Illinois

Two New Hampshire legislators have introduced bills to repeal the state’s marriage equality law, even though Republican leaders said that such a repeal is not a party priority in 2011. And several other states saw legislative moves toward or away from equality in the past week.

CHICAGO — Illinois became the 12th U.S. state on Monday to grant legal recognition to same-sex couples. Gov. Pat Quinn drew cheers from a crowd of more than 1,000 people who turned out to witness him sign bill legalizing civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

2011 will likely see a number of battles state by state across the country. Three states plus the District of Columbia are facing the prospect of losing marriage equality, an additional seven states could start the process of amending their state constitutions to ban marriage equality, five could gain marriage equality.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) said Friday that he will delay signing until next year the recently passed bill granting civil unions to Illinois residents.

The Illinois General Assembly passed the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act on Wednesday, establishing legal protections for same-sex couples across the state.

School officials have decided not to take disciplinary action against three high school students in suburban Chicago who attended classes wearing “straight pride” t-shirts earlier this week during the school’s “ally week” aimed at raising awareness to anti-gay bullying and harassment.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Laine Tadlock, director of the education program at Benedictine University in Springfield, Ill., has lost her job — not because she is gay, and not because she recently married her partner, but because her wedding announcement was posted in the local newspaper.

With six months left in his four-year term, Illinois state Treasurer (and candidate for U.S. Senate) Alexi Giannoulias signed an executive order on Sunday extending family-leave benefits to gay and lesbian employees in domestic partnerships. The new policy will allow gay and lesbian employees of his office to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid […]

About 100 gay rights activists puckered up to prove a point at a suburban Chicago restaurant Friday night. “It’s to educate people that homophobia of any kind is unacceptable,” said Frank Nielsen, who organized the “kiss-in” demonstration after being asked by the restaurant’s owner last month to stop kissing his boyfriend, Danny Hankes. Nielsen and […]

The Illinois state House on Friday unanimously approved a bill to prevent homophobic and transphobic bullying. The measure covers bullying specifically targeted at students because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, among other categories. It was introduced just eight weeks ago, and previously passed in the state Senate on March 24. The Prevent School […]