PEKIN, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- In this time of divisive opinions regarding politics there’s a battle in downstate Pekin about yard signs deemed by some on both sides to be offensive.
Pekin resident Tati Wynd and her husband had a yard sign reading, "F*** Trump 2020", but the city asked them to remove it, because of vulgarity.
“One day we get this really hard knock on our door and my husband answers it and it’s the city ordinance officer and he tells us that we have to take it down,” Wynd told WMBD.
Wynd removed her sign, but was upset, because other signs in the area are just as inappropriate.
She told WMBD that a sign down the street reads, "Just Say No, Sleepy Joe Biden and the B****," using a derogatory word for women, referring to his running mate, Kamala Harris.
That, she said, isn’t right.
“I’m frustrated, because at what point do you get to decide what is vulgarity and what’s not, especially when it comes to saying derogatory terms against women, because that’s borderline sexism at that point,” Wynd said.
“We want to put it back up, because we’re trying to prove a point that you can’t pick one or the other. It’s not right."
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Pekin city manager Mark Rothert said the city uses its discretion to decide what’s allowed.
“There is a balance we have to strike here with first amendment rights and the ability of people to be able to provide their support or opposition to a candidate,” Rothert said.
Generally, he said, if you can’t say it on TV or the radio, you can’t put it on your sign.
Wynd swapped her anti-Trump sign for one using the same derogatory B-word that’s on the anti-Biden sign down the street.
“I can’t have that sign, and he refuses to put the other one down because it’s not vulgarity, so I’ll make my own that says the same thing, and then what are you going to say,” Wynd said.
According to the city, her new signs are not obscene. When asked if the signs would stay up, Rothert told WMBD, “At this point, yes.”