sun-Times, Hendon, who is vying to run Chicago, said his comments
were based on Brady's voting record.
“Look, I just told the truth. I know
this man, and I served with him. If he can show me that he votes
differently than what I said, I will apologize. But he can't say
that. I know he can't.”
During
a Monday appearance on the Chicago-based Cisco Cotto radio program,
Hendon excluded Brady from an apology.
“On your show right now, I will
apologize to the people of the state of Illinois if they were
offended by what I said, but I will not apologize to Bill Brady for
telling the truth about his voting record,” he told Cotto.
Illinois gay activists were alarmed in
September by a New York Times survey predicting a 90.6 percent
chance that Brady will defeat Quinn on November 2. The prediction by
statistician Nate Silver has since been revised downward to 76.8
percent. However, Quinn was once considered a shoo-in for
reelection.
Brady, a former real estate developer
from downstate Bloomington, opposes any government recognition of gay
couples, including civil unions and marriage, and favors placing an
amendment in the Illinois Constitution banning gay marriage. He also
introduced a measure, which the Legislature rejected, that would have
exempted religious groups from a gay-, trans-inclusive workplace
anti-discrimination law.
Quinn
has said he hopes to sign a civil unions law this year.