Pat Brady lost his job as chair of the Illinois Republican Party because he supports same-sex marriage equality. He got his new job for the same reason. Brady has been hired by the ACLU of Illinois to lobby legislators on behalf of marriage equality.
And the legislators will, in Brady’s words, be “primarily Republicans” in the Illinois House, where a marriage equality bill passed by the state Senate is stalled. Brady said his work will be “narrowly focused on the 10 or 11 (Republican lawmakers) who were open to the possibility of voting ‘yes’ on this.”
Illinois is one of the states targeted by activists to pass gay marriage through the legislature in the next year. (The others are Hawaii, Oregon, and New Jersey.) Brady is not the first Republican to sign on to work with the ACLU on marriage equality. Steve Schmidt, who was John McCain’s presidential campaign manager, is also working with the ACLU to push for marriage equality at the state level.
Brady says that success on marriage equality is inevitable. “Nationally and Illinois, the point is, this is going to be the law,” said Brady, who added he will register with the state as a lobbyist. “This is the direction things are going. I think a lot of people recognize that and want to be supportive of this.”
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Unfortunately, not a lot of them are Republican office holders.
Dakotahgeo
The absolute best wishes to Pat Brady! I predict that <5 years, Marriage Equality will be legal in all 50 states. Some may be dragged, kicking and screaming, but it will happen. Equally important are laws that will fine and/or imprison any person or business that breaks this law by bullying or harassment!