Homophobic alderman? Possibility stirs rage

[Natasha]

Homophobic alderman? Possibility stirs rage

http://www.suntimes.com/news/washington/1600747,CST-EDT-laura01.article
LAURA WASHINGTON
6/1/09

The City Council may soon have its first openly homophobic alderman. If Mayor Daley decides to appoint the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus to replace 26th Ward Ald. Billy Ocasio, Chicago's GLBT activists might go ballistic. Then again, they might just punt.

Ocasio, who has resigned his seat and has signed on as a top adviser to Gov. Quinn, has asked Daley to appoint De Jesus, senior pastor of New Life Covenant Ministries, to replace him in the Humboldt Park ward.

De Jesus, an influential evangelical minister with 4,000 church members, has taken stands and uttered words that infuriate many in the city's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.