IL: Legislature Puts Off Civil Unions Debate 6 Months

Gays and lesbians can go ahead and scratch Civil Unions off their holiday wish list this season, as a Nov. 30 deadline for moving on Civil Unions legislation passed with almost no action by the Democratic-controlled Illinois legislature — except to create a new deadline nearly half a year away. The fact that the deadline was missed comes as no surprise, considering the state legislature has been adjourned for weeks and is not scheduled to meet again until Jan. 12. Still, this is just one more turn in a complex holding pattern the state Democrats have locked this bill into.The Nov. 30 deadline was set near the end of the Spring legislative session. For months prior to that, the state House had sat on HB2234, a Civil Unions bill proposed by Rep. Greg Harris, an openly gay Democrat serving Chicago’s North Side. Then all the sudden on May 26, there was a political earthquake in California. The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, a controversial ballot initiative that banned gay marriage in the state. Gays and lesbians throughout the nation were stunned, frustrated, even angry. In Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, the heart of Chicago’s gay community, protesters gathered on the streets and demanded justice. Full Story from the Independent Political Report: http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/12/in-illinois-and-ny-democratic-electeds-put-off-lgbt-rightsagain/

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