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Loading ...Illinois civil union bill likely dead
12.10.2008 2:46pm EST
(Springfield, Illinois) Legislation to allow civil unions for same-sex couples in Illinois appears to have little chance of coming to a vote as the state grapples with the nationwide economic crisis and the scandal that has enveloped Illinois over Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D).
The clock is ticking on the current session of the legislature and if lawmakers do not bring it to a vote it will die.Openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) introduced the legislation last year after there was little support for a gay marriage bill he had filed. The civil union bill, called the Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act, passed the House Human Services Committee in March 2007. Since then it has languished.
The bill guarantees some of the rights and responsibilities to persons in civil unions that are currently granted to persons in civil marriages. Among those rights are the ability to participate in healthcare visitation and decision making for one’s partner, survivor benefits and the right to make disposition decisions about deceased partner’s remains.
The bill also affirms religious institutions’ right not to recognize such unions or to solemnize a civil union.
But with only two days on the legislative calendar before the session ends in January, Harris and other lawmakers concede there is little chance of a vote.
Had the measure passed Blagojevich had signaled he would sign it.
Blagojevich had opposed a proposed amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage but said he did not support same-sex marriage legislation. Instead, he said, he preferred individual bills that would give gay couples some rights, or civil unions.
That was before the governor was arrested Tuesday on corruption charges.
“Everything has been trumped by what happened,” Harris told The Chicago Tribune. “Our focus now is how will the state keep functioning.”
Among the most serious charges facing Blagojevich is one accusing him of trying to sell the US Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barrack Obama.
Despite the charges against Blagojevich he remains governor and could still fill the Senate seat. Lawmakers must determine how to avoid that.
Then there is the matter of the economy. The state is facing a budget crisis and some lawmakers say it cannot wait until the new legislature is sworn in.
Harris said that if the bill dies when the session ends he will re-file it in next one.
What a shame….
I agree a very sad situation that our civil rights do not matter and that the issue of a scandal that had nothing to do with us and the economic crisis inflicted by the current administration are reasons to not do the right thing – perhaps it is time we started talking about the civil rights of those that preach and legislate intolerance
I love how legislators can’t seem to walk and chew gum simultaneously when LGBTQ rights are concerned.
They’re *always* “too busy.”
In FAR too many legislatures, voting for equal rights for LGBTQ people is the untouchable political third rail of death, much as voting for integration was in the 1950s-1960s … and indeed President Lyndon Johnson’s courage DID cost the Democrats the Old South, from the time of the passage of the Civil Rights Act until the election of Senator Barack Obama … and even then, at best the Deep South turned “purple” in and around large cities and university towns.
Somebody should do an anthropological study to determine how the segregationists of the 1950s became the homophobes of 2008. The warped version of religion popular in the South explains a lot of it, but not all.
Bud Burgoon-Clark
San Diego CA USA
Passed in March 2007? And this one scandal is what has prevented a vote for a year and a half?
If only the Democrats controlled Illinois! Errrr, scratch that.
it’s very clear that Illinois is in a very unique bind right now. Its Governor could have been on the way to doing great things for the local Illinois gay community on his watch as gov. Unfortunately, Gov. Blagojevich, squandered his precious time in office and that of his citizens by his bad choices.
There were bad choices on gov’s part. The people’s business has to come to standstill for his likely criminal trial and so at least perhaps an interum governor will now have to be found.
His downfall and the paralysis it will cause Illinois was his own irrespobsibility and his citizens, unfortunately will have to pay the price in not getting their business done.
It is up to the citizens of his state to pull together as one and to elect a progay governor.
The local equality org can educate the people of the state about equality for all same as the other equality orgs in the other states are doing. The “squeaky wheel gets the grease”. If gays in Illinois don’t speak up for their rights, they will be forgotten in the midst of the gov’s arrest, what’s the state to do next about replacing him, and the economic problems.
Yeah, there’s your Democratic Party in Illinois – maybe we could BUY civil unions if we raised a million dollars…
Just like Democrats can BUY a Senate seat…
What a bunch of hypocrites the Democratic Party is. We love gays, but we won’t recognize them. But we’ll sell a Senate seat…
Indeed, I too was shockingly in agreement.
However, we don’t need for guests on talk shows to agree with us, we need our judges and congressmen(and women) and President to agree with us.
The easy hardline bigots like Huckabee are pretty easy to deal with, but it’s the soft bigots like Barack Obama who talks about equal rights out one side of his mouth, while vehemently opposing marriage equality on the other side.
you are totally right Jeff barea!!!!! Democrates have been saying that they support gays but have done nothing to help us out! we finally have a democratic president and I bet he will barley do a thing to help out gays.
IT DOESN T TAKE A BUDGET CRISIS TO VOTE ON PEOPLES CIVIL RIGHTS-WHAT A BUNCH OF MALARKY !!!
How on earth are you going to pass a piece of legislation that hasn’t even gone to a “third reading” in one chamber of a bicameral legislature yet? And the whole process has to be done within two days no less!
Sounds like this bill was on its way to the legislative afterlife regardless. They had two years to act on it. But they clearly weren’t interested. So, faced with growing criticism from gay groups at the end of the term, the Democratic caucus decides to blame Blegojevich. Since he’s “going down” anyway, he might as well fall on his sword for this one too.
The governor might be guilty of many crimes. But there’s something about this civil union story that doesn’t add up logically. I think Rod’s former friends in the legislature are using him as a recepticle for all the trash they want to dispose of.