* Gov. Pat Quinn plans to sign the gay marriage bill into law this afternoon at 3:30. Thousands are expected to attend. You can click here to watch a live video stream.

* Let’s start our morning coverage with a column by Jonathan Rauch at Time.com, which looks at the “end of gay victimhood”…

In the 1990s, a younger generation brought forward a different agenda, one that focused on the two most egregious forms of governmental discrimination: the bans on gay marriage and military service. Around the same time, the “gayby boom” took off, as openly gay couples became parents. Marriage, military service and child rearing: these were not extensions of the 1970s gay-rights agenda but departures from it. Taken together, they constituted a gay-responsibility agenda. We were seeking the burdens of adulthood instead of running to Mommy; asking to serve our communities and country instead of demanding that they serve us; declaring our strength instead of our perennial weakness.

The responsibility agenda has been a hard slog — harder, ironically, than the rights agenda. The anti-gay lobby was more alarmed by strong, independent homosexuals than with weak, victimized ones. Over time, though, the responsibility agenda has done for gays what Israel has done for Jews. It has retired the stereotype of weakness. The country has responded by seeing us in a new and more positive light: one in which oppressed-minority status makes less sense by the day.

* On the other hand, Robert Ritchie, the executive director of America Needs Fatima, isn’t quite saying, but he is asking whether his readers believe that the “massive Illinois tornadoes are linked to the passing of the same sex ‘marriage’ bill” …

The massive tornadoes that hit Illinois after the passing of the same sex “marriage” bill, has stimulated many people to reflection.

In it, some see God’s chastisement; others see it as yet one more merciful warning from Providence; others yet deny both options and give various reasons.

What do you think?

Considering that the tornadoes ripped through towns represented in the General Assembly by “No” votes on gay marriage (except for one), I wouldn’t press that question too far if I were Ritchie.

Just sayin…

* Meanwhile, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki’s plans for an exorcism today are explained by an expert…

“Some Catholics would believe that God is being invoked to dispel evil, the condition of evil in this case,” said the Rev. Gary Thomas, a California priest whose training as an exorcist was featured in the 2011 film “The Rite.” “It would be a rare Catholic to expect something dramatic to happen at the moment.” […]

Though it’s unclear if Paprocki is exorcising the law, the state, the diocese or the legislature, it’s safe to say he’s not exorcising individual politicians, said Thomas, who has no firsthand knowledge of Paprocki’s plans.

“God doesn’t interfere with free will,” Thomas said. “The person has to cooperate with the exorcism. I can’t imagine Bishop Paprocki doing something like that. They have to want to cooperate with that.”

The purpose of exorcism, rather, is to point out the reality and presence of God, he said.

* About 30 percent of Illinoisans identify themselves as Catholics, so coverage of the intersection of faith and politics tends to focus on cardinals, bishops and priests. Not every theologian is on board…

Meanwhile, also at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 20 in Springfield, the Rev. Martin Woulfe of Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation will be offering a public prayer of thanksgiving on behalf of lesbian and gay couples that will soon be able to marry.

Woulfe said that before the prayers, the church will hold a screening of the signing ceremony, which is being streamed live. The event is intended as thanks to the activists and legislators who made the successful SB10 vote possible.

The remarks from Poprocki have been consistent with the bishop’s theology in recent years, Woulfe added. So he takes consolation in his own church having an opportunity to show a commitment to fairness and social justice.

“No one church has a monopoly on truth, nor a monopoly on ethics or morals,” Woulfe said.

* And Lynn Bohlmann, pastor of Congregational United Church of Christ in Jacksonville, offers up these insights…

Our United Church of Christ congregation, as well as other UCC, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal and Unitarian congregations, were present at the recent March on Springfield. I was thanked by some in the crowd who were encouraged and surprised by visible support from the Christian churches.

One asked whether we would perform same-sex marriages or whether we were just out for show. A reasonable question, given both a well-deserved cynicism toward the Christian church and the bill’s explicit grant to faith communities the right to marry, or not marry, people in same-sex relationships. I told her that we have performed Holy Unions at Congregational United Church of Christ and will be glad to perform marriage for couples who love one another and seek to commit to one another.

We want people to be able to bring their whole selves to God and know that they are loved. We want people to be able to be part of a faith community that affirms them and facilitates all of our abilities to live justly and wholly.

But our groups from various churches weren’t the only ones who assembled in support of marriage equality. There were at least two banners professing both their Catholic faith and their support. One organization was Catholics for Marriage Equality. The other, a loose collection of mothers and fathers, under a large handmade sign saying Catholic moms and dads supporting their gay and lesbian children.

Isn’t that love of God and love of family what it’s all about?

* Zorn looks at the impact of the Massachusetts gay marriage law…

“The first negative impact was to our children, and the sexual standards they are being taught in our public schools,” said Massachusetts Family Institute President Kris Mineau. The idea that gay marriage is acceptable “is shocking, particularly to kindergartners, and causing a lot of confusion in our families.”

Mineau said people have become “afraid to speak out against same-sex marriage for fear of being marginalized, ridiculed and harassed in the public square” and that this has led to “an erosion of our values.”

Mineau said he’s unaware of any discrimination suits in Massachusetts against wedding photographers, florists and other service providers who refuse to cater to gay weddings, and that he can point to no social science that links gay marriage to the decay of the traditional family, though he does point out that the claims made by proponents that gay marriage will strengthen the overall institution of marriage haven’t come true either.

But…

The Thomas More Society believes the [Illinois gay marriage law] will result in hundreds, or even thousands, of lawsuits.

“Thousands” of lawsuits? It hasn’t happened anywhere else. A few have been filed, yes, but thousands? Nope.

* The possible economic impact is smallish, but still significant…

According to Smith, researchers at the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, a national think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, predict that same-sex weddings could bring close to $103 million to the state over the next three years.

* More numbers…

When Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signs gay marriage into law, 38 percent of the nation’s population will live in states where same-sex marriage is legal, according to Freedom to Marry.

* Next door in Indiana, however, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is moving through that state’s general assembly…

Despite Illinois’ approval of gay marriage, Indiana has a conservative political culture and “we haven’t followed Illinois’ cues since the Civil War,” Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute, said Tuesday.

The Republican leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly have committed to hearing the marriage amendment, and “we think strong majorities will again decide that the people should decide,” Mr. Smith said.

He noted that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, has been clear in his support for traditional man-woman marriage and for a popular referendum on an amendment.

On Tuesday, Indiana House Speaker Brian C. Bosma rejected a request to kill the proposed marriage amendment, saying it will be assigned to committee and will be dealt with like any other bill.