The Illinois House on Friday decided to
postpone a vote on a gay marriage bill until November.
As Rep. Greg Harris, the bill's
champion in the House, rose on behalf of the bill, supporters looking
on from the gallery were shocked when instead of introducing the bill
for debate, Harris announced that a vote would not take place
until the fall.
“On Valentine's Day the Illinois
state Senate followed down the path to make the state of Illinois the
next state in our union to recognize marriage equality,” Harris
told colleagues. “Our president, Barack Obama, our past president,
Bill Clinton, our governor, the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, both
of our United States senators, Mark Kirk and Dirk Durbin, have
supported it. The speaker of the House, the attorney general, the
state comptroller and many of the members of this House have stood
for fairness and equality. The editorial boards of our major
newspapers and thousands of proud Illinois families have risen to
support marriage equality, as well.”
“As chief sponsor of this legislation
the decision surrounding this legislation are mine and mine alone.
Several of my colleagues have indicated they would not be willing to
cast a vote on this bill today. And I've never been sadder to accept
such a request but I have to keep my eye, as we all must, on the
ultimate prize.”
“We will be back and we will be
voting on this bill in this legislature, in this room. Until that
day, I apologize to the families who were hoping to wake up tomorrow
as full and equal citizens of this state.” (The audio is embedded
on this page. Visit
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Marc Solomon, national campaign
director for Freedom to Marry, called the decision to pull the bill
at the 11th hour a “disgrace.”
“After an overwhelming victory in the
Senate, today's failure by the Illinois House is a disgrace,
especially for the thousands of committed same-sex couples who want
and deserve to make the ultimate vow before their friends and family
and spend the rest of their lives with the person they love,
protected and supported by their marriage,” Solomon said in a
statement. “Make no mistake, we will fight and make our case until
all Illinois families have the freedom to marry the person they love
and until the legislative vote reflects the solid majority of
Illinoisans and Americans who stand for treating their neighbors the
way they want to be treated.”