The Illinois Senate, acting on Valentine?s Day, has voted to make the ?Land of Lincoln? the 10th state to legalize same-sex marriage.
The legislation must still muster a majority in the 118-member House.? If it passes ? in what is expected to be a tough fight ? Gov. Pat Quinn promises he will sign it into law.? Illinois would become the second Midwest state to adopt marriage equality.? Iowa has same-sex marriage courtesy of a state Supreme Court ruling.
?We have the approval today to welcome all families in Illinois as equally valued,? said State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, a supporter of the marriage bill.? She described it as ?a vote for the history books.?
But State Sen. Tim Bivins, a Dixon Republican and lay preacher, declared:? ?We?re knocking down one of the basic foundations of society.?
The vote, in the Democratic-controlled Senate, was 34-21 with two senators voting present.? Only one Republican supported marriage equality.
Same-sex marriage: The combatants
A vocal opponent of marriage equality, Catholic Daniel Jenky of Peoria, has called on the faithful to ?grab your rosaries? and come to the state capital of Springfield next Wednesday ?in the prayerful spirit of pilgrimage? to lobby against the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Bishop Jenky, who has likened President Obama?s policies to those of Hitler and Stalin, said the marriage equality legislation would have ?detrimental repercussions to traditional marriage, religious liberty, parental rights and society as a whole,? and that ?the sanctity and dignity of marriage is under attack.?
The Illinois Senate adopted an amendment saying that no church, synagogue or religious institution will be required to ?solemnize? a same-sex union.? The legislation changes the legal definition of civil marriage from being between a man and a woman to ?two persons.?
Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/02/14/illinois-senate-yes-to-gay-marriage/
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