Chicago mayor complains about ‘toxicity in public discourse’ days after saying ‘f*ck Clarence Thomas’

On Tuesday during an event, Lightfoot alluded to the massacre at a July 4 parade in the north Chicago suburb of Highland Park, which resulted in seven deaths and over 30 injured saying, "But toxicity in our public discourse is a thing that I think we should all be concerned about, right?"

Lightfoot emphasized the importance of "community" and encouraged residents to "respect" each other and "focus on what brings us together and not what tears us apart."

The mayor added, "That's the thing I think that concerns me the most about what we're seeing, really over the arc of these last two years— I get it. People are angry. They are frustrated. And they're fearful. But we can't let those things mean that we lose sight of each other's humanity. We've got to find a common sense and a purpose."

She continued, "Every single person has a role to play in healing the wounds that are plaguing us in our country. And I just pray every single day that each of us will stand up and have that bravery of self and soul to do what is right in this moment. Because we desperately need that kind of healing," she later said.

Lightfoot defended her remarks at the Pride concert, later tweeting "I said what I said."

"If you read Clarence Thomas’ concurrence," Lightfoot began at the Pride concert, at which point Someone yelled out Lightfoot. "Thank you," she said. "F*ck Clarence Thomas. He thinks that we are going to stand idly by while they take our rights, our right to marry, our right to have children, our right to live."

Lightfoot, the city’s first openly gay mayor, suggested that the overturning of Roe v. Wade would lead to overturning gay marriage.

Following the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Lightfoot tweeted, "To my friends in the LGBTQ+ community—the Supreme Court is coming for us next. This moment has to be a call to arms.

She added, "We will not surrender our rights without a fight—a fight to victory!"