ILLINOIS: Marriage Bill Introduced

Three Illinois legislators today introduced a marriage equality bill.

State Reps Greg Harris, Deb Mell, and Kelly Cassidy filed a marriage equality bill in Illinois General Assembly Wednesday. HB 5710, the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, provides that all laws of Illinois applicable to marriage apply equally to marriages of same-sex and different-sex couples. The bill comes on the heels of Tuesday's ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, holding that California's denial of marriage in favor of domestic partnerships for same sex couples violated the U.S. Constitution. "We commend these leaders for taking yet another step towards full equality for lesbian and gay families in Illinois, and we are grateful to them for their leadership," said Equality Illinois (EQIL) CEO Bernard Cherkasov. "This is just the beginning: the road to marriage equality is sure to be long, but it is one that we must travel together."

It's getting hard to track all these bills! That's a good thing.