The Southern Illinoisan posted a feature on Tim Kee and Rick Wade, two plaintiffs in The ACLU of Illinois marriage suit. They want to be recognized and have the same benefits as traditional couples, something Kee says civil unions fail to provide.

“… I don’t know anyone who wanted to grow up and get ‘civil unionized.’ People want to grow up and get married. Marriage shows what we are, the love we have for each other, the commitment we have to each other.”

Read the whole thing.

ChicagoPride.com reports that Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, will be leading the 2012 Chicago Pride Parade. Wolfson hopes that his presence, along with that of The ACLU of Illinois and other organizations, can draw support for the fight for freedom to marry in Illinois.

Freedom to Marry focuses on a three-tiered agenda: securing marriage freedom in more states; winning support from a majority of the population; and ending federal marriage discrimination.

"I hope my being at the Pride Parade can ratchet up interest in the work we're doing, and in the work of organizations like Equality Illinois, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU so we can create a climate of change."

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The Chicago Phoenix reported on a bill that, if enacted by Governor Pat Quinn, will allow court access to medical records in criminal HIV cases. The Illinois ACLU has worked with legislators on this amendment to Illinois’ AIDS Confidentiality Act to close legal loopholes and put safeguards in place to protect those the bill might affect.

“We made a bad bill better,” said Mary Dixon of the ACLU of Illinois, one of the coalition organizations involved in the amendment along with The AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the AIDS Legal Council.

“We moved… to neutrality,” Dixon said.

 Read the whole thing.