With the wins in California and Washington, some Springfield legislators say they will now make a serious push for equal marriage legislation this year in Illinois. 
As they do so, we can expect that the usual suspects to loudly bray
about how “unfair” equal rights legislation is, and demonize LGBT people
in the process.

Chief among them will be Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George. 
George is already on record comparing lesbians and gays to the KKK, and
repeatedly defended that insulting comparison before finally issuing
what many considered an inadequate apology.  The “apology” implied that
he still thinks that many lesbians and gays are fascists, and he
justified his blasts against us by playing the victim card, saying he
was motivated by his alleged fear for “the liberty of the church.”

But he’s hardly a victim. George, as head of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, spent tens of thousands backing
the anti-gay referendums Proposition 8 in California and Question 1 in
Maine.  After the passage of the civil unions bill in Illinois, George
pompously predicted, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in
prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”

As marriage equality moves forward this year in Illinois, look for
Cardinal George to once again take his bigotry out from under wraps,
trying to lean on Illinois legislators to vote against equality.

As a cover for this bigotry, look for him to try to play the victim
role again, falsely stating that equal marriage legislation in Illinois
would somehow force the Catholic Church to celebrate marriages it
chooses not to.

Look for him to violate the church’s tax-exempt status by using its institutional power to advocate on legislation.

We can sit back and take it –
as Californians fatefully did with the Mormon Church before the passage
of Proposition 8 – or we can proactively push back against this bigotry
now.

Please come to Freedom to Marry Day 2012 at 10:30 AM this Sunday, Feb. 12 in front of Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State Street,
and stand with the majority of lay Catholics and others of good will
who support equal rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
people.

This protest was initiated by the Gay Liberation Network and is supported by the 8th Day Center for Justice, the Chicago Rainbow Sash Movement, Dignity/Chicago and Equality Illinois.

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.