News & Commentary

Ten years ago in March, Lisa and I were first in line when Multnomah County issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. We married immediately in our church, with our ministers, blessed with the presence of friends.Ten years ago in Novem

With over two decades of service to Latta, South Carolina openly-gay Police Chief Crystal Moore enjoyed a controversy-free record until a new mayor set out to fire her. Within months of taking office, Mayor Earl Bullard issued seven reprimands against Moore, all within the same day, and fired her. South Carolina has no laws against LGBT job discrimination. The ACLU across the country and the ACLU of Illinois advocates and litigates against LGBT discrimination and the destructive, cruel humiliation Police Chief Moore was subjected to by an ignorant boss.  What happened to Moore can happen anywhere without civil rights protections:

According to columnist Michael Sneed, Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office predicts that it will soon issue the 1000th marriage license to same-sex couples. In February, Federal Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled for immediate marriage equality in Lee v. Orr, a suit brought by the ACLU of Illinois and Lambda Legal, and ordered the Cook County Clerk’s office to promptly begin issuing marriage license to same sex applicants. Since then the office reports processing over 950 license applications and that a third of the applicant couples traveled from other Illinois counties to Orr’s office to obtain a marriage license. The Clerk’s office anticipates reaching the 1000 milestone as soon as Friday. Courtney Greve a spokeswoman for Orr’s office stated:

The February 28th unequivocal ruling by Federal Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman that Illinois’ current ban on the freedom to marry for same sex couples is unconstitutional has set off a statewide review at the county level. Cook Count Clerk David Orr’s office immediately began to issue marriage licenses without gender discrimination. Champaign County quickly did the same. The question, since the court ruled, has been whether other county clerks would continue to enforce a ban that a federal court has found to be unconstitutional.

Two hundred and fifty marriage licenses were issued to same sex couples in the week immediately following the ACLU of Illinois and Lambda’s successful federal court petition which led to Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman’s ruling granting marriage equality in Cook County. Marriage licenses application numbers, released by Cook County Clerk David Orr, for the week of February 21 through the 28, show the divergence of professional backgrounds of the applicants as well as a breakdown by gender and residency. More than half of the same sex applicants granted licenses live in Chicago or in one of 55 suburban communities. A dozen couples live in other states including Kentucky, South Carolina and Texas.

The ACLU of Illinois is  saddened to learn of the death of Challis Gibbs just weeks after marrying her partner of 21 years, Elvie Jordan. The Gibbs-Jordan marriage was expedited last December by Federal Judge Sharon Coleman’s order granting early marriage licenses to same-sex couples, who because of a terminal illness, could not wait until June to wed when the state’s new marriage equality law to goes into effect.  The case, represented by the ACLU of Illinois and Lambda, established a simple process for LGBT partners to obtain a marriage license in Cook County and wed immediately if one of the couple was suffering from a life threatening disease.  That breakthrough was followed in February by a subsequent decision by Judge Coleman which nullified the state’s old but still enforced marriage discrimination laws, thereby immediately extending marriage equality to all same sex couples obtaining marriage licenses in Cook County.Read more in The Windy City Times.

Same-sex couples may now obtain a marriage license from the Cook County Clerk, as a result of a federal court ruling today. The ACLU of Illinois and Lambda legal brought the case before U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to challenge Illinois' current ban on the freedom to marry, so that couples would not have to wait any longer. While the ruling only applies to the Cook County Clerk, the ACLU of Illinois believes the ruling should apply to all of Illinois. The Chicago Tribune spoke with ACLU of Illinois LGBT Project Director John Knight:

The ACLU of Illinois is saddened to learn of the death of Ron Dorfman, a journalist, advocate for civil rights and friend the ACLU of Illinois. We take this moment to extend our heartfelt  condolences to Ron's husband Ken Ilio. Both Ron and Ken had supported and celebrated passage last year of the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Marriage Fairness Act. The reality for Ron and Ken was that they knew that they might not be able to fully enjoy the accomplishment. Ron's terminal heart disease, they knew, could well preclude his living long enough for them to legally marry in June when the law takes effect. Working with the ACLU and Lambda, Dorfman and Ilio were among the four couples who successfully petitioned the courts to expedite their marriage license because of mitigating health reasons, paving the way for other same-sex couples with seriously ill partners to obtain expedited licenses in Cook County. Dorfman and Ilio became the first male, same-sex couple to be legally married in Illinois under the court ruling. Speaking to The Chicago Sun-Times the now widowed Ilio pointed out that though he and Dorfman were just recently wed, “He’s been my partner for 20 years.”   Read the obituary.

The Justice Department, following the lead of the IRS and the Treasury Department, will now treat all married couples equally regardless of gender orientation and without regard to whether or not the state, in which they reside, recognizes same-sex marriage. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the new policy in an address to a dinner sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign and pointed out that the Justice Department runs a number of benefit programs, and gives spouses certain legal protections, which will now be extended to same-sex married couples. Speaking to The Chicago Sun-Times about Holder’s announcement, Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois Director of Communications, pointed out that “It’s just a further step on the way to equality.”Read the article.