ACLU Statement on Illinois Marriage Vote

November 5, 2013 5:32 pm

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2013

CONTACT: ACLU National, media@dcaclu.org
ACLU of Illinois, 312-201-9740

NEW YORK – Today the Illinois State House passed a bill legalizing gay marriage by a vote of 61-54.

Below is a statement from James Esseks, Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Project of the American Civil Liberties Union:

“With the Illinois bill’s passage today, the march towards equality is turning into a stampede. One year ago, there were six states with marriage equality and now with Illinois there are fifteen. Over thirty seven percent of the American population now lives in states with the freedom to marry for all loving and committed couples. All families deserve the protection and security that only marriage provides and our fight to extend those protections to families in the remaining 35 states will continue.”

The following is a statement from John Knight, Director of the LGBT Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois:

“Today is a great victory for thousands of lesbian and gay couples and their families and an historic day for the State of Illinois. To put an end, after so many years, to a law that has officially denigrated the love and commitment of lesbians and gay men is a cause for great celebration. We applaud the House members who stood up for basic fairness for all Illinois’ families.

Because of the hard work of many organizations and individuals, who never lost faith when the House failed to act in May, our State now joins the growing list of those advancing fairness by recognizing the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples.

Today’s vote means that the Illinois General Assembly now recognizes that all Illinoisans deserve the dignity, universal recognition, and concrete federal protections and obligations from marriage for their loving committed relationships and for the good of their children. Our clients in a court case challenging Illinois’ discriminatory marriage law, and thousands of other same-sex couples in Illinois, can finally start planning their weddings.

We urge Governor Quinn to quickly sign this historic legislation.”

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