Illinois Gay Families Celebrate Start of Civil Unions

The civil unions bill that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law earlier this year took effect on June 1, and the state's gay and lesbian families lost no time in seeking legal recognition.

Heterosexual couples may also enter into civil unions under provisions of the new law, but the major impact is expected to occur among same-sex couples, who until now have not had an option to exercise to gain the state-level rights that straights could get simply by walking up the aisle.

"Under the new law, gay and heterosexual couples can make joint financial and health care decisions, as well as medical decisions for a seriously ill partner," reported NBC Chicago in a June 1 article.

"They would have automatic rights to inherit, even if one of them passes away without a will," Lambda Legal's Camilla Taylor told the media following the bill's signing into law, NBC Chicago reported. "And of course the most important right, for many families, is the right to be parents."

The law not only allows Illinois residents to marry; it also recognizes civil unions granted in any of the five other states that extend such recognition to gay and lesbian families. Couples who have wed in any of the five states where marriage equality is legal will also automatically gain civil union status in Illinois.

"For a lot of gay and lesbian couples, it's a validation," said Windy City Times publisher Tracy Baim. "Whether they're going to take advantage of the law or not, it's availability that wasn't there before."

Most ceremonies won't take place until June 2 or after, since state law mandates that couples wait one day after obtaining their paperwork. Some couples didn't wait for the law to catch up to them, and have long since celebrated ceremonies that have no legal binding power. Now they have the option to make it legal, inviting a fresh round of celebrations.

The Huffington Post profiled one such couple, Sarah Stumpf and Diana Braunshausen, in a June 1 article.

"This is just the legal paperwork that validates a journey we started six months ago, and a journey that will continue until we win full and equal rights to the word marriage on both a state and federal level," Stumpf said, referencing the couple's non-legal wedding last fall after six years together.

Now that the two can legally commit to one another, however, they plan on a small repeat of their earlier ceremony, partly because of health issues: Stumpf recently received treatment for a brain tumor, the Huffington Post noted.

"We were lucky that ... doctors have always treated Diana like a spouse and respected our relationship," Stumpf said, "but it will be comforting to be fully protected and not have to rely on luck."

"Stumpf and her wife are certainly not the only Illinois couples who married or made plans to wed before the civil unions law passed--and almost all of those participating in civil union ceremonies are hoping that full marriage rights are not too far off," the Huffington Post article said.

Others also speculate that state-level marriage equality may someday come to Illinois, but do not greet the possibility joyously. Rather, critics of the new law say that it is bound to open the door to marriage for same-sex couples, and they're unhappy about the prospect.

Federal level marriage rights remain outside the realm of possibility for the moment, thanks to an anti-gay law signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996. The so-called "Defense of Marriage" Act (DOMA) specifically excludes gay and lesbian families from the rights, benefits, and protections that heterosexual families enjoy through civil marriage--over 1,000 rights in all.

Because of DOMA, the U.S. Census does not directly count same-sex families, and bi-national gay couples often face a choice between carrying on a long-distance relationship, or else--when possible--relocating to the foreign partner's home nation or to a third nation where gay and lesbian families are accorded the same, or similar, protections and rights as heterosexuals.

Globally, eight nations extend legal marriage parity to same-sex couples, and another ten nations offer some form of civil unions.

The Obama administration has stopped defending DOMA in federal court because of Constitutional questions surrounding the law. Equality advocates hope that the law will eventually be repealed.

In the meantime, civil unions in Illinois are set to commence with a mass ceremony scheduled for June 2 in Chicago. Gov. Quinn is expected to attend.

"This event highlights a small sample of the many families across Illinois that are provided protections, rights, and responsibilities under Illinois's new law," said Jim Bennet of Lambda Legal, adding, "[I]t's a great day for committed same-sex couples and their children."