Mayor Rahm Emanuel Pushes For Marriage Equality

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Nov 14, 2012 7:20PM



Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Credit: bluelliot

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says legalizing gay marriage is one of his top priorities, and he plans to be "very involved" in passing an Illinois law. Illinois legalized civil unions in 2011, and Emanuel has repeatedly said he supports the legalization of gay marriage.

According to the Sun-Times, Emanuel said Tuesday at an unrelated press event:

“One is retirement security and pension reform. ... Two, I was advocating ... a casino for Chicago, but one in which ... all of the resources will go into building new schools and modernizing our schools. ... Third, I will continue to advocate that we also pass marriage equality and end the discrimination on the books,” the mayor said. “Although the state of Illinois now has civil unions, the time for marriage equality is now. The time is right, and the time is here.”

A marriage equality bill was introduced in February, but it hasn't moved at all since then. In May, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal filed lawsuits challenging the state to legalize gay marriage.

Gov. Pat Quinn has also said he supports legalizing gay marriage. Illinois Democrats won supermajorities in both the Senate and the House. Having the support of Chicago's mayor is just the cherry on top of the movement.

The real question now is whether the state can get through the much more difficult top two priorities first — pension reform and a Chicago casino.

The mayor's office released the following letter below on Tuesday. Emanuel appeared on WBEZ's "Morning Shift" Wednesday to discuss his stance. Listen to that here.