I grew up in McHenry IL. 🙂
Illinois has been extremely liberal over the years.
It was one of the first states to revoke the ban on interracial marriages. Note that only certain towns and counties had this ban {mostly in the southern part}, not the whole state. The state made a blanket removal of the ban across the state.
It was one of the first to revoke ban on sodomy.
Chicago was one of the first to offer benefits to same sex partners of city employees.