"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Breaking: #15 (Updated)

tIllinois House passed the equal marriage bill this afternoon, 61-54. It's on its way to the Senate for reconciliation, which is expected to happen within a few hours, then to the Governor for signature. From Equality Illinois, via Joe.My.God.:

I am thrilled to share that just moments ago, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the historic freedom to marry bill! That was the biggest hurdle we faced to secure marriage equality in Illinois. The Illinois Senate, which passed the bill last Valentine's Day, must now agree with the House version of the bill, and that should happen within hours. Then the bill heads to the desk of Governor Pat Quinn, who has promised to sign it. The bill passed with a bipartisan vote, with Chicago, suburban, and downstate, African-American and Latino lawmakers all joining forces to do the right thing by Illinois families. Illinois now joins the inevitable march to marriage equality for all gay and lesbian couples throughout the U.S.

Marriages can start June 1, 2014.

Bet you never thought you'd see breaking news here.

And for your daily dose of schadenfreude, again courtesy of Joe.My.God.:


As Joe points out, he lives here. Not only that, but he was the founding director of the Illinois Family Institute, the only state organization listed as an anti-gay hate group by the SPLC. It's nice to see they've kept up his tradition of complete ineffectuality.

Update: Via Box Turtle Bulletin, the Senate has approved the changes to the bill, 32-21. Now on to Gov. Quinn, who has been pushing for this bill for about a year.

And it occurs to me: the anti-gay groups can stop nattering about a federal constitutional amendment -- with 15 states in which marriage equality is the law, including three of the five most populous, that is not even worth talking about.


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