The timing of a gay marriage bill
introduced in the Illinois Senate Thursday is drawing more attention
than the issue of gay marriage.
If approved, Illinois State Senator
Heather Steans' Equal Marriage Act would legalize gay marriage in the
Land of Lincoln. Assemblyman Greg Harris introduced his Religious
Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act in January.
Steans has called her senate version a
companion bill to Harris'.
But considering the 96th
Illinois General Assembly is in its final throes and Harris' bill has
languished in the Rules Committee, political opponents – gay and
straight – are questioning Steans' political motivations.
Her openly gay opponent Jim Madigan
called the bill's introduction a “publicity stunt” to attract gay
voters from Chicago's gay neighborhood of “Boys Town,” which is
included in the 7th District she represents.
Steans has also sponsored a civil
unions bill that grants gay and lesbian couples all the rights,
benefits and obligations of marriage without the name. On her
website, Steans continues to endorse civil unions, not marriage, for
gay couples.
“If the civil union bill does not
pass in the General Assembly in these final weeks of the legislative
session, Senator Steans will have to explain to voters and the LGBT
[lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community why she spent her
time preparing a publicity opportunity rather than working to
persuade legislators to pass the bill that was already teed up for
her by two years of my community's time, money and effort,”
Madigan, a former executive director of Equality Illinois, told
ChicagoNow.com.
Steans' Republican opponent went
further, calling the move a “politically-motivated pander.”
“It's unfortunate that it took a
strong primary challenger from a well-known LGBT activist to force
Senator Heather Steans to support equal rights for all Illinois
families. Just last year, Senator Steans was willing to settle for
politically expedient civil unions, so one has to wonder what's
really going on here,” Adam Robinson said in a statement. “While
I'm encouraged by Senator Steans' change of heart, I think that our
community will see this flip-flop for what it is – a
politically-motivated pander to our LGBT families. Our district
deserves better.”
While Robinson, a Chicago-area
businessman, concedes Republicans in favor of gay marriage – with
the exception of gay Republicans – are scarce, he says his support
is unequivocal.
“My position is uncommon, and I take
a lot of heat for it,” Robinson told On Top Magazine in an
email. “In my opinion, there's nothing more important than
empowering the creation of strong families. I'm proudly in favor of
marriage equality. Across the board, I'm in favor of the government
staying out of people's private lives.”
Equality Illinois CEO Bernard Cherkasov
applauded the bill, saying he was focused on “building momentum for
full equality.”