Daily Herald opinion: When threats, violence obscure debates, the entire community loses

We were saddened last year when protests in which the activist group Awake Illinois figured prominently against planned drag events in Downers Grove and Lake in the Hills were followed by such threats that the hosts had to shut the programs down.

Regardless of our own thoughts about the programs, the chief source of our sorrow was not just that they were canceled but why.

Rational democracy had failed. A process that allows alternative voices to express their feelings about an event had been superceded by acts of vandalism and threats of violence.

If some protesters, whether they participated in the disruptive acts or not, took the cancellations as a sign of victory, they have only to look to Des Plaines last week to see the ultimate fruits of such a "win."

A matter that involved legitimate discussion about whether a venue supported by public funds should host partisan political or cultural events - whether, in the words of Des Plaines Mayor Andrew Goczkowski there is a "place for politics in a building that's publicly owned" - became a matter of public safety. Protesters angry that Awake Illinois was hosting an event at the Des Plaines Theatre to promote its anti-LGBTQ+ agenda finally got their way and the program was shut down when threats and accusations got out of hand.

Ron Onesti, who operates the theater under an agreement with the city, explained in a statement Thursday night how bad things got.

He described people threatening to mail bullets to him, asking their neighbors "to fill my garbage cans with dog feces, countless hateful calls and outwardly targeting the Des Plaines Theatre, wishing its demise."

So, he did the only thing he could to ensure the safety of the venue and the people who would have used it. He canceled the contract. Just as the folks at a Lake in the Hills cafe canceled a drag-themed event to protect their customers. Just as leaders of the Downers Grove Public Library canceled a planned event to protect their patrons.

It is an ugly irony. An unsatisfying game of cultural tit-for-tat in which no one wins and all of society, not just the directly affected parties, loses.

We are not much swayed by Awake Illinois' efforts involving the drag programs its adherents protested, and we're offended by much of their rhetoric. But that doesn't mean no one should have the right to question or protest programs with which they sincerely disagree.

Likewise, there is plenty of room, whatever our own opinions, to debate assertions of whether publicly owned venues should host partisan programs and if so, which ones.

But when the room for debate is foreclosed by threats of violence, we get no answers. Only increased division and increased animosity. And, to paraphrase Onesti, how is that in any way good for the community?