Closer: Illinois Legislature approves civil unions

On Tuesday, the Illinois House passed the civil unions bill and today the Senate did the same.

"Closer" is the only word I know to capture the situation.

Closer to being law: The bill has yet to be signed by Gov. Pat Quinn, but that is expected to happen soon. Still, nerves are bound to be raw after all the effort put into passing the bill. It always seems as if there is just one more hurdle. As they say, the waiting is the hardest part.

Closer to equality: We all know that civil unions aren't full marriage equality. And even if a marriage bill had passed, we know same-sex marriages in Illinois wouldn't be recognized in most states or by the federal government. And a civil union doesn't confer all the same benefits of a marriage even at the state level, but...what an amazing achievement! Even the benefits conferred by a civil union will help real couples support each other and their families better than they currently can. We should celebrate the hard work of activists and lawmakers in passing this legislation. It is incredibly hard passing positive protections for our community.

Closer to Tennessee: Tennessee still doesn't border any states that offer civil unions or marriage equality. But Southern Illinois is just a barge ride up the river and Chicago is a quick and relatively cheap flight from Nashville and Memphis. Is this as close as Tennessee is going to get to any form of relationship recognition until the federal courts get involved? The bill reminds us that no public body in Tennessee offers a health insurance partner benefit--not State government for its employees, not our public colleges and universities, and not our cities and counties. Might achieving partner benefits in some public body or institution be a good move in the next couple of years for Tennessee's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community? It's worth taking another look.

Finally, I have to wonder what impact the development has in Northwest Tennessee where news likely pours in from Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois. Will it increase the temptation for same-sex couples to move? Or will they most simply take a moment to acknowledge the news, swallow hard, and mentally try to move on from facing the ramifications of living in a state that has a marriage discrimination amendment to its constitution instead of civil unions or partner benefits? And what will their neighbors think? Nothing because it doesn't affect them? Or will they have a moment of empathy for their GLBT neighbors or will they say, "Thank God we don't live in Illinois; it's just so liberal"?

Unfortunately, I suspect that's as far as it all goes--a series of private, disconnected reflections not leading to any advances for people who need public protections for their relationships. The gains of states around us bring a sting of pain for those of us in Tennessee, but we still celebrate this important advance for the people of Illinois.

-Chris Sanders

Marriage: The More You Ignore Me the Closer I Get

Some interesting marriage equality news has just come out. A Texas judge ruled today in a "gay divorce" case that the state's marriage ban is unconstitutional because it violates equal protection. The state attorney general has already said he'll appeal. No surprise there. What is surprising is that the judge made this ruling despite the fact that Texas not only has a statute defining marriage but a state constitutional amendment as well. Just like Tennessee.

Miles to the North in Illinois, a marriage bill has been introduced just months after the state had been looking at civil unions.

So what's the point for Tennessee? Both states are closer to Tennessee than any of the others that are on a path towards marriage equality. And I guess that's the other point--both states are now on some kind of path to marriage equality. In Illinois, it's going to be a legislative solution. In Texas, it could be a judicial solution. And even if the series of cases don't result in marriage, they could reignite a marriage equality movement there. Tennessee's path is more likely to be like Texas once it finally begins. Since we've just passed our first employment protections at the local level this year, it's unlikely that we'll move significantly on relationship recognition soon. But we need to be open to that kind of surprise, too. Perhaps one of our cities will adopt a domestic partner registry.

If more states closer to Tennessee adopt either marriage or civil unions, it will be harder to ignore the need for some reforms to family law. Tennessee couples have already gone to Massachusetts, Canada, and California to get married. If Memphians can go to Dallas, Nashvillians to Chicago, and Knoxvillians to Asheville (North Carolina or Virginia is likely to be the first Southern state to make a significant move on same-sex unions), then we're going to have a lot of cases related to divorce, inheritance, etc. in Tennessee courts that call for a policy remedy.

It's coming closer and we will not be able to predict what brings it to our borders and when. Perhaps some gubernatorial candidate will meet the new development at the state line. But even he can't hold it at bay forever.

The 'Gay Panic Defense' is Alive and Kicking in Cook County, Illinois

Michael Rowe has an article on HuffPost about the acquittal of a man who stabbed another man 61 times. Apparently all you need to do to get an acquittal is claim the victim was gay and made unwanted sexual advances towards you for a jury in Cook County, Illinois to let you walk.

Now, the newly freed killer claimed the victim assaulted him while he was passed out drunk. There were no witnesses and no evidence the victim was gay. He claims all sixty-one stab wounds were made in self-defense. All sixty-one stab wounds. I can only assume he was too drunk to realize the victim was dead after the first couple of stabs, and just kept going.

This should scare everyone, LGBT and Straight. What kind of madness is it to let a murderer walk because they blame the victim? "He/She made me do it because they were touching/staring/flirting with/scaring me." Does this mean that if I am in Cook County I get to stab the creepy guy in the elevator and claim he made unwanted sexual advances to me? Or does that not work for me because I'm female? How does this work exactly? Latinos make you nervous? How about African-Americans? Caucasians? Asians? The disabled? Evangelicals scare me...those WWJD hats and t-shirts are intimidating! Where does it end?

Of course I am being somewhat facetious, but really, this is frightening. Sixty-one stab wounds is not self-defense...sixty-one stab wounds is, literally, overkill. And he is walking free because he claimed the victim made homosexual advances towards him that required stabbing the victim sixty-one times to fend off.

I don't know who scares me more...the killer or the jury.

Civil unions inching closer to TN, geographically, that is

No, we won't see the General Assembly pass provisions for civil unions this year. But they may be coming a little bit closer to our state if they pass in Illinois. According to the Washington Blade, that may happen. If Illinois adopts civil unions, it brings real relationship recognition closer to Tennessee than it has ever been. No longer just a phenomenon for New England and the Pacific coast, marriage in Iowa and civil unions in Illinois will mean that more and more states will soon border a state that is dealing constructively with same-sex relationships. While Tennessee doesn't border Illinois, both states border Missouri and Kentucky. We're pretty close on the map.

The near-term result we're likely to see is a proposal to ban civil unions and domestic partnerships in Tennessee, as we expected this year. There has even been some affirmative talk about civil unions among gubernatorial candidates. Calvin Rye talked with Democrats Ward Cammack and Kim McMillan about the possibility. Matthew Hurtt reported earlier that Republican candidate Bill Gibbons is not altogether opposed to recognizing contractual agreements between partners. I have tried to be careful not to mischaracterize Matthew's take on this point, but may have missed the nuance.

Taken together, all these factors may make 2010 a big year for debating same-sex relationships in Tennessee. I'm looking forward to the debate, but I'm dreading the bills that will be filed in the Legislature.