Gay rights activists 'confident and optimistic' bill will now pass Democratic-controlled house and be signed by governor

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Illinois senators voted for legislation on Thursday which would make the state the 10th in the nation and the first in the mid-west to legalise same sex marriage.

Following the 34-21 vote by state senators to approve the measure, it will now go to the state’s house of representatives, where Democrats hold a majority. Illinois governor Pat Quinn has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Gay rights activists said they felt “confident and optimistic” the bill would pass.

Senator Heather Steans, a Democrat and the bill’s sponsor, described it as a “vote for the history books”.

“We have the opportunity today to welcome all families in Illinois as equally valued,” she said.

The Valentine’s Day vote marked the first time marriage equality passed on either floor of the state legislature in President Barack Obama’s home state. Both are controlled by Democrats.

Two years ago the state’s lawmakers approved civil unions, a legal recognition of same sex unions short of marriage equality.

Bernard Cherkasov, of Equality Illinois, said he believed the bill would pass in the house because the senate vote was stronger than for the civil unions bill and also because they had 300 members of the religious community pushing for it.

“We expect lawmakers to keep the bill moving” he said.

Successive polls have shown public opinion shift towards support of marriage equality, particularly among younger voters. In November, voters in four states either approved gay marriage or voted against measures to ban it.

Obama, who said for the first time last year that he supports same sex marriage, became the first president to mention the word “gay” in an inaugural address as he compared the drive for marriage equality to the quests for racial and gender equality.

Under the Illinois measure, the official definition of marriage would be changed in state law from an act between a man and a woman to that between two people.

Some Republicans raised concerns that the bill would force religious organisations to allow same sex marriage ceremonies in their halls and churches.

But an amendment, passed on Thursday, explicitly states nothing in the proposed law would force a religious denomination or minster to “solemnize any marriage” according to the Chicago Tribune.

The only Republican to vote in favour of the bill, senator Jason Barickman, worked with Steans on the amendment.

“I think it was the right thing to do,” Barickman said. “It’s a vote that I understand some have varying opinions on, but I feel that I voted in the correct way.”

The senate executive committee approved the marriage equality bill last week, setting up the vote for Thursday.

Every major newspaper in Illinois – including the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the St Louis Post-Dispatch – has endorsed the legislation, according to Freedom to Marry.

The bill has the support of Pat Brady, the Illinois GOP chairman, who said in January that: “giving gay and lesbian couples the freedom to get married honours the best conservative principles. It strengthens families and reinforces a key Republican value – that the law should treat all citizens equally.”