Illinois Passes Marriage Equality Bill

A marriage equality bill was passed today by 61-54 in the Illinois, followed shortly thereafter by a 32-21 vote in the Senate. The bill is now on its way to the desk of Governor Pat Quinn, who has promised to sign it. Same-sex weddings will begin in the Land of Lincoln on June 1 of next year, making Illinois the 15th state of the Union to embrace marriage equality.

President Obama, who served for nearly eight years in the Illinois Senate, issued a statement:

Tonight, I applaud the men and women of the Illinois General Assembly, a body in which I was proud to serve, for voting to legalize marriage equality in my home state.

As President, I have always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally under the law. Over time, I also came to believe that same-sex couples should be able to get married like anyone else. So tonight, Michelle and I are overjoyed for all the committed couples in Illinois whose love will now be as legal as ours – and for their friends and family who have long wanted nothing more than to see their loved ones treated fairly and equally under the law.

I also commend the members of the General Assembly for approaching this issue in a fair and open way, and for recognizing the importance of our commitment to religious freedom by engaging the religious community in this conversation. Throughout this debate, they’ve made it clear that this is about civil marriages and civil laws, and made sure that churches and other institutions of faith are still free to make their own decisions that conform to their own teachings.

As I said in my Inaugural Address last January, our journey as a nation is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. And tonight, I’m so proud that the men and women elected to serve the people of the great state of Illinois have chosen to take us one step further on that journey to perfect our union.

Meanwhile in Hawaii, debate on a same-sex marriage bill continues in the House of Representatives, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 44-7. The Hawaiian Senate passed the bill by 20-4 on October 30. The House proceedings have been held up this week by the Speaker's decision to allow more than 5,000 members of the public to speak for two minutes each in what has been called a "citizens' filibuster," consisting of mostly Bible-thumping conservatives. 

However, some marriage-equality supporters have also testified, and the scientific testimony on the genetic basis of sexual orientation provided by geneticist Dean Hamer is well worth listening to:




Update, 11/8: Governor Quinn has announced he will sign the Illinois same-sex marriage bill on November 20 in Chicago.