On Friday afternoon, the Illinois State Senate Executive Committee heard testimony on Senator Heather Steans‘ “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act” (HB 4963). With nine Democrats and 6 Republicans on this committee, the bill easily passed out of the committee by a vote of 8 to 5.
The hearing included emotionally manipulative testimonies from a self-identifying lesbian mom and a PFLAG parent, two liberal clergy members, and Laura E. Berk, Professor of Psychology at Illinois State University. Testifying in favor of natural marriage include Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch and Ralph Rivera on behalf of Illinois Family Institute.
Background
The homosexual lobby, which includes Equality Illinois and the Civil Rights Agenda, are working overtime in an attempt to secure support of 60 state representatives for their marriage redefinition bill. Other politicians and groups assisting in passing the measure include Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Governor Patrick Quinn, Lt. Governor Shelia Simon, Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Stonewall Democrats, and Illinois Log Cabin Republicans.
For the past four General Assembly sessions (8 years), a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man and one woman has been introduced. And each year, Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) has refused to move it to a committee to be debated and voted on. If this amendment were to come before the entire General Assembly, we are confident that it would receive the two-thirds vote needed to pass. And once passed by the General Assembly, it would be placed on a ballot referendum in the next state wide election forIllinois voters to decide.
We cannot afford to ignore this situation! Illinois citizens can send a strong message by calling, emailing and/or visiting your state lawmakers in support of natural marriage.
Take ACTION: If you haven’t yet sent an email or a fax to your state lawmakers, please do it now! Click HERE to let them know what you think.
Please forward this article to your family and friends in Illinois.
