Illinois lawmaker's engagement spotlights gay marriage
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Wed Apr 28, 11:15 pm ET
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois lawmaker Deborah Mell is sharing some bittersweet news with her colleagues.
The sweet is that she's engaged. The bitter is that Illinois doesn't recognize gay marriage. So she plans to get married in Iowa, which does.
Mell rose on the Illinois House floor Wednesday to announce her engagement and say she looks forward to the day when same-sex couples can marry in Illinois.
A 1996 law specifically defines marriage as applying only to a man and a woman. Illinois doesn't allow civil unions for same-sex couples, and recent efforts to begin offering civil unions have fallen short.
Mell's announcement was greeted with applause. Several lawmakers rose to congratulate the 41-year-old, who got engaged two weeks ago her girlfriend of six years.
You go girl!!
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I don't see Illinois changing their laws for a long time.
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I don't see Illinois changing their laws for a long time.
That sounds like my home state North Carolina. The bible belt has to wear out someday though. ;D
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Illinois may give a few token rights to gays, but it won't want to upset the people in the south part of the state.
Illinois is a weird state. The northern half is fairly liberal most of the time, while the southern half is very conservative all the time. As an example, Illinois never had a state law banning interracial marriage, but the entire southern half had local laws that banned it, while the northern half it was completely legal.
My {smallish} home town in northern Illinois currently has 3 gay bars {1 of which opened in 1981}, but the surrounding 3 towns refuse to grant liquor licenses for gay bars.
