Marriage Equality Passes

We need to acknowledge Tuesday’s momentous passage of the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.  This is a big step forward for Illinois and we have Democrats, primarily, to thank for it, as is invariably the case with changes for the better in this country.

Both of our local representatives, Stephanie Kifowit and Linda Chapa la Via, supported the bill.  Yes, there were a very few (three, in fact) stand-up Republicans – like Tom Cross – who voted for it, but most Republicans – notably including Darlene Senger – voted against equal rights for all Illinoisans.  Here’s the roll call if you want to check any other details.

As I’ve mentioned before, my dad is gay and so this was a personal issue for me.  I got involved directly a few months ago through Illinois Unites for Marriage, and our focus in this area was to get Linda Chapa la Via to vote with us.  She struggled, with her church giving her a very different message from the one we were advocating.  In the end she sided with history, and we are grateful for that.  You can hear her describing how she arrived at her position in a nice radio interview from the next day on WBEZ (it’s 7 minutes starting at minute 42 of the audio for Wednesday’s Morning Shift program), and I see an article from the Beacon-News that focuses on her and on Tom Cross.

I’ve read a number of very nice statements recognizing and honoring Tuesday’s passage of the bill.  Here’s one that I particularly like, from Cook County Clerk David Orr (quoted from this piece at Progress Illinois):

Same-sex couples throughout the state will at long last be able to declare their legally-recognized commitment to each other within their own communities, wherever they might live, and they will finally be able to share in the more than 1,100 rights and tax benefits that have been denied to them merely because of who they love and who they have chosen to spend their lives with.

I applaud State Rep. Greg Harris for his persistence and leadership in the long fight for marriage equality.

I have long believed in and supported marriage equality and while justice may have been delayed, it can no longer be denied. I look forward to issuing marriage licenses in 2014 to the many couples in Cook County who have waited far too long for this day.

It’s been a privilege to be part of the great transformation that society has undergone over the past few decades and to see this change come to fruition: From the City Council’s passage in 1988 of Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance; to Cook County’s domestic partnership registry in 2003; the state’s anti-discrimination law in 2005; the start of civil unions in Illinois two years ago; the recent passage in the U.S. Senate of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and now, our state becoming the 15th to put into law the guarantee of marriage equality.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ And it’s heartening to see that arc now includes Illinois.”