Chicago mayoral hopefuls Rahm Emanuel
and Carol Moseley Braun support an Illinois bill that
recognizes gay and lesbian couples with civil unions.
Emanuel, who resigned as White House
chief of staff in September to run for the post after Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley announced he wouldn't seek a seventh term, has
pledged to lobby on behalf of the bill.
“I talked to Greg Harris about the
fact that I'll make calls on behalf of the legislation, even while
I'm a candidate and not yet an office holder,” Emanuel told
MyFoxChicago.com, referring to the measures' chief sponsor, openly
gay Illinois State Representative Greg Harris.
“I think we should be guided by our
hopes and not our fears,” Braun said. “This is an issue of
fundamental civil rights for people.”
Harris
told Chicago Public Radio that he believes the legislation, which
passed out of committee last spring, has a good chance of approval
this year.
“This is a process. Any piece of
legislation – there's pros and cons, and you have to discuss the
back and forth and debate – debate the merits. That's what the
process is about,” Harris said.
Illinois
Governor Pat Quinn has pledged to sign the bill into law if approved
by lawmakers.
The New Jersey-based National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation's most vociferous
opponent of gay marriage, has begun a campaign against the proposed
law.
In an email to supporters, NOM called
the bill “dangerous.”
“This dangerous bill would create
same-sex marriage by another name – extending to same-sex couples
all the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections and
benefits of marriage.”
NOM has previously backed campaigns to
end gay marriage in California and Maine