More than fifty (50) leaders, staff, members and volunteers from the American Civil Liberties Union worked on Saturday, June 3rd to assist Fair Illinois - the grassroots organization devoted to opposing the proposed discriminatory anti-marriage equality referendum - in verifying the accuracy of signatures on petitions submitted to the Illinois State Board of Elections. Working at a brisk pace, the ACLU contingent was able to check 1,000 petitions during the daylong session at the County Administration building in downtown Chicago.

"It was a great, shared experience," said Jill Metz, President of the ACLU of Illinois Board of Directors. "Our Board members, staff and ACLU members from across the area enthusiastically responded to our call to work together to assure that the proponents of this proposed discriminatory amendment have played by the rules."

"More important, our members are committed to fighting this discrimination - and to building support for marriage equality in our state," added Metz.

Fair Illinois is currently working to verify the accuracy of more than 300,000 petition signatures submitted to the State Board of Elections by the Illinois Family Institute. If enough signatures are valid, Illinois voters will be asked to decide on an advisory referendum that encourages the Illinois General Assembly to alter the Illinois Constitution in order to bar same sex couples from having access to the marriage benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

"We look forward to helping Fair Illinois complete the process of verifying the accuracy of the submitted signatures, and working with the entire LGBT community to move past this proposal and advance equality," said Metz.