Lisle Mayor Christopher Pecak was slammed by a fellow trustee for comments made during a board meeting discussion about keeping chickens in the municipality.
Trustee Mary Jo Mullen found the comment “offensive” and detrimental to the LGBT Community.
“What if a duck identifies as a chicken?” Pecak said and laughed along with others on the board at their March 7 meeting.
Mullen with indignation addressed Pecak and the rest of the board afterward.
“I find the joke you made offensive. About a chicken identifying as a duck," Mullen said. "I think it is offensive to the LGBT community. It’s clear going into the trans world and how people identify in gender identity. I think it was a slight at that. And I Would just appreciate if you don’t make jokes like that. Thank you."
Trustee Daniel Greco immediately came to Pecak’s defense.
“An apology is not necessary,” he said.
Mullen responded that "I will [leave] that up to the person who said it."
She later addressed the scenario on Facebook saying Pecak was comparing the “LGBT Struggle” to farm animals, noting there has to be accountability in the things we talk about and that they should all participate in a Northern Illinois University diversity training seminar.
"I will post my usual summary of the Board meeting later today. But right now I wanted to take a few minutes to address the 'joke' made by the mayor last night during Committee of the Whole," she posted on Facebook with an accompanying video. "Jokes made at the expense of the LGBT community are simply NOT funny. Ever. Mocking trans people, those that identify differently than the gender they were assigned at birth, or anyone questioning their gender identify is simply unacceptable."
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