One of the major consequences of passing equal marriage in Illinois, say opponents, will be an increase in the number of legal complaints against churches, businesses and people of faith.
The argument hinges on the issue of public accommodations. Per the Illinois Human Rights Act, it is illegal to discriminate against someone in public accommodations due to their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Some fighting equal marriage argue that business owners providing wedding services will face legal action or be forced to close if they oppose same-sex marriage.
Sponsors of the bill point out that the Illinois Human Rights Act already mandates equal treatment of LGBT people in public accommodations, and that the marriage bill does not change that.
In 2011, two downstate bed and breakfasts, Beall Mansion and Timber Creek, were hit with discrimination complaints for allegedly refusing to host a same-sex couple's civil union ceremony.
Opponents of the marriage bill have cited those cases in arguing against same-sex marriage. They say that passing equal marriage will increase legal complaints in Illinois.
That's the argument Sen. Dale Righter made on Valentine's Day, when he stated that 10,000 complaints are filtering through the Illinois Human Rights Commission.
Mike Claffey, deputy press secretary of healthcare for Gov. Pat Quinn, said the Commission currently has 1,961 pending cases.
How many of the charges filed in past years involved LGBT identity in public accommodations?
Windy City Times requested that data from the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), which investigates the initial complaints.
The numbers
Since 2006, IDHR has received 93 charges related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Of those, over thirty percent were filed by one person against various entities over the course of years.
The majority of charges since 2006 were categorized as either "homosexual" (39 charges) or "transgender" (25 charges). Five were categorized as "heterosexual." One was listed as "bisexual." Other complaints were categorized based on "gender identity" (17 charges) and "perceived sex" (six charges).
In 2012, IDHR received 3,784 charges; 161 charges fell into the category of "public accommodations. Of those, 16 charges related to sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, or about 10 percent of public accommodations complaints.
In 2011, the year civil unions went into effect, 24 charges (up from 10 in 2010) were filed with IDHR. In 2009, IDHR received 18 charges. Below, is a count of charges files broken out by year, provided by IDHR:
FY 2006 = 6
FY 2007 = 2
FY 2008 = 4
FY 2009 = 18
FY 2010 = 10
FY 2011 = 24
FY 2012 = 16
FY 2013 = 13
