After the Illinois state Senate passed a bill on Valentine’s Day allowing same sex marriage, it seems more likely than ever that the house will also pass it and same-sex marriage will be legalized in Illinois in the near future.
On Feb. 28, the Executive Committee of the House also approved the bill, but it remains undecided as to whether the rest of the Republican-dominated House will do the same. For now, the debate continues between those who argue that a ban on same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue and those who counter with religious or moral arguments.
As of now, Illinois allows civil unions between two men or two women, which confer almost all of the legal rights of marriage. However, civil unions are still not full marriages.
To many gay rights activists, they contribute to government-endorsed segregation of lesbians and gays from mainstream society.
Aileen Geary, staff sponsor of Committed to Action, New Trier’s club for LGBT activism and support, believes that the inability of civil unions to be “transferred” when couples move out of state is a big problem.
“Civil unions are an improvement,” said Geary, “but to me the issue is even more national than state. Your marriage should be portable.”
Most New Trier students appear to firmly agree that Illinois needs to go a step further in the fight for gay rights by legalizing marriage. Junior Kate Fehrenbach said, “I think it should be legalized because I think everyone deserves a chance to be happy. There shouldn’t be a law against it because it’s kind of discriminatory.”
When asked why she believed marriage should be allowed between people of the same sex, junior Maria Dabrowski replied, “Because why not? Why shouldn’t it be legalized?”
Dabrowski may have intended her questions to be rhetorical, but critics of the bill would have a response. Some argue that same-sex marriage would violate the freedom of religion, especially if churches are pressured to perform marriage ceremonies for gay couples.
For most New Trier students, however, that argument and others against same-sex marriage are not very convincing. In fact, the enthusiasm of students for gay rights is what prompted junior Zach Urisman to launch a petition drive two weeks ago, with the help of three New Trier student organizations: CTA, ACLU, and the Young Democrats.
According to Urisman, the petition drew a relatively high total of 546 students signatures, indicating that students do indeed feel strongly about same-sex marriage. Urisman said that a recent presentation of the petition to state representative Laura Fine was successful.
“We want to make sure that if you’re two consenting adults, you have the right to get married, period,” Urisman added. “That fact of the matter is that if one couple gets a civil union and one couple gets a marriage just by virtue of who they love, that’s inherently unequal.”
It’s possible that the 546 New Trier Students who signed the petition is reflective of a larger nation-wide trend toward acceptance of people who identify as LGBT. In 2011, the percentage of Americans supporting gay marriage reached 53%–a record high, according to a widely cited Gallup poll.
At the same time, President Obama has made a push for same-sex marriage, recently arguing that banning it denies equal rights for a significant portion of the population. And if the Illinois bill passes and is signed into law, Illinois will join the ranks of nine other states that legally recognize gay marriage.
Geary believes that this will be an important step for Illinois. She explained that, “Having to wonder if you will be able to be legally married or not, knowing the federal government won’t recognize your marriage, knowing that your marriage won’t count if you move—it’s hard.”
Yet Geary also acknowledged that the nation still has a long way to go in the controversial, sometimes murky realm of same-sex marriage. “Hopefully by this summer Supreme Court cases will provide more clarity in the direction of recognition [of same-sex marriages],” said Geary.