This week’s shaping up to be a real nail-biter in Illinois, where there are just a few days left to pass a marriage bill. It passed the Senate months ago, and Governor Pat Quinn has promised his signature. But the House has been holding up the process while we wait … and wait … and wait for a vote.
So, what’s taking so long? If we had to hazard a guess, it would be that legislators are being coy with their votes. Sponsors won’t want to bring the bill to a vote unless they know they’ll win, so they’ve probably spent the last few months lobbying their colleagues and trying to build a majority. Now we’ll find out if all that work was enough.
Meanwhile, marriage work is humming along in other states, but our work is still nowhere near being done. Tennessee polling shows growing public support; and Nevada’s legislature just passed a marriage bill. But both of those states (and 28 others) have constitutional bans on marriage. That means that victory is still a long way off — possibly years.
