Equal Marriage: A PRIMER ON CURRENT LEGISLATION

HB0178 – Same-Sex Marriage

Defines marriage in Illinois as a applying to any two people (rather than one man and one woman), and extends all related benefits to same-sex married couples. The bill was introduced in January 2009, with the new session. The bill has been held up in the Rules Committee since March. Sponsors: Reps. Greg Harris, Deborah Mell, Sara Feigenholtz, Constance Howard, Harry Osterman and John Fritchey

HB2234 – Civil Unions

This bill would allow for civil unions to be recognized in Illinois. The bill was introduced in February, and passed through the Youth and Family Committee. In March, the bill advanced to “3rd Reading” which puts it on the schedule to be debated and voted on by the full House. However, this did not happen before the end of the session on May 31, 2009, and instead the bill was referred to the Rules Committee, where bills often get stalled indefinitely. Sponors: Reps. Greg Harris, Barbara Flynn Currie, Deborah Mell, Constance A. Howard, Sara Feigenholtz, Harry Osterman, John A. Fritchey, Lou Lang, George Scully Jr., Julie Hamos, Cynthia Soto, Naomi D. Jakobsson and Mike Boland

SB1716 – Civil Unions

Originally an unrelated bill, SB1716 passed the Senate in April and went to committee in the House. On Tuesday, May 26, the California Supreme Court upheld the anti-gay Prop 8, igniting widespread anger in the LGBT community. Meanwhile, in the House committee, House Committee Amendment #1 was added to the bill, which inserted language similar to HB2234, making this essentially a civil union bill. The amendment was quickly adopted and passed out of committee. Many news outlets had reported this activity as “progress” – however, at the time, the bill had not even advanced as far as HB2234, and the legislative session closed with both bills not having gone to the House floor for debate and voting.

While there is no doubt that its sponsor Rep. Harris sincerely wanted SB1716 to succeed, it is also certain that the Democratic leadership in the House wanted nothing more than to get through the news cycle by placating the LGBT community, without really doing anything to advance the cause of marriage equality.

Sure enough, the House leadership failed to advance this or any other marriage equality bill before the end of the session. The deadline for action on SB1716 has been extended to November 30, which is reason to hope that something may yet happen with it. In the meantime, the House has been called into Special Session and does have the opportunity to make progress on this bill. They have the time, but do they have the will?

Call your state representative and ask them to sign on as a sponsor of these three bills.