Plainfield Pride flag draws strong debate at Village Board meeting

The choice of flags that are chosen to fly over Plainfield’s village hall became a hot topic for some residents this week.

A handful of residents, and at least one nonresident, addressed the Village Board on Monday about the Pride flag that has flown for three years each June at Village Hall to mark the monthlong Pride celebration.

In a proclamation to coincide with the event in 2022, Mayor John Argoudelis said, “Plainfield is committed to supporting, protecting and progressing the civil rights of the LGBTQIA+ members of the Plainfield community and offering a safe space and working with Plainfield Pride to meet and protect the needs of the community.”

In addition, in a Facebook post at the time, Argoudelis said that the village has “flown many different flags to honor our police, veterans and [United Nations] Day, among others.”

However, several individuals spoke during the public comment period of Monday’s board meeting about flying the Pride flag and questioned the reasoning behind the mayor’s recent refusal to fly the Christian flag on the date of its inception in September 1897.

It is backwards and embarrassing in the 21st century that this is even being talked about in a public forum.”

—  Stephanie Batozech, Plainfield resident

Some members of the group wanting the Christian flag flown said the mayor denied the raising of the flag because of issues related to the separation of church and state.

In speaking to the trustees, Yorkville resident Molly Krempski, vice president of the U.S. Patriots Society’s Kendall County chapter, shared that the group wrote to Argoudelis on Aug. 6 requesting a proclamation and to display the Christian flag Sept. 26.

This, she said, would serve “to remind us that biblical principles serve as the basis of our founding documents and still guide the United States, the state of Illinois and the village of Plainfield today.”

U.S. Patriots Society’s mission is “to restore America’s founding principles by raising awareness and understanding of the importance of the values of faith, family and freedom. TUSPS is uniting individuals, families and communities across America in support of constitutional liberty with the aim of building a better and more prosperous future for all Americans. Together, we will preserve the word of God, protect the traditional family and defend fundamental freedom for generations of Americans to come,” according to the organization’s website.

“We should fly the state, federal and the local flag. If you limit it to that policy, then you have no complaints from the Christians or gays or anybody else.”

—  Joel Johnston, Plainfield resident

Krempski also questioned which kinds of proclamations are being accepted and rejected by the Village Board, noting that the Pride proclamation “isolates people for elevation as an integral part of the community based on who they choose to have sex with.”

She noted that because the Pride proclamation included “the long form of the divergent sexual movement, including the plus at the end of the LGBTQIA.”

“The plus stands for anything else you can think to identify as or to have sex with like children or animals,” Krempski said. “This is the message of the progressive Pride flag, which flies over this building every June.”

Stephanie Batozech responded by saying: “This is really offensive that this is being brought up. There are some things that have been stated that are just wrong. The framers of the Constitution were not Christian.”

She said she wonders why some residents feel Plainfield cannot be inclusive.

“It is backwards and embarrassing in the 21st century that this is even being talked about in a public forum,” Batozech said.

Joel Johnston, a Plainfield resident, told the trustees that he originally came to the meeting without thoughts of speaking before the board.

As a veteran, Johnston said: “The real agenda is simple, and some of the comments may be misleading. The bottom line [is] as a government office, we ought to fly government flags – not the Christian flag, not the gay rights flag, not supporter of countries in distress flag.

“We should fly the state, federal and the local flag. If you limit it to that policy, then you have no complaints from the Christians or gays or anybody else.”

In addressing the trustees, resident Danielle Brandon said she has reached out to village officials requesting that they institute a restrictive flag policy in Plainfield.

Since the Pride flag discussion was raised during the public comment portion of the meeting and not an agenda item, village trustees did not respond to a request to provide feedback on their individual stance on the issue.

Trustee Tom Ruane served as the evening’s chair since Argoudelis was unable to attend the meeting.

“We all have individual stances,” Ruane said. “This is public comments. It is the public’s time to give us their information, desires, wants and concerns.”

By state statute, Ruane said, the village must provide time for public comments for “any issue the public would like to bring up, whether a resident of Plainfield or outside Plainfield.”