Last week, the Chicago suburb of Oak Park unanimously passed a resolution supporting State House Bill 1826—the Religious Freedom and Civil Unions Act—and, in doing so, became the first municipality in Illinois to approve the pending measure.
The bill would establish same-sex civil unions, and would provide gay and lesbian couples with the same protections, benefits and responsibilities that those in opposite-sex marriages have. Among those aforementioned items are inheritance rights and pension benefits.
HB1826, introduced by openly gay State Rep. Greg Harris earlier this year, awaits a full vote from the Illinois House.
In an e-mail, Oak Park Village Trustee Ray Johnson told Windy City Times that the resolution came about because of an 'e-mail alert by Equality Illinois [ that ] provided notice that the Illinois State Bar Association had voted at their annual membership meeting to support this bill and encourage its passage.' Johnson added that this development spurred him to think about what communities should do regarding the bill.
Johnson added that he wrote the resolution and reviewed it 'with Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association co-chairs Brad Bartels and Cheryl Haugh [ as well as ] Public Policy Chair Alan Amato.'
Johnson then brought the resolution to the board on July 16. President David Pope read the resolution and the board of trustees unanimously passed it.
In explaining the importance of the resolution to a place such as Oak Park, Johnson said that 'it puts us on record as supporting a step towards equality for LGBT people.' Commenting on HB1826, he added that the measure 'is a significant step forward for the LGBT communities march towards equality, fairness and liberty—principles by which this country and, indeed, our federal and state constitution support. [ However, these ] principles are far too often discarded by those who put their own religious view ahead of the dignity and rights of others.'
