According to an article in the Windy City Times this week, members of the LGBT community gathered in the Federal Reserve Bank's conference room earlier this month to hear about the recently passed civil-unions act and ask questions.

Chris Malone—president of the bank's employee-support group, 7FLAG, 7th District Friends of Lesbians and Gays—opened the informal meeting, and introduced the two guest speakers: Bernard Cherkasov and Jill Metz. Cherkasov, the CEO of Equality Illinois, talked with listeners about the grueling fight to get the act passed.

Metz—an attorney with her own firm, Jill M. Metz and Associates, who is also president of the board of directors for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois—explained the legal benefits the civil-unions act will provide and took questions from listeners. She said that the act affords same-sex unions the same rights and protections that married couples receive, including medical decision making, and the fact that income earned by either person in the relationship belongs to both members of the union. In addition, children born to parents in a same-sex union will be the children of both parents. This is important because couples had to file for second-parent adoption.

Metz cautioned listeners that even though the civil-unions act seems like a "dream come true," couples should still file for second-parent adoption and a civil-union certificate. The act is only recognized on a state level ( not federal ) ; therefore, couples cannot get social security for one another or file a joint federal tax return. If one member of the union is in the military, the civil-union certificate as grounds for discharge. Also, said certificates can complicate the adoption process.

Moments ago, the Illinois House of Representatives failed to pass House Bill 3156, a measure that sought to regulate access to abortion services in Illinois out of existence.
The ACLU of Illinois opposed this measure throughout the legislative session -- including holding rallies in Springfield (when the measure was considered before the House Agricultural Committee) and in Naperville (in front of the sponsor's office).

The measure was drafted by anti-abortion zealots who have never been involved in protecting women's health care, but rather have been devoted for some time to ending all abortion in the State of Illinois.   We will continue to monitor the situation in the event that the measure is raised again during the remaining days of the legislative session.
The ACLU of Illinois has been fighting to defeat this bill over the last few months.

We protested and testified twice when the bill was delegated to the House Agricultural Committee. ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell made our opposition heard. The ACLU also rallied twice - once in Springfield and once in Naperville to bring attention to this damaging bill and its sponsor.