Prior to 2011, loving, committed same-sex couples were recognized only as "legal strangers" -- as roommates. They and their children completely lacked all of the protections, benefits, and security that married opposite-sex couples and their children have always enjoyed.
On 2009-FEB-17, Senate bill SB1716, the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, was filed. It would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions and receive a few of the rights given to married couples. It would also recognize as civil unions the relationships of same-sex couples who were married, or had entered into civil unions or domestic partnerships in other states.
On 2010-NOV-30, the bill passed the House. One day later, it was approved by the Senate. It was signed into law on 2011-JAN-31, and came into effect on 2011-JUN-01.
Both supporters, and opponents of SSM realized that civil unions were only a temporary stop gap measure. Separate and equal arrangements are always separate but never equal. In the case of Illinois civil unions they were very inferior to marriages, because they were missing many of the privileges and protections of marriage. Everyone recognized that civil unions were just the first step and that the eventual goal of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community was and remains full marriage.
On 2012-FEB-08, a bill was filed in the Assembly titled the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. It would allow same-sex couples to marry and enjoy "the same [state] benefits, protections, and responsibilities under law" that married opposite-sex couples already obtain, including the right to call their relationship a marriage. Although they would be able to call their relationship a marriage and enjoy all of the state benefits of marriage, they still would receive none of the federal benefits of marriage because of the federal Defense of Marriage act (DOMA). However, that act has been declared unconstitutional by a number of courts and is obviously on its last legs.
Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of LGBT advocacy group Equality Illinois, said that the state's civil union law "has already proven to have substantial weaknesses." He welcomed the proposed marriage bill as the logical next step toward LGBT equality in Illinois.
"Over the past year, we confirmed what we always suspected to be true: that creating a separate institution to provide substantially the same rights did not add up to full equality under the law," Cherkasov said in a statement. "Separate is not equal. And we at Equality Illinois will not rest until gay and lesbian couples in every corner of the state - who are equal in love - are also equal in marriage."
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