From Reuters:
Theresa Volpe and Mercedes Santos' 8-year-old daughter, Ava, has learned about the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in school.
So her school friends understand when she tells them her two moms are fighting for their civil rights to marry -- it's just hard to explain it to grown-ups sometimes, Volpe and Santos say.
The Illinois Senate Executive Committee will hear testimony tomorrow from Lambda Legal clients Mercedes Santos and Theresa Volpe about why having the freedom to marry is important to their family.
During the holiday season we often find ourselves spending time with family and friends. It’s a great chance to catch up with people we may not see very often throughout the year, but it can also mean spending time with people who are not shy about voicing disapproval of same-sex couples who marry or wish to marry.
In the wake of the announcement by key legislators that they will seek passage of an Illinois marriage equality bill in January 2013, a broad range of organizations have joined to form a new coalition, called Illinois Unites for Marriage.
Today Rep. Greg Harris and Sen. Heather Steans announced that they will call for a vote early in 2013 on House Bill 5710, The Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Camilla Taylor, Marriage Project Director for Lambda Legal:
The Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division, denied motions by the Church of Christian Liberty, Grace Gospel Fellowship and the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) to intervene in Lambda Legal's lawsuit seeking the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.