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Gay rights group to picket gay legislator’s office

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Illinois

* From the Gay Liberation Network calendar page…

Saturday, October 26 — Pass the Damn Bill NOW! Protest in front of Rep. Greg Harris’s district office in Chicago — 2 PM at 1967 W. Montrose Avenue. The House Democratic Caucus can pass the marriage equality bill if they insist on a party line vote, which so far Speaker Mike Madigan and Reg. Harris have refused to do. We will protest the continuing failure of the House Democrats to live up to alleged principles of supporting equality.

* TowleRoad has more…

GLN has been unique in publicly targeting the Democratic caucus, and especially House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), for the failure of the bill, SB10, during the spring session and its uncertain fate in the current session.

“Because Speaker Madigan is so powerful, controlling access to jobs and contracts, most organizations are afraid to take him on and bluntly place blame where it’s due,” said GLN co-founder Andy Thayer. “Madigan controls the House as surely as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel controls the City Council. When Madigan has wanted a party-line vote for far less popular measures, like gifts to the wealthy and well-connected, he’s had no problem ramming them through the House. Like it or not, and mostly not, that’s the way that politics works in this state.”

Unlike pension “reform” and subsidies to already wealthy businesses that pay few, if any taxes, legislation favoring equal marriage rights in Illinois is overwhelmingly popular, with proponents outnumbering opponents by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to a February Crain’s Chicago Business poll.

* Ormsby provides some context…

In June, the group organized a protest of the Southwest Side office of House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who supports the bill, drawing a puny assembly of 18 protesters. At the time, a group spokesman claimed success for that protest by the number of car “honks” heard on busy Pulaski Avenue. […]

On Tuesday, after the pro-equal marriage rights demonstration in Springfield, Thayer and his handful of followers dropped a banner “Pass Senate Bill 10 Now” in front of Madigan’s office in the Capitol Building rotunda.

It is unclear whether Thayer’s group plans to protest at the offices of bill opponents.

posted by Rich Miller
Saturday, Oct 26, 13 @ 12:40 pm

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