Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A bill that would amend the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act to allow religiously based child welfare institutions to decline adoption to couples in a civil union was killed in Springfield Friday by activists from the ACLU of Illinois and The Civil Rights Agenda. [ Read more → ]

CHICAGO -- Ald. Joe Moreno introduced an ordinance in the Chicago City Council Wednesday that would set specific guidelines for police to follow while handling transgender people. [ Read more → ]

CHICAGO -- Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno and a group of local LGBT rights activists are pushing for an ordinance that would establish a transgender issues commission in the Chicago Police Department as well as set guidelines for police to follow while handling transgender people. [ Read more → ]

CHICAGO — Mayor Rahm Emanuel pledged his support for a new bill introduced in the General Assembly last week that would legalize same-sex marriage in Illinois. Emanuel’s support for the bill comes nearly a day after Gov. Pat Quinn suggested that he was unsure about his stance on same-sex marriage, despite having signed the civil unions bill into law last year. [ Read more → ]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) on Wednesday introduced the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act in the General Assembly, a bill that would allow same-sex marriage in Illinois. [ Read more → ]

A Southern Illinois lawmaker is leading another attempt to add adoption exceptions to the state’s civil unions act, which if passed, would allow religious institutions the ability to deny adoptions to couples in civil unions. [ Read more → ]

CHICAGO -- Truth Wins Out, a non-profit advocacy group that fights anti-LGBT religious extremism -- stepped up its campaign against Cardinal Francis George with a full-page ad in Sunday's Chicago Tribune, rebuking the Chicago Archbishop for his recent comments comments likening gay activists to the Ku Klux Klan. [ Read more → ]

According to ABC News Chicago, Cardinal Francis George has began to backtrack on comments likening gay activists to the Ku Klux Klan, even after earlier refusing to do so. Last week Chicago’s Roman Catholic leader decried a rerouting of the 2012 June LGBT Pride parade route to a path that would take the march in front of a Catholic church, saying “You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.” [ Read more → ]

On the heels of an agreement about parade times reached between Chicago LGBT Pride organizers and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church — which sits on the June parade route — the Windy City’s Cardinal Francis George compared the event to “something like the Ku Klux Klan.” [ Read more → ]

DANVILLE, Ill. -- A Vermilion County, Ill., family is in mourning after discovering that their daughter, 10-year-old Ashlynn Conner was found dead hanging in her closet in what the local coroner, Peggy Johnson, described as an apparent suicide. [ Read more → ]

Three Roman Catholic dioceses have dropped their lawsuit against the state of Illinois, agreeing to transfer more than 1,000 foster care children and staff to other agencies in their regions to avoid placing children in the homes of gay and lesbian parents. [ Read more → ]

An Illinois gay couple has filed complaints with the state's Human Rights Commission against two bed-and-breakfast inns that have allegedly refused to host their civil union ceremony, telling the couple they only host "traditional weddings" and that the Bible says that "homosexuality is wrong." [ Read more → ]

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- A Christian school in suburban Chicago was vandalized on Saturday in advance of a scheduled appearance by ant-gay activist and hate group leader, Scott Lively. [ Read more → ]

The city of Chicago announced it will change the route, start time and even the size of its annual Gay Pride Parade as a means to curb public drinking and accommodate the increasing attendance of the event. [ Read more → ]

An Illinois judge on Thursday reached a verdict in a lawsuit brought by Catholic Charities against the state regarding adoption services for same-sex couples in civil unions, and ruled that the state had the right to discontinue contracting with Catholic Charities. [ Read more → ]

An Illinois judge on Tuesday granted the state's Catholic Charities programs a preliminary injunction preventing the state from canceling its adoption and foster care contracts with the agencies. [ Read more → ]

The state of Illinois has announced it will not renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois, because the group has said it would not comply with the state's new civil unions law. [ Read more → ]

An estimated 1,618 total civil union licenses were issued across Illinois this past month since the state's Civil Unions Law took effect June 1, according to Equality Illinois. [ Read more → ]

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week said he hops the state of Illinois will follow New York and legalize marriage for same-sex couples. [ Read more → ]

Chicago pride got off to a rough start on Sunday, when it was discovered that sometime in the late hours of Saturday night or the early hours of Sunday morning, a person or persons slashed the tires on 51 floats destined for the city's 42nd Annual Pride Parade. [ Read more → ]