The debate over gay marriage in
Illinois begins on Wednesday with the introduction of a bill in the
Senate.
State Senator Heather Steans, a
Democrat from Chicago, is expected to introduce the Religious Freedom
and Marriage Fairness Act in a meeting of the Senate Executive
Committee being held during a brief lame-duck session.
If the bill is approved, Steans will
call for a vote on the Senate floor, possibly as early as Thursday.
Steans has previously described the possibility of passage during the
special session as “close.”
The House will open its lame-duck
session on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who
co-stars on ABC's Modern Family, joined Illinois Lt. Governor
Sheila Simon and marriage equality advocates in Chicago to lobby for
the bill.
Ferguson said Modern Family,
which features a gay couple raising a daughter, has helped move the
issue forward.
“I think it's a bit like a Trojan
horse,” he said. “A lot of people who were not comfortable with
marriage equality … turn on the television and see a show that has
a lot of different families in it – and one of those families just
happens to be gay. They're realizing they have a great time watching
the show, then they're watching a gay couple that's having a lot of
the same problems and issues they have. They realize, 'Oh they're
not so different from me.' And at that point, we're in their living
rooms.”
(Related: Jesse
Tyler Ferguson, star of Modern Family, to lobby for Illinois
gay marriage.)