Ill. officially starts issuing licenses for gay marriages

Associated Press

BELLEVILLE, Ill.

A few years into their relationship, Sabra Blumhorst and Chelsea Baker exchanged wedding vows, never mind the couple’s November nuptials weren’t legally recognized in Illinois. Civil unions didn’t interest the Carbondale couple, who long had hoped to have a legal marriage.

“I felt very strongly that if we can’t be married-married, I’m not going through the steps of the interim process of separate but equal,” Blumhorst, who now uses the surname of her five-year partner, said Wednesday. “I wanted complete equality, and we decided to wait.”

The waiting ends today, when Illinois’ 102 counties may begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Gay couples and gay-rights advocates across the state will mark the date with blessing ceremonies and group weddings, and several county clerks offices will make an exception and offer office hours that day for license-seekers unwilling to wait until Monday morning.

The moment is being heralded by many as another milestone in their decades-long quest for equal rights — even if the statewide rollout is a bit anticlimactic. Gov. Pat Quinn signed the gay-marriage law in November — shortly after the Blumhorst-Baker wedding, of sorts — and set today as its effective date. But since a federal-court ruling declared Illinois’ original ban unconstitutional in February, 16 counties have been issuing same-sex marriage licenses.