With the Illinois General Assembly temporarily back on the clock for its six-day veto session as of Nov. 16, LGBT activists across the state have ramped up their efforts urging the passage of Senate Bill ( SB ) 1718, legislation that would legalize civil unions and grant much-needed legal protections similar to marriage to the state's committed same-sex couples.
Though lawmakers did not yet take action on the three-year-old billcalled the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Actin the session's first week, advocates for its passage are hopeful as they look toward its vote, which could take place very soon. Some advocates say they are feeling the 60 votes needed to pass SB 1718 are there, while others say their work remains a daunting battle as opposing groups have redoubled their efforts to block the legislation.
Anthony Martinez, an organizer with LGBT Change, noted he and other proponents for the bill are "definitely not 100-percent there yet," in terms of confirming the votes needed. Dozens of activists joined the bill's author, state Rep. Greg Harris, along with members of LGBT Change and the Civil Rights Agenda ( TCRA ) for a rally Nov. 18 in Springfield. Many intend to return to the state capitol Nov. 29-30 to launch a final lobbying pleajust one part of the groups' continued efforts.
"We need to keep working," Martinez said. "In the next [ few ] weeks there will be a lot of work we have to do including phone banking and outreach. We need to keep pushing to show [ lawmakers ] we care and that the community will be there to see how they'll vote. That pressure is really important."
Equality Illinois' advocacy team also continued its push for civil unions in Springfield last week. The organization has been busy collecting and delivering a reported more than 18,000 letters of support of the bill to lawmakers. They additionally distributed a faith petition among leaders of more than 300 ordained clergy across the state urging lawmakers to support the bill and reiterating that the bill contains a clause allowing faith communities who do not wish to perform civil unions to legally refrain from doing so.
In Chicago, a small but vocal crowd of civil-unions supporters gathered outside the James R. Thompson Center in the Loop Nov. 18, as part of a solidarity rally for those who could not make it to the rally taking place simultaneously in Springfield. Several speakersincluding activist Kelly Cassidy, attorney Coco Soodek and 46th Ward aldermanic candidate James Cappleman and his partner, Richard Thaleaddressed a small crowd.
Concluding the Chicago rally, LGBT Change organizer Matty Zaradich updated the crowd on the bill's status and criticized two of the bill's prominent opponents: Americans for Truth About Homosexuality's Peter LaBarbera and Cardinal Francis George. He also had a message for newly re-elected Gov. Pat Quinn, who has repeatedly voiced his support for civil unions but stopped short of fully embracing same-sex marriage equality, noting he would leave the matter up to voters.
"If you think for a moment if this is where we end, that civil unions are where it stops, you're dead wrong," Zaradich said. "While this measure is a step toward such equality, we will not stop until we have it."
While proponents for civil unions remain cautiously hopeful, given the support voiced by Quinn, state House speaker Michael Madigan and state Senate President John Cullerton, those opposed to the bill have also stepped up their efforts. Both the Catholic Conference of Illinois and Carol Stream-based Illinois Family Institute ( IFI ) are urging their members to ask their legislators to vote "no" on the bill. In a scathing editorial on the IFI website, IFI Director of School Advocacy Laurie Higgins described the bill as "one step closer to the destruction of marriage."
In order to counteract the opposition's message, LGBT Change and TCRA have launched an ambitious, citywide phone banking operation aimed at reaching 20,000 constituents in key districts across the state in the coming days. In a press release, Martinez described the effort as an "all hands on deck" moment for the community. Sharing the LGBT community's stories, he said, will help sway lawmakers who remain on the fence on the matter.
"We need to be vigilant as a community that we're dealing with families here, our families that we need to be protecting as a community," Martinez said. "This is a step we can take right now that would allow for those protections. This is a strategy that's going to work here, right now."
A recent polling, conducted last month by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, found that 67.5 percent of likely Illinois voters support either civil unions or marriages for same-sex couples.