SALON

Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012 6:47 PM UTC

Rahm Emanuel pushes for Illinois gay marriage

The Chicago mayor says “the time is right”

By

Topics: Supreme Court, Gay Marriage, Proposition 8, DoMA, ballot measures, ,

Rahm Emanuel pushes for Illinois gay marriage (Credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com)

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says that “the time is right” for Illinois to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, and called for it to be a priority in the state.

The election “continued America’s great history of expanding opportunity and equality,” Emanuel wrote in a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Today, we must take the next step on that journey by affording the opportunity to marry to all Americans — and we can continue that march by quickly enacting marriage equality here in Illinois.”

The Advocate reports:

In Illinois, a marriage equality bill was introduced in February by the state’s three openly gay legislators (there will be a fourth in the next term). Gov. Pat Quinn, also a Democrat, has made it clear he supports such a measure. The Democrats have a majority of seats in both the state Senate and House, and in the next term, beginning in January, will have supermajorities.

All these factors would appear to bode well for the bill, and there has been speculation that a vote on it could come before the end of this year. Emanuel, however, declined to predict when the legislature might take it up or if it would pass. He said he simply wants to ensure marriage equality won’t get lost in the shuffle amid the state’s financial and other challenges, and he thinks it will unless someone makes it a priority.

The Sun-Times reports that Emanuel said marriage equality should be the state’s No. 3 priority — after pension reform and a casino in Chicago — and said he will be “very involved” in pushing for it.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that gay rights groups are targeting Illinois as a potential battleground for legalizing gay marriage, following its success with ballot measures in the election. Delaware, Hawaii and Rhode Island are also potential targets; as is Minnesota, where a ballot measure was defeated this year that would have added a ban on gay marriage to the state constitution; New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill passed by the state Legislature that would have legalized same-sex marriage in the state; and Oregon, where gay rights groups hope voters will reverse a constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2014.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court pushed back making a decision on Proposition 8 and DOMA cases until Nov. 30. Originally, the Court said it would decide whether to rule on the cases by Nov. 20.

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 3 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
32 points33 points | comment
vote
"Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation": long, detailed narrative of legal and historical complications in red-white-black relations
27 points28 points | 1 comment
vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
6 points7 points | comment
vote
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer - I think that crackdown is ideologically driven and I think it’s hard to come to a different conclusion given the vigor with which this justice department has gone after people. So I think it is about a method of control that is badly misplaced.
3 points4 points | 6 comments
vote
So apparently the American government can weaponize the weather...
4 points5 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations