News & Commentary

A ban on same-sex marriage violates the state Constitution's equal protection clause. The law does not allow the state or federal government to create a separate class of marriage based on a person's sexual orientation. There is no other way to describe this than to call it discrimination. That is why, in state court, I have intervened in a lawsuit challenging Illinois' current marriage law, and at the federal level, my office has filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court that support overturning California's same-sex marriage ban and finding the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Legal arguments aside, this issue at its heart is about one of the most fundamental decisions we can make — with whom to share our lives. In every community in Illinois, same-sex couples have chosen to join together and, in many instances, to raise families of their own. These couples are our relatives and friends, our neighbors, co-workers and parents of our children's classmate

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WBEZ covered the Illinois House's passage of House Bill 2675 which modernizes laws regarding sexual health education in Illinois, requiring that curricula must be age-appropriate, medically accurate and complete:

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We note with sadness the passing of Michael McConnell, Regional Director of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). He died over the weekend after a lengthy illness.

Recent studies demonstrate that the DNA collected in the national database already reveals predictive information about an individual's medical and mental health. Even if this personal information is revealed, Posner suggests, we need not worry since laws exist to "deter" government from sharing or selling this personal information to insurance companies and others who will have a significant interest in such data. But the laws that prohibit such sharing of personal information can be lifted in short order, or done so retroactively. Read the whole thing.

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