Illinois Legislature OKs Civil Unions for Gay Couples

Despite the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church, the Illinois Family Institute and other professional gay-hating groups, the Illinois Legislature has passed legislation which will provide same sex couples with most of the rights of marriage. Of equal positive import is the fact that Gov. Pat Quinn has indicated that he will sign the measure. Like it or not, the religious based anti-gay bigotry promoted by the Catholic Church and others who have a total disregard for the separation of church and state are slowly and steadily losing the larger war for gay civil rights. The irony is that the more the Christianists and Church hierarchy engage in hate mongering, the more rapid is the disengagement of younger generations from organized religion. As in the immediately previous post, the foes of gay equality blame gays for the decline in religious affiliation and the increasingly negative view of Christianity yet it is these self-enriching opportunists and and the morally bankrupt Church hierarchy who are the ones actually accelerating religion's demise. Here are highlights from the Cleveland Plain Dealer on yesterday's legislative events:
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Civil unions for same-sex couples would be allowed in Illinois under historic legislation the state Senate swiftly sent Wednesday to Gov. Pat Quinn, who is expected to sign the measure. The bill would give gay couples the chance to enjoy several of the same rights as married couples, ranging from legal rights on probate matters to visiting a partner in a hospital that won't allow anyone but relatives into a patient's room.
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The Senate voted 32-24 after the House, viewed as the toughest hurdle, passed the measure on Tuesday. . . . Sen. David Koehler said he sees the issue "through the eyes of a father who has a gay child," a daughter who "doesn't have the same rights" as his other children.
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But Sen. Chris Lauzen questioned, "Why civil unions now?" when the state reels from high unemployment, home foreclosures, a huge state debt and social services in disarray.
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Sen. John Jones said he has a "lot of good gay friends" that he respects and supports, but civil union "is the wrong path to take," particularly now when state leaders should be focused on fixing state finances and putting people to work. "Rome is burning, folks, and we're sitting back watching it burning," Jones said.
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"We have a chance here, as leaders have had in previous generations, to correct injustice and to move us down the path toward liberty," said sponsoring Rep. Greg Harris, one of two openly gay lawmakers, his voice breaking with emotion. "It's a matter of fairness, it's a matter of respect, it's a matter of equality." Opponents charged that civil unions are a "slippery slope" that will erode traditional family values.
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To the Republican opponents who whine that "Rome is burning," the reality is that as long as the laws support inequality, Rome has already been lost and only a false imaginary image exists. The Constitution guarantees equality under the law whether one is gay or straight, Christian or non-Christian and it's beyond time that elected officials start making this guarantee real to all citizens.