News & Commentary

Lynn Sprout and Kathie Spegal are all about family.  Enter their home in a quiet Champaign neighborhood and you see the signs of their love for family everywhere – photos, knickknacks and mementos of family gatherings.  When their family gathered for Easter this Spring, there were 22 children, grandchildren (aged from 22 to 6), spouses and guests.  They are looking forward to a new grandchild this June. Though these children come from Lynn and Kathie’s previous relationships, their families are completely integrated.  The family has grown so large that Kathie and Lynn simply are no longer able to host all the guests and visitors in their house, so they have instead have to plan their get-togethers when they can do them outside.

Ross “Randy” and Robert “Bob” Carey-Walden live in Springfield, Illinois where Randy works for the Army National Guard and Bob works for a major power company.  Randy has a Ph.D. in Health Administration. His work for the military is not a surprise since Randy is a veteran of the United States Army, where he received a number of letters of commendation, a good conduct medal and an overseas service ribbon for his work as a Russian translator.

Like a lot of couples in our busy society, Michelle Mascaro and Corynne Romine met at work – when they were both in a chaplaincy internship at Rush Presbyterian Hospital.   Since that time, in early 1991, Corynne and Michelle have created a loving, giving relationship that now incorporates their three children, ages 14, 12 and 11. For Michelle and Corynne, one of the most painful things about not having their relationship honored as a marriage in Illinois is the impact on their children of learning that their parents cannot marry.

Like most small town residents, Tim Kee and Rick Wade spend a lot of time engaged in community activities. Having been together for 15 years now, they are well-recognized and regarded in their hometown of Marion.  Though they kept their relationship secret when it began, traveling to St. Louis and environs on their first several dates, they no longer try to hide that they are a couple.

On a quiet side street in Evanston, Carlos Briones and Richard Rykhus live with their 7-year-old son Ty’rith (Ty).  A couple for eleven years, Richard and Carlos held a commitment ceremony for 120 family and friends in July 2005. “We wanted to tell the world that we are committed to one another,” says Carlos. “It was important to make a statement that our love was permanent, lasting.”

When they first met, Suzanna Hutton and Danielle Cook could not imagine that they would be spending the rest of their lives together.  Teachers in Bloomington, Illinois, Suzie says that she and Danielle were almost “complete opposites.” After more than a decade together, now they want to have the dignity of being recognized as married in their home state. They have celebrated their love and relationship with friends and family members through a commitment ceremony.  And, in June of 2011, they entered into a civil union.

The picture speaks volumes. One look at the photo of Kirsten and Tanya Lyonsford with their two children, Andrea and Zachary, and you know they are a family that belongs together. Tanya and Kirsten have known they were right for one another since almost the first moment that they met, during a September 1999 mandatory diversity training program for AT&T, for whom they worked at the time.

Walk into the home that Ed Hamilton and Gary Magruder have shared (in fact, built together) in Plainfield, and one easily spots their shared passion. The walls of the home are filled with art work that Gary painted. One entire room is given over to a massive compact disc collection of music and a large piano. Books can be found everywhere. The home has an easy, comfortable feeling of things being settled, peaceful.

Tanya Lazaro and Elizabeth “Liz” Matos live on Chicago’s far Northwest side with their two children, Jaiden (2), and a newborn daughter, Sophia.  Like many Chicago families, their choice of a home neighborhood was guided by family connections – the couple lives in a two-flat shared with Tanya’s aunt, just three blocks from the home where Tanya’s mother grew up.  When they walk Jaiden to the park or around the neighborhood, they often encounter friends and acquaintances that Tanya has known for her entire life.