*** UPDATED with video *** Getting personal
Wednesday, Nov 6, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* One of the more interesting stories during the gay marriage floor debate yesterday was told by Rep. Ann Williams…
State Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, a co-sponsor of Harris’ bill, spoke about a close friend, former reporter Terry Mutchler, and the committed but secret relationship she had with the late state Sen. Penny Severns, D-Decatur, in the 1990s. Severns died in early 1998 after a lengthy battle with cancer that forced her to drop her bid that year for secretary of state.
“Though I never met Penny, Terry told me they considered themselves married. They had a relationship. They shared a home. They were with each other through good times and bad. They were committed to each other as if they were married, but not within the laws of society. In fact, Penny’s [Senate] death resolution didn’t even mention her loving partner, Terry. Can you imagine that? How heartbreaking,” Williams said.
“Terry just wanted what so many people want — to express their love through marriage,” Williams said.
* Another interesting story…
State Rep. Fred Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, said after the vote that his own mixed-race marriage helped sway him to a “yes” vote.
* Another…
North Side Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy recounted how she once rushed at dawn from Springfield to Chicago when she heard her partner had been hospitalized and was in “excruciating pain.”
Even as she hustled to be there, Cassidy said, she faced a dilemma. She worried whether she would be allowed to go “straight to her side” or be denied access over hospital bureaucracy. Cassidy said she found herself “weighing the risks” of whether she should spend an hour collecting legal paperwork that would give proof that she could be allowed to be in the hospital room with her partner, Kelly.
Cassidy issued a challenge to lawmakers to think about what they would say when asked in future years how they voted on legislation to let Illinois become the 15th state to allow gay marriage.
“What did you do when faced with this historic moment?” Cassidy said. “Please, vote ‘yes’ and join us on the right side of history.”
* Another…
Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, said the issue mattered very much to the families that would be impacted, reading a letter from a 10-year-old girl being raised by a gay couple who asked, “Will you let my two dads be married?”
* Another…
Rep. Ed Sullivan, R-Mundelein, voted for the bill after saying his mother-in-law is gay.
“How do I face my children? How do I tell them there’s something wrong with their grandma? I won’t,” Sullivan said.
* And we’ll close with this news from the Twitters…
*** UPDATE *** Video of the proposal…
