The Belleville News-Democrat has an editorial today juxtaposing the unique educational approach at Ellis school in Round Lake, and the fight for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Illinois. Ellis school started forming younger and older students, along with teachers, to form "families" that can support each other throughout the school year. The editorial goes on to pose the question: "who gets to define 'family?'"

Should the state require fertility tests or ask people to drop their drawers before issuing marriage licenses? Should the state define a family?
If so, maybe there's a cease and desist order in Ellis Elementary's future.

It's been close to 3 years since the exhilaration of seeing the Illinois General Assembly pass the civil union law and so very much has changed to make this country a more fair and equal place for lesbians and gay men. Even 3 years ago civil unions were not the end goal, but the Illinois legislature’s passage of that law still meant a great deal to us back then. We’d moved in Illinois from treating gays as criminals to be punished or deviants to be pitied to an understanding that lesbians and gays – like heterosexuals -- form loving committed families that our laws should recognize and protect. We couldn’t go as far as marriage, but civil unions were acceptable for the Illinois legislature at the end of 2010. But with great progress in states outside Illinois, changes in federal law and policy, and the sea change of public opinion across this country and in Illinois, it’s a lot harder to get excited about civil unions than it was 3 years ago.

Download a FAQ about civil unions in Illinois

Since December 2010, we’ve added 8 more states where same sex couples can marry (New York in 2011, Maine and Washington in November 2012, and 2 more states with civil unions (Hawaii and Colorado). With the addition of New Jersey, we’re up to 14 marriage states plus the District of Columbia, so that 1/3 of the American population lives in a state where lesbian and gay couples can marry. We’ve also seen a massive increase in support for marriage nationally – from 44% in May 2010 to 54% in July 2013 and in Illinois where several recent polls have shown majority support for marriage for same-sex couples.

But the biggest change impacting Illinois same-sex couples came with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Section 3 of DOMA in the ACLU’s case for Edie Windsor. The Court’s decision that the U.S. Constitution required the federal government to provide same-sex married couples and their children the benefits and obligations of marriage abruptly ended the promise that civil unions would offer fairness to Illinois same-sex couples. Illinois’ decision to provide civil unions, but not marriage means that Illinois same-sex couples are denied the full complement of federal protections and responsibilities enjoyed by same-sex couples in states where they can marry. As the New Jersey Supreme Court recently put it regarding that New Jersey’s decision to offer same-sex couples civil unions but not marriages, “[t]he State’s statutory scheme effectively denies committed same-sex partners in New Jersey the ability to receive federal benefits now afforded to married partners.” Illinois law has the exact same result.

As a result, this civil union guide makes it clear that civil unions don’t provide equality under the law to Illinois same-sex couples. Further, it explains the advantages of leaving the state to marry, so that you can access at least some of the many important federal benefits available to same-sex married couples in a state that recognizes their marriages. And the basic message is clear – for all the promise of civil unions, it’s time for marriage here in Illinois.
 

Download a copy of the FAQ (pdf)

Eric Zorn's Chicago Tribune column Change of Subject tackled the issue of religious refusal as it relates to same-sex marriage. In looking ahead to a time when the freedom to marry is granted to all couples throughout the country, religious groups have argued that individual's religious beliefs will be infringed upon, if they are business owners whose services are solicited by a same-sex couple wanting to wed. They believe that religious business owners should be allowed to discriminate based on their religion.

Opponents of SB 10, the marriage bill, fear that Illinois churches will be forced to participate in gay weddings, even though it is against their religion. Zorn points out that there is nothing in the marriage bill that would force churches to participate in same-sex marriages:

Indeed the proposal notes explicitly that all "organization(s) whose principal purpose is the study, practice, or advancement of religion" remain "free to choose which marriages it will solemnize," and free to refuse to offer their facilities for such marriages without fear of being sued.

Opponents of gay marriage say they want more — the restoration of the rights of small business owners to discriminate against gay couples if their "sincerely held religious beliefs" so dictate; the ability for employers to deny married same-sex couples the benefits afforded to opposite-sex married couples.

Read the entire article.