WBEZ did a piece on the Supreme Court ruling which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and its effect on Illinois. The ACLU of Illinois has been fighting in litigation and legislation to extend the freedom to marry to same-sex couples in Illinois. WBEZ spoke with our LGBT Project Director John Knight:
“There’s certainly people who have gone to Iowa, or elsewhere—to another state or even to Canada to get married,” said John Knight, director of the ACLU of Illinois’ LGBT project. “That marriage is legal but it’s not recognized by the state of Illinois as a marriage, it’s recognized only as a civil union.”
He says those marriages may be eligible for certain benefits but they’re waiting for guidance from the federal government to make it clear that federal benefits are provided to those people even though the state doesn’t recognize their marriage.
