Equality Illinois, the state's largest
LGBT rights advocate, on Thursday criticized attempts to overturn or
weaken the state's gay marriage law.
Illinois currently recognizes gay
couples with civil unions. However, a gay marriage bill signed into
law by Governor Pat Quinn in November takes effect on June 1.
One of the bills, filed by state
Senator Kyle McCarter, a Republican from Lebanon, seeks to repeal the
law. A second Republican lawmaker, Rep. Josh Harms, has introduced
legislation that seeks to broaden the law's list of exempted
religious facilities to include religious schools and “places of
worship.”
(Related: Illinois
Republican introduces legislation to repeal gay marriage law.)
“Having lost the war, opponents to
the freedom to marry now want to refight the battles and turn back
the march of history and the progress of the state of Illinois,”
Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, said in an emailed
statement.
He added: “While we do not expect
either measure to gain any traction in the legislature, these bills
demonstrate that marriage opponents are not giving up and they're not
closing up shop in Illinois. And we will not allow candidates to use
the LGBT community and our allies as punching bags in an election
year.”