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Via Lambda Legal, good news in Illinois. I sure this will give The Peter agita.
Today Governor Quinn will sign the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act, which will go into effect June 1, 2011. To support families protected by the new law, Lambda Legal and Equality Illinois launched Civil Union Tracker.“We have had a surge of calls to our Legal Help Desk since November when the law passed the legislature,” said Camilla Taylor, Senior Staff Attorney at the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal in Chicago. “By launching Civil Union Tracker with our partners at Equality Illinois, our goal is to provide a much needed service to same-sex and different-sex couples in civil unions, and to their children. Many will have questions about what the law means. We also know from experience in other states with civil unions that many families will encounter difficulties in getting respect for their status as legally recognized families after the law goes into effect. Our goal is to help these families navigate Illinois’ new legal landscape with as few challenges as possible.”
Illinois’ new law provides that couples in civil unions will receive the responsibilities, protections, and benefits available to married couples under state law, and also establishes that out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples will be treated as civil unions automatically. Lambda Legal has already responded to a flood of questions about civil unions by providing a civil union FAQ. Couples can register online through Civil Union Tracker to get their questions answered, share stories, and gain direct access to information related to their new rights and responsibilities. Civil Union Tracker can be found at www.lambdalegal.org/illinoistracker.
In addition to same-sex couples seeking to protect their families, civil unions provide protections for different-sex couples, including widowed senior citizens who want state-level recognition for a new relationship. Civil Union Tracker is available to any Illinois couple that chooses to enter into a civil union, or whose relationship will be treated as a civil union under the new law.
11 Comments
Congrats IllinoisI see that Illinois Civil Unions are officiated by county clerk, etc. Bittersweet for sure…Here in California you just get “notarized” still for a RDP. Cracks me up. Just go down to your local bank or tax preparer to sign you up….then papers are sent into California Secretary of State office with your fee and you get an official RDP certificate back in the mail.
We we got notarized, I had to prompt the bank official for a “congratulations” and a “good luck.”
Congrats and good luck in advance to all Illinois couples.
Forever forward.
We get notorized In Washington tooBut we do have the option of mailing in the forms or taking them personally to the Corporations Division. Woo hoo! But once there all you do is hand the papers to a clerk so you can get your official RDP card & certificate handed to you right away rather than waiting for it to arrive in the mail. The process isn’t designed to foster celebrations in the halls of government that’s for sure, although I’ve seen couples quietly take a few moments to privately celebrate before leaving the clerk’s window. But as long as you have the notarized papers, they don’t even require both partners be present to submit the paper work.
So DESIGNERS…. Get on that HALLMARK cardRight Away will you?But truly Congratulations to all who can benefit from this.PS Did you see that a very much more adult Britney Spears was bridesmaid at the Florida Gay religious wedding of an entourage member, Brett Miller?http://tinyurl.com/45b4hjc So can you have Religious Weddings in ILLINOIS? that would make it a more memorable event with reception even!
Religious weddingsFrom a legal perspective, any member of the clergy can conduct a religious wedding at any time. There is no legal mandate for or against that. Their right to bless any marriage they want (or refuse to do so) is protected by the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution. The nice thing about the Illinois CU law is that it allows willing clergy to act as an agent of the state and solumnize civil unions just like they solumnize civil marriages. According to Equality Illinois’ FAQ, “You may have your civil union certified in accordance with the rules of any religion…”.
Re:Isn’t that because CUs are more like marriages as far as ceremonies are concerned, whereas domestic partnerships are just a registry?
That’s a good questionbecause as far as I can tell DPs in states like CA, OR & WA offer the same (virtually) full suite of state-level rights as do CUs and civil marriages. So perhaps the only difference between DPs and CUs is in how they’re registered with the state? Good question.
Re:Well, most of is semantics. Generally CUs are understood to offer the same rights as marriage, whereas DPs are often less. But as you said, these days a couple of states have DPs that are the same too.
Congratulations, Illinois!Good luck with the inevitable lawsuit over civil unions being fundamentally unequal to marriage.
Congrats to Illinois!And I have to note that they passed civil rights protections for gender identity before this. Maybe this bill came about because of the positive spin from that action?
Not Yet EqualAs a gay Illinois couple that is in a relationship of over twenty years we are not happy with this new law. To us, this is a separate but equal scheme. I am sure many will say we should be happy and accept what has been given to us and stop whining. Our relationship has lasted and endured longer than the majority of different sex marriages. Some say, the only thing we do not have is the word marriage, but words have meanings and consequences
However, I am happy to tell everyone we traveled to California and were married in August 2008 and in at least six states and DC our married is legal.
You shouldn’t be happyand you shouldn’t be satisfied. It is separate and not equal. It is discriminatory. It is also a scrap of protection that you should consider, but never stop the fight for true equality.
My husband and I were DP’d sometime in the late 90s. I don’t remember when, and I don’t care. It was required by his company to get me on his insurance, we filled out the paperwork and sent it in. I doubt we even have the returned form anymore. We were married February 16, 2004 (annulled by CSC) and again September 22, 2008 (upheld by CSC). We celebrate both, along with the anniversary we’ve celebrated since 1992 – our first date.