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Update: Just as I posted this diary, the news came out that the IL House of Representatives has passed the civil unions law! On the the Senate! Gov. Patrick Quinn has promised to sign the bill into law.
From Equality Illinois:
We did it! The Illinois House of Representatives passed the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act with a vote of 61 to 52!However, the Illinois Senate has yet to vote on the civil union bill and has until Thursday, December 2nd to do so. We are almost there but need your help to make this bill a reality. Please:
1. Call your Senator NOW and tell him/her to pass SB 1716 (If you do not know who your legislator is, you can look him/her up here).
2. Support our aggressive advocacy efforts with a contribution. Not only do we still need to pass the bill through the State Senate, but we will then need to protect the law from attempts to repeal it. We can only succeed with your support. Please donate now.
We are extremely thankful to State Representative Greg Harris, chief sponsor of the bill, for his extraordinary leadership on this issue. Thank you for supporting us and we will keep you posted on the status of this historic bill.
Sincerely,
Bernard Cherkasov
Chief Executive Officer
As we speak, a civil unions bill is up for debate and vote in the Illinois House of Representatives. Openly gay Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), who co-sponsored SB 1716, started his opening statement at 5:17 p.m on Tuesday. “Once in every generation,” he said, “legislatures across the country have a chance to advance the cause of liberty and justice for all.”SB 1716, the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act needs 60 votes to pass in the House. Supporters believe they have the necessary votes to pass the bill out of the House and on to the Senate, where quick passage is expected.
Tuesday afternoon, an Illinois Senate committee advanced its version of the civil unions bill by a 6-2 margin. The upper chamber on the Senate would have to approve the legislation if it clears the House.
According to the article above, a poll last month showed that 67.5% of likely Illinois voters approve of civil unions or marriage for same sex couples while only 26.5% oppose any recognition.
If the legislation passes, Illinois will join California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington as the latest state to offer full-scale Civil Unions or Domestic Partnerships. Marriage equality is the law of the land in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington D.C..
Fingers crossed for the Land of Lincoln!
26 Comments
Think Porno Pete will freak out?Ok, the question will be how much he freaks out and how hard he tries to raise money off of this. I’m guessing that “a lot” would be the correct answer and that the “Americans” for the “Truth” about Homosexuality web site will be quite entertaining for a while.
i can only imagine
Good, so nowJames Meeks can stop his shuckin’ and jivin’.
Yeah, I said it.
Try this linknow that bastard needs to slither back over to his church and out of the mayor’s race.
THIS LINKhttp://chicago.gopride.com/new…
Third time’s the charm
“Nearly” all of the 650 rightsNot to nick pick, but it’s “nearly” the 650 states rights allotted heterosexual couples. In addition to the usual religious B***s*** including use of facilities, religious based adoption agencies which cater to the public at large do not have to service same sex couples. So much for public accommodations.
Progress Illinois had a good break down of the timeline of the vote today.
http://www.progressillinois.co…
Oh yeah.CONGRATULATIONS ILLINOIS!
Go Illinois!http://www.beyondmarriage.org
Glad to hear this first milestone to equality has passedand I hope the rest will come both in getting civil unions passed, and eventually the none-2nd class version (unless of course DOMA dies in the courts in the next decade & beats the legislators to it).
Nevada“Full Scale” does not apply here in Nevada. Robert and I are grateful for the symbolic nature of our Nevada DP law but it is FAR from comprehensive.
We overcame the obstical of 3 or 4 DEMOCRATS who voted AGAINST the law for “religious” reasons (tits ‘n ass not withstanding here in Nevada), we corraled a couple of REPUBLICANS (who were retiring and didn’t have to face voters) to vote in FAVOR of the law, all in order to over-ride a veto by our groper, molester governor Jim Gibbons. Considering that we in Nevada reside in the land of Sharon Angle, ours was a major accomplishment…soooo…Hooray for Illinois!!
Stuart & Robert Wyman-Cahall
Las Vegas, NV 89142
Yawn……….It’s hard to get excited about separate-but-equal status. Thanks but no thanks. But I will enjoy watching Porno Pete’s undies get all bunched up over it.
why?It’s a significant step forward in a midwestern state.
Yippee!Great news. Now my husband and I need to figure out if this will mean more paperwork and yet another anniversary, or if our California marriage will be recognized here at home as a civil union.
I used to think my parents had hoops to jump through when they had to get both a civil marriage and a religious one when they were stationed in Germany after WWII.
This will join our County Domestic Partnership, and our California Marriage. And eventually will be joined by state and federal recognition of our marriage as marriage.
But it’s a good day!
Marriage EqualityAs an Illinoisan, I guess I should be happy about this. However, I understand that progress takes a long time, but to me I consider Civil Unions to be inferior and really separate but equal. We should never accept a status that others would reject for themselves. This is only a temporary stop on the road to full equality.
You know, who’s talking aboutaccepting this as a final thing?
One thing I like about the campaign that we have conducted here in the Land of Lincoln is that YES, we want marriage and this is a first and incremental step towards that.
And our gay groups here have made that pretty clear, actually, that this is only a step; remember we also had a gay marriage bill that did not (and would not) have passed the General Assembly.
YES, we’ll take this for now and continue doing the work that we need to do to have full marriage equality here.
Oh, and…there will be no anti-gay marriage amendment in our state constitution anytime in the near future.
Separate but equal but still…I am grateful for Rep. Greg Harris and the hard work he has put into getting the bill into the House once again this year. Several attempts have been made in the past to get a Civil Union bill passed but they all died on the house floor.
While we won this one by a “one vote shy” of minimal passage, we still have a long way to go before we can make a move for full equality. This is a great first step!
There is currently a law/statute against marriage equality in Illinois. So I take it the gay marriage bill you refer to would have repealed the current law.
Of courseI believe this is the same-sex marriage bill.
Here is the critical amendment in the bill (on page 11)
The italicized part is what that bill proposed to change.
The PeterOh My Gosh, he must be clutching his pearls.
Of courseHere, see for yourself.
This is where it gets fun:
Judy BJudy Baar Topinka has long forever been a friend and ally to our community. In last month’s elections she was the only “R” I punched on my ballot! Proud to say that I elected her back into State Government.
Me too.The only “R” in a very long time. She must be doing something right across the board because she was the only one who survived that Republican purge a few years ago. For me it boils down to not really having a problem with a difference of opinion, I just really can’t stand extremists (like my Congressman Peter Roskam) and won’t vote for them. If I lived in Judy Biggert’s district I’d consider listening to what she has to say and might even vote for her because I think that although she’s following the party line about saying ‘no’ to everything now she was in the past fair and reasonable.
That’s been her positionfor a long time. It was when she ran for… governor? I don’t remember, I’m not from Illinois. But, yeah, they should have expected that.
OH, Judy is VERY pro gayand always has been.
On gay issues, there was little if no difference between Judy Baar Topinka and Blago.
You know, extremist Republicansrarely (if ever) win statewide elections in Illinois; even Peter Fitzgerald wasn’t that extreme.
I know about Miss Judy, of course, and she did get blindsided a little by all that Republican corruption; that and Blago’s money was why she didn’t win the Governors race.
Then again, George Ryan wasn’t that bad on LGBT issues and neither was Jim Edgar (who campaigned against the constitutional convention ballot initiative by which they could have attempted to put a anti-marriage amendment in the Constitution.
soon