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  Celebrity, Gay Marriage, News and Happenings

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Prez Obama Push for Illinois Gay Marriage

President Obama
has waded into a same-sex marriage debate in his home state of Illinois
– with the White House saying the president would vote for the measure
if he were still in the legislature. 

 

“While the president does not weigh in on every measure being
considered by state legislatures, he believes in treating everyone
fairly and equally, with dignity and respect,” White House spokesman
Shin Inouye told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday.
 
“As he has said, his personal view is that it’s wrong to prevent
couples who are in loving, committed relationships, and want to marry,
from doing so,” Inouye continued. “Were the President still in the
Illinois State Legislature, he would support this measure that would
treat all Illinois couples equally.”
 
Illinois lawmakers may take up the measure, called the “Religious
Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act,” as early as this week, the Sun-Times
reported.

Modern Family actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila
Simon are planning a fashion-forward action this week to push for
marriage equality in The Prairie State.

On Wednesday, they’re encouraging voters to call lawmakers and tell
them to support marriage equality. Then, on Thursday, they’re organizing
Bow Tie Lobby Day at the General Assembly to get equality passed before
the end of the current session. Supportive lawmakers have vowed to do just that.

More details, from The Southern Illinoisan:

Simon and Ferguson will be joined by marriage equality advocates to
encourage Illinoisans to contact their legislators on Wednesday and join
a Bow Tie Lobby Day in Springfield on Thursday that urges the General
Assembly to pass marriage equality legislation during the January
legislative session, according to a news release from Simon’s office.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that everyone is treated equally
under the law, and right now we have a group of citizens that we are
treating as second-class,” Simon said. “Bringing marriage equality to
Illinois is the right thing to do.”

…

“Justin and I are thrilled to be participating in Springfield’s Bow
Tie Lobby Day. Drawing attention to the importance of marriage equality
at this level is exactly why we developed Tie The Knot,” Ferguson said.
“We are also excited to see how the citizens and legislators of Illinois
do with their bow tying skills.”

Tie the Knot, for those of you who don’t know, is Ferguson and fiance
Justin Mikita’s (pictured) organization that designs original bowties
and donates a portion of the proceeds to marriage equality causes.

If Illinois’ lawmakers make good and pass equality, it will be the 10th state to let same-sex couples marry.

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