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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
IN CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE EQUALITY
WHEREAS, all citizens are afforded equal protections and rights before the law; and
WHEREAS, LGBT citizens founded The Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in 1924 by Henry Gerber in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, in 1962 Illinois became the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexuality; and
WHEREAS, all people regardless of their sexual orientation benefit from fulfilling and meaningful relationships that are epitomized in their public and legal recognition through marriage; and
WHEREAS, LGBT citizens have long challenged the denial of marriage; since Baker v. Nelson; where a Minnesota couple was denied a marriage license by the Hennepin County District Court's clerk on May 18, 1970 and upheld in 1972 by the U.S. Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS, on December 3, 1996, following the world's first-ever trial on the freedom to marry, led by co-counsel Dan Foley and Evan Wolfson, Judge Kevin Chang rules that the state did not have a legitimate reason for depriving same-sex couples of the freedom to marry; and
WHEREAS, in August 2010 CNN released the first poll to show a national majority supporting the freedom to marry. The poll asked, "Do you think gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?," and 52 percent of the respondents said yes, with only 46 percent saying no; and
WHEREAS, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn singed a civil union bill into law on January 31, 2011 and is approved by the state Senate and House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, on May 9, 2012 President Barack Obama became the first sitting president in the United States to publicly announce support for the freedom to marry; and
WHEREAS, on November 20, 2013 Governor Pat Quinn signed the freedom to marry into law in Illinois after it was approved earlier in the year by the Illinois Senate and House. Same-sex couples were scheduled to begin marrying in Illinois in June 2014, until a federal judge ruled in favor of the freedom to marry in February 2014 in a case brought by Lambda Legal, moving the start date in many Illinois counties earlier; and
WHEREAS, on June 26, 2015 The United States Supreme Court rules in favor of the freedom to marry in Obergefell v. Hodges, striking down marriage bans in the remaining 13 states that continued to discriminate and opening the freedom to marry to same-sex couples nationwide, at last; and
WHEREAS, in the United States of America freedom means freedom for everyone; and
WHEREAS, marriage strengthens families and gives couples the tools and security they need.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that I, Toni Preckwinkle, on behalf of the residents of Cook County, do hereby laud the LGBT community for its steadfast commitment to equality and recognize that the right to marry is to be honored as a right afforded to all regardless of who they love.
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