Vernita Gray, half of the first gay
couple to marry in Illinois, died on Tuesday.
Gray, 64, and Patricia Ewert, 65,
married in November after a federal judge ordered Cook County Clerk
David Orr to issue the couple an expedited marriage license because
Gray was battling a diagnosis of terminal cancer. The ruling
eventually led to a broader decision which moved up the start of
Illinois' gay marriage law in Cook County. A handful of other
counties have also started issuing marriage licenses to gay couples
ahead of the law's official June 1 start.
The couple exchanged vows before more
than 20 friends and family. Gray, a retired victim's advocate with
the Cook County state's attorney's office, and Ewert were among the
first couples to enter a civil union in 2011.
Gray's death was first reported by gay
weekly Windy
City Times.
“Today we mourn the passing of a
fearless woman who spent her life fighting for equality and civil
rights,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. “Vernita
Gray was an inspiration to all who crossed her path, from President
Obama who knew her by name to the victims of violence she comforted
and the young people for whom she was a fierce advocate. Her legacy
can be felt in the many institutions she supported and by every LGBT
couple in Illinois who is now free to marry the person they love. My
thoughts and prayers are with her wife Pat Ewert, her family, and the
community of friends who loved her so dearly.”