Moments ago, Representatives Greg Harris, Deb Mell, and Kelly Cassidy
filed a marriage equality bill in Illinois General Assembly.

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.  This is just the beginning: the
road to marriage equality is sure to be long, but it is one that we must
travel together.

In following experiences of thousands of couples in civil unions
over the past year, we confirmed what we always suspected to be true:
that creating a separate institution to provide substantially the same
rights did not add up to full equality under the law.  A pharmacist who
denied prescription pick-up to the patient’s civil union partner didn’t
think it’s the same thing as marriage.  A coroner who refused to issue a
death certificate to civil union partner survivor did not think that
civil unions are the same as marriage.  Tax preparers, estate planners,
employers and employees do not think that civil unions are the same as
marriage.  Separate is not equal.  And we at Equality Illinois will not
rest until gay and lesbian couples in every corner of the state – who
are equal in love – are also equal in marriage.

Just yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9^th
Circuit held that California’s denial of marriage in favor of domestic
partnerships for same sex couples violated the U.S. Constitution. 

In days, weeks, and months to come, we will share with you our strategy for moving forward toward marriage equality.  Please join us in this urgent and important work.  We cannot succeed without you.