Illinois Times spoke with ACLU of Illinois attorney Karen Sheley and Springfield Chapter president Don Hanrahan at a recent discussion about the freedom to marry in Springfield earlier this month. The ACLU of Illinois will be holding a community meeting in Springfield to discuss next steps for winning same-sex marriage in Illinois. On the recent Supreme Court ruling on DOMA, Hanrahan said:
“We can take very little time to celebrate because there is so much work to do in Illinois,” said attorney Donald Hanrahan, president of the Springfield chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Speaking on June 27 during a meeting sponsored by ACLU at Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Springfield, Hanrahan said there has been a “sordid history of repression” regarding marriage in the United States, from laws preventing marriage between slaves to laws preventing interracial marriage. He said the fight over same-sex marriage is an extension of that history.
