Today LGBT equality advocates heralded the passage of marriage equality legislation in the Illinois House of Representatives. The legislation now heads back to the state Senate in order to accept minor House amendments before proceeding to the desk of Gov. Pat Quinn for signature. Illinois will become the 15th state, plus the District of Columbia, to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Sponsored by state Sen. Heather Steans in the state Senate and state Rep. Greg Harris in the state House of Representatives, the Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality Act passed the state Senate 34-21 on February 14 and today 61-54 in the state House. The law will take effect on June 1, 2014.
In a statement released shortly after the vote President Barack Obama said:
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.
HRC President Chad Griffin said, “Today the Land of Lincoln rededicated itself to the proposition that all are created equal. Thanks to principled impatience from state leaders in Springfield, the overwhelming momentum toward nationwide marriage equality continues to intensify.”
HRC has been on the ground in Illinois since mid-January supporting the field operations, and provided 15 field organizers who with our campaign partners helped generate 34,000 phone calls, 80,000 emails, and 29,000 postcards to key legislators. HRC was a proud partner of the Illinois Unites for Marriage campaign, working hand in hand with our partner organizations Equality Illinois, ACLU, Lambda Legal, Freedom to Marry and other pro-equality groups.
“Having HRC field organizers on the ground was extremely helpful to this campaign,” said Illinois State Representative Greg Harris – the primary sponsor of the bill. “HRC was a true partner of the Illinois Unites for Marriage coalition. Thank you, Team HRC.”
The passage of marriage equality in Illinois comes just days before the Hawaii state House is expected to vote on its own marriage equality legislation, which passed the state Senate Oct. 30.
