As Illinois tries to decide whether gays and lesbians can be fired for their sexual orientation or not, and Cook County offers a symbolic but legally meaningless domestic partnership registry, California is moving forward. With the new year, thousands of same-sex pairs will have many of the rights of married people.
Same-sex couples in California for the first time will have access to divorce court for dividing their assets, seeking alimony and securing child support. They also will have automatic parental status over children born during the relationship and responsibility for each other's debts.Indeed. What starts in California often spreads east. Here's hoping lllinois legislators who are about to vote on Senate Bill 3186 are paying attention and realize, if California can make this kind of progress, surely Illinois can outlaw employment and housing discrimination.
[The law] guarantees domestic partners a say over what happens to their loved one's remains at death and means they cannot be forced to testify against each other in state courts.
"It won't be as good as marriage because we are talking about a thousand-plus federal benefits that won't be covered," Cornell said. "But a start's a start, progress is progress."
If you live in Illinois, and you'd like to help the Non-Discrimination Bill pass, please click here to visit Equality Illinois.
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