Posted on 10/27/2026 6:15:49 AM PDT by Red Badger
“This is a segregated event,” former Illinois state rep says. “If you're LGBTQIA++ and you're BIPOC, fine, you can come in. All others, it's closed to. I mean, that's pretty alarming.”
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(The Center Square) - Aplanned race-restricted event at a public park in Geneva is raising questions about anti-discrimination policies, with former Illinois state representative and Breakthrough Ideas CEO Jeanne Ives urging local officials to examine whether such gatherings comply with the law after an LGBTQ organization postponed a bonfire advertised for "Black, Indigenous and people of color."
The event, organized by Belong Fox Valley and described as a “Queer BIPOC Bonfire,” was scheduled for Oct. 16 at Peck Farm Park in Geneva. The free, adults-only gathering was advertised as open exclusively to members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are Black, Indigenous, people of color or multiracial.
“This is a segregated event,” Ives told The Center Square. “If you're LGBTQIA++ and you're BIPOC, fine, you can come in. All others, it's closed to. I mean, that's pretty alarming.”
The event drew backlash over its race-based attendance restrictions. Belong Fox Valley subsequently announced on social media that it was postponing the bonfire because of safety concerns.
“Keep an eye on our social media and website for info about the new plans when we have them. Be safe and kind to one another, friends,” the organization said.
Geneva Park District Executive Director Nicole Vickers told Kane County Reporter that organizers had decided not to proceed with the “Queer BIPOC Bonfire” scheduled for Oct. 16 at Peck Farm Park.
The Center Square did not receive a response to requests for comment from the park district or Belong Fox Valley.
Ives acknowledged that public parks routinely rent facilities to private parties that are not open to the general public, including family gatherings and political events.
“The truth is, this public facility also rents out space to private parties,” Ives said. “You could even have your own family party there.”
Ives said that distinction may give the park district grounds to allow the gathering under existing rules, but argued that the organization’s attendance restrictions warrant scrutiny.
“This should be something that the community should be aware of, that this group is hosting,” she said.
Asked whether park districts should ensure private events held on public property comply with anti-discrimination requirements, Ives said officials could review their policies
“I would think that they should,” Ives said. “They could probably rewrite their rules to ensure that all events are compliant with federal discrimination laws.”
She said residents should consider raising the issue with both the organization and the park district, including asking officials to examine whether similar events could legally be held in the future.
Ives also addressed the organization's stated safety concerns, saying threats or violence against the group would be unacceptable while questioning what evidence supported the decision to postpone the event.
“No organization should be threatened by this,” she said. “I'd like to see the proof of that. I'd like to understand exactly how they were threatened and what was said in the threatening messages because I think a lot of times these groups say one thing and they read into stuff.”
Ives said she would also want to know whether the organization filed a police report if it received threats.
The controversy raises broader questions about how Illinois park districts and local governments handle permits for events organized around particular identities. Supporters of identity-based gatherings may argue they provide a space for historically marginalized communities, but Ives said that rationale does not justify racial exclusion.
“This is 2026. We don't do that anymore,” Ives said. “We learned a long time ago that we don't do anymore. We have laws written so that you don't racially discriminate against anybody.”
Ives said the key issue is whether an event’s restrictions violate applicable anti-discrimination laws, rather than whether an organization is holding a private gathering or hosting an event focused on a particular community.
“The problem here is when it comes to race or sex discrimination of any sort that would be in violation of the Constitution,” she said. “I think that that's more of the issue than anything.”
The postponement leaves the bonfire's future uncertain. Belong Fox Valley said followers should monitor its social media and website for information about its new plans.
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Actually, if the organization paid to get an event permit, then they should be able to decide who can participate. Don’t shut down the whole park, but the area they have reserved they should be able to decide who can attend. If I was holding a political rally at a park, I might not want certain elements to be allowed into my space. What if your family rented a building or gazebo for a birthday party? Shouldn’t you be able to restrict attendance?
BECAUSE GAYS AND BLACKS HAVE SO MUCH I COMMON
apparently
The democrat party is revealing so much
5o test whether it’s legal or not, hold a “whites only” show, and ban anyone not white in the same venue.
Born in Sin
Come on in.
Born in Lust
Return to Dust .
Born in Vice
Say it twice.
TSOTC
With or without a burning cross?..................🤔
Bend over, and they’ll show you ...
EXACTLY. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near their stupid gathering….
JUST DON’T CRASH ANYONE ELSE’S….
So, we can stop funding for that park if we be white
We’d never hear the end of it.
Big time.
Imagine the backlash:
“This is a segregated event,” Ives told The Center Square. “If you’re White, fine, you can come in. All others, it’s closed to.”
National news, condemnation from the highest levels, shut down before it got started with thousands of lefty protesters.
So much for “equity” the left keeps telling us they want - “equity” only applies to groups they approve of, and it’s never White.
My thoughts exactly.
(Who in their right mind would want to come in?)
No one
No decent person would want to
join in their Den of Iniquity
Just like the men in the streets
of Sodom and Gomorrah
Genesis 19:4-11
King James Version
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7 And said, I pray you, brethren, DO NOT SO WICKEDLY.
8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, AND HE WILL NEEDS BE A JUDGE: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019%3A4-11&version=KJV
There is no healthy FEAR 😨😨😨 of
Almighty God in the Eyes and Hearts
of the Wicked - to their own peril 🤯😲
2nd Peter 2:6-9
New King James Version
6 AND TURNING THE CITIES OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH INTO ASHES, condemned them to destruction, MAKING THEM AN EXAMPLE to those who afterward would live ungodly;
7 and delivered righteous Lot,
who was OPPRESSED BY
THE FILTHY CONDUCT OF THE WICKED
8 (for that righteous man,
dwelling among them,
TORMENTED HIS RIGHTEOUS SOUL
from day to day
BY SEEING AND HEARING THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS)—
9 then the Lord knows how to deliver
the godly out of temptations
and to reserve the unjust under punishment
for the Day of Judgment,
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%202%3A6-9&version=NKJV
“ Would a gathering that was open to only straight, White people be permitted?”
Legally, yes. It rents out spaces to whoever pays. Freedom of association requires freedom to exclude.
In the real world? The landlord would say it violates some policy and refuse or cancel the rental.
That’s just fine with me ,let them shoot each other.
White, beige, and pink are colors.
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