Sex Marriage in Illinois
Canada Goose online FILE In Canada Goose Parka this file photo taken March 11, 2002, Alexa Santos waves a gay pride flag in Chicago’s federal plaza during a rally in support of equal marriage rights for gays. Area gay rights groups are calling on Cook County Clerk David Orr to defy a state law and begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples. Opponents of a gay marriage ban in Illinois don’t have to worry about a fight from attorneys who would normally be responsible for defending the state’s laws. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez both have refused to defend the ban, saying it violates cheap Canada Goose the state constitution That sets up a scenario where a judge quickly could strike down the 16 year old law. The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal filed separate lawsuits against Cook County Clerk David Orr. He’s responsible for issuing marriage licenses in the county. Alvarez represents Orr. And she says they both agreed with the plaintiffs. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) Canada Goose online
canada goose coats The Illinois Senate has approved legislation that will legalize marriage between same sex couples in Illinois. The Illinois House Executive Committee has recommended passage of the legislation. Governor Quinn has said that he supports that legislation and will enthusiastically sign it into law. All that remains now is for the Illinois House to approve the legislation to make Illinois the tenth state in the nation to legalize marriage between same sex couples. canada goose thomas-sz coats
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canada goose black friday sale There was buy canada goose jacket a time, not that long canada goose store ago, when gays and lesbians in our state and in our nation were ostracized, humiliated, scorned, fired, castrated, sterilized, and jailed. They were treated as morally corrupt, mentally degenerate and genetically deformed. The only way to survive in that environment was to hide one’s own identity, to pretend to be what one was not, and to find shelter deep in the closet. canada goose black friday sale
canadian goose jacket Inspired by the civil rights movement, some homosexuals found the courage to claim their own identities publicly and to assert their rights to dignity, respect and equality. This met with violent canada goose coats reprisals, unemployment, and gross discrimination. But they persevered and set an example for others. And so we canadian goose jacket came canada goose clearance gradually to know, initially to our shock, that our friends and neighbors, our cousins and uncles, our sons and daughters people we’d loved and respected were themselves gays and lesbians. It took extraordinary courage for them to come out and to tell us the truth, because the truth was and too often Canada Goose Outlet still is colored by shame and dismay. canadian goose jacket
uk canada goose outlet But we have changed as a society. We have come to understand that people around us good, kind, decent, loving people are themselves gays and lesbians. And with that awareness of individual gays and lesbians, the social view of homosexuals generally has gradually changed. We have come to understand that, whatever the cause of their difference, gay men and women are good, kind, decent and loving people who deserve our love and respect. uk canada goose outlet
uk canada goose The people of Illinois have already recognized that same sex couples deserve the right to enter into civil unions that are, in theory, equal buy canada goose jacket cheap to marriages in all respects except in name. Except in name. And there’s the rub. Imagine if African Americans could enter into civil unions but not marriages. Imagine if Catholics could legally enter into civil unions but not marriages. Imagine if mixed race couples could enter into civil unions but not marriages. The insult, the indignity, the discrimination would be apparent to all. The same is true canada goose black friday sale for same sex couples. uk canada goose
canada goose clearance sale And why would one object to same sex couples marrying? At this point in time, the objections are entirely religious. “The marriage of same sex couples offends my religion’s understanding of marriage.” “It is a travesty, an abomination, a sacrilege.” “It offends everything my religion holds sacred.” In the words of Pope Francis, “It is a destructive pretension against the plan of God.” canada goose clearance sale
canada goose uk black friday But in these United States such arguments are not a legitimate reason to deny other citizens their fundamental right to equal treatment under the law. In a nation committed to the separation of church and state, the government can never deny rights to some in order to appease the religious beliefs of others. The Rev. James E. Burks of Bayview Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia, canada goose coats on sale for example, insisted that God had separated the races and that “when man sets aside the plain teachings” of the Bible and “disregards the boundary lines God Himself has drawn, man assumes a prerogative that belongs to God alone.” Similarly, discrimination against women was often justified canada goose by reference to “divine ordinance.” Such arguments have no place in the American constitutional system. canada goose uk black friday
cheap canada goose uk I understand and respect the strong and sincere feelings of those who think that the marriage of same sex couples is incompatible with their religious beliefs. But Canada Goose Jackets they cannot legitimately or with a proper respect for the American system of law and justice attempt to impose those beliefs on those who disagree. They have every right not to marry a person of the same sex and they have every right not to officiate at the marriage of a same sex couple, but they have no right no right to attempt to prevent the government from recognizing such marriages because they offend their religious beliefs. cheap canada goose uk
Canada Goose sale As the character of Abraham Lincoln said in the recent film, “Now is the time. Now!” It was time to end slavery, once and for all. I would say the same today about our continuing discrimination against gay and lesbian couples who wish nothing more than to marry. Now canada goose clearance sale is the time. Now Canada Goose sale.