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ICIRR takes heat for gay marriage stand

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Illinois

* I’m hearing there was strong pushback against this position from some of the ICIRR’s coalition members. The Chicago archdiocese being one of them. The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago is also a gay marriage opponent and is an ICIRR partner. It’ll be interesting to watch this one play out.

From a press release…

As an organization dedicated to the full inclusion of all Americans, whether foreign-born or native-born, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) supports marriage equality. ICIRR believes that full equality and civic participation should extend to recognition of all families, including those involving same-sex partnerships. Such recognition should extend to our immigration laws, our family laws, and to other areas of law that affect our families.

While we recognize that there are differences of opinion within immigrant and faith-based communities regarding same-sex marriages, including among our members, the majority of our members - and therefore our organization - believe that a full respect for our state’s and our nation’s diversity demands that we not discriminate based on whom we love, and that we call upon an end to such discrimination in our local, state, and federal laws.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 24, 13 @ 10:22 am

Comments

Have to love the hypocrisy of organizations that justly battle against discrimination against people based on religious and ethnic grounds but see nothing wrong with opposing the rights of gays to get married, as if it has any affect on them whatsoever.

Zero doubt that my generation’s kids and grandkids will look back on this whole debate with the same utter confusion that my generation has with looking back on the civil rights struggle.

Us: Wait…. so black people wanted to vote/drink out of the same fountains/have open education rights/etc., and there were people opposed…. why?
Our kids/grandkids: Wait…. so gays wanted to get married and have same government protections and rights as straight couples, and there people were opposed…. why?

Comment by TJ Friday, May 24, 13 @ 10:33 am
–Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door. –

It doesn’t say “no gays,” despite what some would wish.

It doesn’t say “no Muslims” despite what some would wish.

And it doesn’t say “no Catholics,” although there were powerful forces throughout our history who tried to keep Catholics out, and once they got here, tried to keep them down.

This son of parents who arrived via Ellis Island says good on ICIRR.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 24, 13 @ 11:02 am
I’m curious as to what effort is being made to try to get this bill passed. All I have seen are celebrity and organizational endorsements. How many lobbyists have been hired? I saw that in Minnesota a couple million dollars were spent and fourteen lobbyists were hired during their session to get their marriage equality bill passed.

Comment by time to marry Friday, May 24, 13 @ 11:11 am
Congratulations to ICIRR for taking a principled stand on this issue. I sincerely hope that other people of faith join me in supporting equal rights for families, regardless of whether they share my religious beliefs and live their lives differently than me. That is the loving response and serves as a much better witness than limiting the legal rights of others. And I sincerely hope that millions of dollars don’t have to be spent to convince the remaining holdout legislators to do the right thing on this one.

Comment by Veil of Ignorance Friday, May 24, 13 @ 12:23 pm
Did anyone see the letter to the editor in today’s Sun-Times? The letter writer took Monique Davis to task for her stance that marriage equality was not a civil rights issue:

http://www.suntimes.com/opinions/letters/20296105-474/shameful-words-on-homosexuality.html

Comment by ??? Friday, May 24, 13 @ 12:33 pm
I support same sex marriage, but I think this is a mistake by ICIRR…just as I think it is a mistake for the Farm Bureau to oppose the legislation. Why upset allies or future allies? Bad politics.

Comment by Vince Friday, May 24, 13 @ 1:22 pm
“…just as I think it is a mistake for the Farm Bureau to oppose the legislation.”

Who even knew they had a horse in that race, so to speak.

Comment by wishbone Friday, May 24, 13 @ 2:47 pm