Pictured #1 Cook County Clerk David Orr and State Rep. Larry McKeon were hounded by protesters after the demo. #3 Deborah Mell, daughter of Ald. Dick Mell, speaks with reporters at the protest. #4 Larry McKeon with David Orr. Photos by Tracy Baim #5 Orr outside with the protesters. Photos by Tracy Baim and John Pennycuff . Also, Mayor Joanne Trapani, the letter to Hastert, Ald. Tunney, flanked by Ald. Joe Moore, Mary Morten and David Orr, protesters at Federal Plaza surround the elected officials, and Orr at the press conference. Photos by Tracy Baim
For decades, the battle for gay rights has taken place both on the streets and inside the boardrooms. That two-pronged approach has never been so clearly defined as it was Thursday, March 11 in downtown Chicago.
At noon, Equal Marriage Now picketed outside of a Cook County facility to pressure Cook County Clerk David Orr to issue licenses to same-sex couples. At 12:30, a press conference was held a few blocks away featuring Orr surrounded by gay and pro-gay pols and activists.
The point of the press conference was to sign a letter to Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., asking him to oppose the proposed Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. But the event was also meant to counter the protest against Orr and rally support behind him.
Orr has a long history of backing gay rights, but he said March 11 that he will not disobey the law himself—or risk arrest for his employees and those getting married. One county in Oregon has said it will refuse to issue marriage licenses to gays or heterosexuals until the case is settled in that state—but in Cook County, heterosexuals are still being allowed to get married. Orr would not speculate if he would break the law if the U.S. Constitution was ever amended.
The area's top gay elected officials—Oak Park Mayor Joanne Trapani, State Rep. Larry McKeon, and Ald. Tom Tunney—were surrounded by pols including: Ald. Manny Flores (1st), Rey Colon (35th), and Joe Moore (49th); Rep. Sara Feigenholtz; Cook County Commissioners Mike Quigley, Larry Suffredin and Robert Maldonado; and Greg Harris, Chief of Staff for 48th Ward Ald. Mary Ann Smith. Several progressive political groups also had representatives there, and Deborah Mell, openly lesbian daughter of Ald. Dick Mell, attended both the press conference and protest. She was the only person arrested at the previous week's protest downtown.
Mary Morten introduced the press conference, and said its focus was fighting the federal amendment. 'To amend our constitution ... is a profound error,' Morten said, reading from the letter.
Rep. McKeon spoke first about the amendment, and then strongly backed Orr's decision not to risk arrest.
'I'm deeply proud of Mayor Daley for his support of extending marriage rights,' McKeon said. 'Our President, George Bush, for the first time in 200 years of our nation has indicated his support of an amendment ... to deprive Americans of rights, and take away the rights which they have already earned. ... This constitution back here [a copy was displayed] is not a campaign brochure.'
'There is a tenuous relationship between the rule of law and civil disobedience. There are particular roles that different people have in this ... advocates and elected officials. Civil disobedience is a great part of our country's history. And I want to commend the folks who are at the Administration Building, and that were there last week. They are extremely important to advocacy and change. As an elected official, I need their support. And they have a way of conducting themselves and doing things that are very different than those of us that work behind the scenes and are elected officials.
'In Illinois, unlike some of the other states, the County Clerk, David Orr, who for 24 years has been a champion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights in this county, and I commend you, I applaud you [crowd applauds], those elected officials take an oath to support the constitution, whether it's the U.S. or Illinois, and the laws passed. In Illinois ... for David Orr to instruct his staff to issue marriage licenses, places his staff in the position of committing a crime, a misdemeanor, for which they could be arrested and prosecuted,' McKeon said. 'The people who get the licenses are at similar risk. And if someone uses that license and conducts a marriage ceremony, they would actually be guilty of a felony subject to fine and imprisonment. I do not believe putting the members of our community at jeopardy of prosecution and arrest contributes to what it is we are trying to achieve, and that's to defeat George Bush in the November election, to defeat any effort to amend the constitution.'
'Yesterday I introduced a resolution to the City Council [co-sponsored by 20 aldermen] asking the Council to go on record opposing George Bush's campaign to enact a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages,' said Ald. Tunney. Tunney read a letter from a gay city employee complaining that even though his partner has received health benefits, he will not receive those when the employee retires.
Oak Park Mayor Joanne Trapani, the state's first openly lesbian elected official, spoke of her village's progressive politics. 'The introduction of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages is an affront on many levels,' Trapani said. 'This is an intent to distract us. ... That which destroys the family are things like poverty, unemployment, housing ... ultimately we as a society are not benefitted at all by an attempt to divide and conquer.'
Trapani added that Oak Park is also debating a resolution about the federal marriage amendment.
'I'm lucky to have taken part in protests over the years, that ultimately lead to broader civil rights for African Americans, women, and an end of the Vietnam war,' Orr said. 'History is being made around the country, and here in Chicago, on this issue. Bush's attempt to divide and conquer Americans may well backfire. ... I will do all I can to continue to defeat this federal amendment, and to forge a legal strategy that will overturn Illinois' discriminatory laws and to continue educating people to become more tolerant.'
Orr said he is working with gay legal experts to create a precedent-setting legal approach to fight the state law.
'By picking a fight over who should marry, the president picked a wedge issue, potentially, to divide pro-gay supporters, divide Democrats, and in his mind divide Americans,' Orr said. 'Together we must send a message to George Bush and his allies to stop playing politics with our U.S. Constitution.'
The elected officials then signed the document, with the intent of delivering it to Rep. Hastert and requesting a meeting with him.
McKeon said the three proposed amendments to the state constitution are expected to be stalled in committee. If not, he said they will add an amendment denying the right to no-fault divorce for heterosexuals.
Meanwhile, the protesters had marched to Federal Plaza, and a few politicians, including Orr, McKeon and Tunney, joined them. Andy Thayer was leading the hundred or so picketers, and then people encircled Ald. Tunney as he read the Hastert letter out loud.
But the strategy of sending letters was attacked loudly, as the crowd chanted: 'Issue Licenses, Not Letters,' 'Justice Delayed is Justice Denied,' and 'Don't Pass the Buck.' As Orr and McKeon left the shouts, dozens of marchers followed, hounding them the several blocks to Orr's Cook County office.
A handful of anti-gay picketers were across the street from both ends of the downtown protest.
A few gay activists straddled the line between the sides, attending both the press conference and the protest outdoors. It clearly was an uncomfortable position for some long-time backers of civil rights, trying to work both inside and outside the system for the same goal: marriage equality.
