"Almost 5200 couples have chosen to join in civil union to gain the state-level protections that are afforded to couples in a marriage," stated Rick Garcia, Director of the Equal Marriage Illinois Project and Senior Policy Advisor of The Civil Rights Agenda. "The majority of these couples are same-sex couples, and civil unions do not provide the protections that marriage does. We still find couples in emergency rooms that have problems explaining their relationship. Nobody knows what a civil union is, but everyone knows what a marriage is and we must treat every family equally and with the same respect. We are seeing a push for equal marriage at every level of Government throughout Illinois and the polling has sent a clear message that the time for marriage in Illinois is now."

The survey was concluded as of 12/18/2012.

County/ # of Unions

Adams/ 16

Alexander/6

Bond/5

Boone/2

Brown/1

Bureau/5

Calhoun/1

Carroll/1

Cass/3

Champaign/182

Christian/13

Clark/4

Clay/3

Clinton/2

Coles/8

Cook/3021

Crawford/6

Cumberland/1

DeKalb/51

DeWitt/3

Douglas/2

DuPage/313

Edgar/4

Edwards/1

Effingham/8

Fayette/3

Ford/2

Franklin/15

Fulton/4

Gallatin/3

Greene/2

Grundy/13

Hamilton/0

Hancock/2

Hardin/1

Henderson/0

Henry/8

Iroquois/6

Jackson/22

Jasper/4

Jefferson/9

Jersey/10

Jo Daviess/10

Johnson/0

Kane/177

Kankakee/10

Kendall/13

Knox/4

Lake/71

LaSalle/36

Lawrence/1

Lee/2

Livingston/9

Logan/3

Macon/19

Macoupin/6

Madison/3

Marion/5

Marshall/1

Mason/1

Massac/3

McDonough/1

McHenry/28

McLean/27

Menard/7

Mercer/0

Monroe/3

Montgomery/1

Morgan/23

Moultrie/4

Ogle/9

Peoria/112

Perry/9

Piatt/1

Pike/2

Pope/0

Pulaski/0

Putnam/0

Randolph/9

Richland/3

Rock Island/47

Saline/3

Sangamon/159

Schuyler/2

Scott/0

Shelby/1

St. Clair/108

Stark/0

Stephenson/5

Tazewell/39

Union/3

Vermilion/17

Wabash/3

Warren/3

Washington/7

Wayne/2

White/2

Whiteside/6

Will/232

Williamson/45

Winnebago/121

Woodford/1

Total:/5185

Survey concluded 12.18.2012