November 30th, 2010
It appears that they did have the votes in the Illinois House of Representatives, after all, and with some one to spare. From Progress Illinois,
UPDATE 12 (6:28 p.m.): And there it is! The civil unions bill passes by a 61-52 margin! Two voted present and three did not vote. Now onto the Senate, where it’s expected to be approved quickly.
The bill passes with bipartisan support (my quick count includes six Republicans voting for civil unions). The bill needed 60 votes to pass.
Today is definitely a day worth celebrating.
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Emily K
November 30th, 2010
oh, hooray!! I’m so happy for Illinoisans everywhere.
occono
November 30th, 2010
Yay!
Lindoro Almaviva
November 30th, 2010
Oh yay! we are officially 2nd class citizens in Illinois!
At least now we can sue and after a long battle the courts will tell the Illinois government that the 2nd coming of separate but equal is going to have to be treated like the 1st one was over 50 years ago.
Sorry, joy kill, I know, but I do not take well to eating someone else s leftovers, specially when they thrown them on the floor and expect me to pic them up from there and put it on my plate.
Bernie
November 30th, 2010
Maybe I’ll take my friends offer to move to Chicago.
I bet you that Porno Pete packs his bags and leaves Aurora! Ha, take that, Petey!
Matt
November 30th, 2010
I’ll gladly take this ad keep pushing for more.
Simpa
November 30th, 2010
Lindoro, you don’t know what you are talking about. CUs are 95% of the loaf. It isn’t enough, and we will not settle for less than full marriage. But CUs actually help tremendously in that effort. CUs are a trial run for marriage. In every state that has had them, support for marriage has materially increased.
NOM and FRC grumbled last year about the Vermont legislature’s adoption of full marriage; they complained that the legislature’s support for marriage had been “conditioned” by court-mandated CUs.
NOM and FRC were right. CUs served as a trial run and did condition the VT legislature to support full marriage, because in 10 years of CUs none of the supposed consequences that feature in NOM’s hysterical ads ever arose. Expect the same outcome in IL in 5 years.
In the meantime, we can enjoy the fact that the 5th largest state in the country now gives us marriage in all but name.
Phil
November 30th, 2010
Porno Pete lives in Naperville, not Aurora. Other than Porno Pete’s residence there, Naperville is a nice place.
enough already
December 1st, 2010
Living in a country half the year where my husband and I are legally married, with all the rights and responsibilities of heterosexuals who are married, it does seem a slap in the face to be subjected to “different but equal”.
At the same time, we are in a wa r and you fight your battles to win, not to lose.
History has shown that civil unions lead to successful marriage laws. It is not my prefered path, but I’m in this to win, not to lose.
So, no – half a loaf isn’t a whole loaf, but the no-compromise, my-way-or-the-highway position which causes so many liberals to sit home on their hands while our e nemies are out voting is not productive.
Or is there really no difference between Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner?
anteros
December 1st, 2010
progress :-)
AMPGlass
December 1st, 2010
Well, it’s a step towards progress. Of course, all of the Christians and conservatives are up in arms and yelling at people on the facebook page of a local news station. (The southern half Illinois sucks.)
Jason D
December 1st, 2010
As a resident of Illinois i’ll remind folks that this isn’t a done deal yet. It ain’t over till Governor Quinn signs it. It still has to get through the Senate, too.
It’s very likely it will make it through the Senate and Quinn has repeatedly promised to sign it, but I’m going to reserve my pom poms for when the ink is dry :)
Kate
December 1st, 2010
Thank you so much for posting this, thank you to the representatives in Illinois who got the bill this far, thank you everyone who wrote/called/worked to change minds and get those 61 votes. I have seen so much sad news, two-steps-back stories, here and elsewhere in the news that I was starting to wonder if I would EVER see something positive for human rights in this country. Thank you for restoring a bit of my faith in American government, and in the capacity of people to do the right thing.
ravenbiker
December 1st, 2010
Equal but separate? “Civil Unions:” and not “marriage?”
No such thing. It’s a contradiction. IT’S STUPID!
I don’t see the point in celebrating apartheid in any form. Next they’ll conjure up a separate tax bracket for us as well as separate water fountains to drink from.
I would vote for ALL marriages to be CIVIL UNONS —as it should be.
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