Quinn To Sign Civil Unions Bill Soon, In Public Ceremony In Downtown Chicago

The federal government wasn't the only one that got busy during the lame-duck session.

In Illinois, the state legislature passed a tax increase to help close its massive budget deficit, and voted to abolish the state's death penalty. And after a contentious struggle, impassioned arguments, and tough vote-wrangling, both House and Senate passed a measure allowing civil unions in the state during this winter's legislative session.

Governor Quinn signed the tax increase into law promptly. The death penalty bill still sits on his desk, with supporters anxiously awaiting his decision.

But today, it was revealed that Quinn plans on signing the civil unions bill into law by the end of the month.

From the Facebook page of State Rep. Greg Harris, the bill's sponsor:

Governor Pat Quinn will sign the Civil Union Law on Monday, January 31. The signing ceremony will be in the afternoon in the Chicago Loop, and open to the public. Details will be announced early next week.

Signing the bill publicly in downtown Chicago, rather than behind his desk in Springfield, means that Quinn is expecting a pretty sizable celebration. And in a city with one of the nation's largest and most vibrant gay communities, we have little doubt that that's what he'll get.

[Hat-tip to Capitol Fax, and in turn to NowInGayChicago.]

Comments

[LeaderofMen]

08:31 AM on 01/24/2011

Yeah. My CA marriage is finally going to be somewhat legal in my home state.

[Michael Dayne]

12:32 PM on 01/23/2011

I'm surprised Quinn didn't decide to impose a tax on Gay marriage or include a provision that allows for slot machines in churches and chapels.

[MovingtoNorway]

11:06 AM on 01/23/2011

Has he checked with the Cardinal to make sure that's okay?

[BushBites]

05:06 PM on 01/22/2011

Can hetero couples have a civil union?

[mag68]

05:21 PM on 01/22/2011

hetero couples get whatever they want and they have never had to do a thing to get it.

[edisnuts]

06:42 PM on 01/22/2011

you are a bigot

[sweetleopardess]

09:03 PM on 01/22/2011

The bill covers all the bases:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/illinois-civil-unions-bil_1_n_790147.html

"The Illinois Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act will also protect the rights of religious institutions to define marriage as they choose, and will be available to any couple, same-sex or opposite-sex, in a committed relationship who are: 18 years of age or older, not in an existing marriage or civil union, and are not related. It would take effect July 2011. "

[ge971]

03:45 PM on 01/22/2011

They should instead have a massive protest. Anything short of marriage is discriminatory.

[lakefront liberal]

09:53 PM on 01/22/2011

How long should gays wait until we find a state legislature and governor that will pass such a law--5 years... 10 years? We should celebrate this as a step forward, and continue the push to full marriage equality.

[IhateNeoCons]

09:29 AM on 01/23/2011

A simpler solution is to just relinquish the term marriage to the religious fanatics and define all non-church weddings as civil unions. Which, by the way, they already are. Just because historically the term marriage only referred to heterosexual couples and there was no need to legally distinguish civil union and church wedding doesn't mean we should spend billions of dollars, decades of time, and uncountable amounts of energy arguing over semantics. If the troglodytes are so committed to the word marriage, strip it of all legal meaning beyond the the exchange of vows in a church qualifying you to later register your "marriage" for recognition as a civil union. Let the rights that are inherent with legally recognized coupledom derive exclusively from registered civil unions. That way the loonies get to still argue how special and distinct they are without crapping all over everyone else's rights in the process.

[LiberalLee]

06:13 PM on 01/23/2011

No thanks. I'd refuse to relinquish anything to a bunch of raving zealots determined to make me live MY life by THEIR rules.

[Jdaddy1951]

03:19 PM on 01/22/2011

Civil unions are fine, but it's equivalent to separate-but-equal status when straight couples have the right to be married. Either change the marriage laws so it's marriage for everyone or civil unions for everyone. Otherwise, it's still like having separate drinking fountains for gay people and straight people.

[HankyJoe]

06:07 PM on 01/23/2011

Well said!

[Jdaddy1951]

06:15 PM on 01/23/2011

Thank you. You may have a piece of chocolate. We're serving Hershey's Kisses today.

[LiberalLee]

06:14 PM on 01/23/2011

All true, but it is a step in the right direction.
Perhaps with the Bybull Belters realize the sky hasn't fallen they'll shut up about the whole thing.

[Jdaddy1951]

06:16 PM on 01/23/2011

It's one step, but it's no where near the finish line. Grumble.