The fight to pass equal marriage in Illinois is heating up as lawmakers head into the last month of spring session.
Sponsors of SB10, which would legalize same-sex marriage, have until May 31 before the House adjourns for the summer. Failing that, next chance to pass the bill could come in the fall.
The anticipated date of a House vote on the measure has repeatedly been pushed back as LGBT groups and sponsors scramble to pin down the 60 votes the bill needs to pass. It has already cleared the Senate.
But LGBT leaders expressed confidence in recent days after a rally organized against the bill in Aurora turned out an equal number of LGBT supporters. That rall targeted 83rd Dist. Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia.
Sources in recent weeks have suggested that sponsors were closing in on the 60 votes.
"As one lobbyist said to me last week, we're in a holding pattern," said Rick Garcia, policy advisor at The Civil Rights Agenda. Garcia, however, added that he felt the consensus in Springfield is that the bill's passage is inevitable.
In a statement to equal marriage supporters, Rep. Kelly Cassidy wrote that some of her colleagues remained undecided. But, she said, the momentum is there to pass the bill once lawmakers return from a week off.
"This week, members of the House are back in our home districts," Cassidy wrote. "But when we return to Springfield next week, SB10 is on our agenda."
Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, echoed that sentiment.
"Every day over the past few weeks, we've been getting closer," he said.
Contributing to the momentum the last week of April was news that Rep. Ken Dunkin, leader of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, had signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill.
"The families in my district include gay and lesbian parents who are raising children, just waiting for the state of Illinois to treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve," said Dunkin in a statement. "Those families can no longer be regarded as separate and unequal."
Dunkin's sponsorship came the same week that LGBT leaders of color discussed on WBEZ radio the ways that they felt the marriage push in Illinois has been positioned as a white issue.
Also throwing weight behind the bill April 24 was Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who penned a Chicago Tribune column calling for the bill's passage. Madigan is also backing lawsuits to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage, which she argues is unconstitutional.
Opponents of the bill have continued to push back. The Illinois Family Institute, a vociferously anti-gay organization, has planned several rallies against the bill every weekend through May 18.
The group will protest at Palmer Square in Humboldt Park April 27 at 11:00 a.m. Veteran LGBT activist Robert Castillo and Gay Liberation Network are organizing a counter-rally at the same place, 2200 N. Sacramento Ave., starting at 10:30 a.m.
Castillo and his late husband John Pennycuff both grew up in Logan Square and were active in the neighborhood for decades. Castillo said he wants to send a message that his community rejects discrimination.
"For me, this is personal," said Castillo, who lost Pennycuff in January 2012. "For them to come into the neighborhood that we called home and say that our relationship doesn't deserve recognition is insulting."
Other rallies organized by the Illinois Family Institute will target Reps. Ron Sandack, Anthony DeLuca, Stephanie Kifowit, Jim Durkin, Silvana Tabares and Jack Franks.
LGBT groups continue to say that a vote on the bill could come any day. Gov. Pat Quinn has said he will sign it into law.
