(The image above was found at the Green Party site of Dr. Jill Stein.)This week the United States took another small step toward making equal rights for all of its citizens a reality. On Tuesday, the Illinois House and Senate both gave final approval to a bill that would legalize same-sex marriages. Since Governor Pat Quinn has already said he would sign the bill if it passed, we can now put Illinois in the win column. That now makes 15 states (plus the District of Columbia) where equal marriage rights have been extended to same-sex couples. The new Illinois law will go into effect next summer.
This does not mean the fight for equal rights is over. But the states are starting to change more rapidly now, and it won't be long before only those states controlled by fundamentalist teabaggers are left to promote hate and unequal treatment. Maybe soon we can put this issue behind us, and move on to finish the fight for equality in other areas.
