Group Wants Resignation of Illinois Sheriff, Don Schieferdecker Who Posted Slur on Facebook

A lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights advocacy group has demanded the resignation of an Illinois sheriff who recently admitted to posting an ethnic and gender slur on Facebook.

"We heard about it on an advocate website and traced it back to the article on AOL News," Anthony Martinez, executive director of the Civil Rights Agenda, said. "We are very shocked by what [the sheriff] had stated and decided we would take action and call for his resignation."

Schuyler County Sheriff Don L. Schieferdecker

Schuyler Co. Sheriff's Dept.

Schuyler County, Ill., Sheriff Don Schieferdecker admits to posting an ethnic and gender slur on Facebook but says he doesn't plan to resign.

On Friday, Schuyler County Sheriff Don Schieferdecker admitted to AOL News that he made a derogatory post on Facebook. Schieferdecker made the comment under a photo of a co-worker with his mouth hanging open. The poster wrote: "Look, I found a fag," to which Schieferdecker replied in a post that has apparently been removed: "Yup and his mouth is open, his glasses are off, he's ready, little fag Jew boy."

Schieferdecker told AOL News he was "extremely sorry" and called the incident an "embarrassing situation" but said he has no plans to resign. "It was a -- what I thought to be a harmless joke," he said.

Martinez, however, is not laughing and has asked the mayor and town council of Rushville, Ill., to ask Schieferdecker to step down.

"We are in contact with the key people [and are] calling for the sheriff's resignation and hoping that this will be a larger conversation in that area of the state," Martinez said. "[The area] is sparsely populated, and people in rural areas don't necessarily have the resources ... to fight discrimination or hate, specifically something like this matter."

The mayor was unavailable for comment. According to the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, the Schuyler County Board has yet to take action.

"We don't have all the details right now, so we can't comment until we see all the details," board member Max McClelland told the newspaper.