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Page A8 • Sunday, January 6, 2013
Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com
Several local churches, lawmakers still oppose gay marriage • MARRIAGE
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If approved, Illinois would be the 10th state to allow gay marriage. But several local lawmakers still are opposed. Sen. Dan Duffy, R-Lake Barrington, said he would try to fight the bill every step of the way, saying it infringes upon religious liberties. “Marriage is a church sacrament,” he said. “This bill tries to redefine church doctrine.” After word spread that the issue might go to a vote, leaders from more than 1,700 faith communities signed a letter encouraging lawmakers to vote against gay marriage. Several local churches were among those that signed the letter, including Evangelical Free Church
of Crystal Lake, First Baptist of Marengo and Outreach Fellowship Christian Center in East Dundee. Marriage is the lifelong, faithful union of one man and one woman, and the natural basis of the family, the religious leaders said. The idea that religious freedom is confined to churches, synagogues, temples or mosques is “wrong and dangerous,” according to the letter. “Thus, the real peril: if marriage is redefined in civil law, individuals and religious organizations – regardless of deeply held beliefs – will be compelled to treat same-sex unions as the equivalent of marriage in their lives, ministries and operations,” the letter reads. “Compulsion of this nature is a violation of personal conscience and of religious
liberty.” In the House, state Rep. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, said that civil unions, which are legal in Illinois, already have accomplished what gay marriage would. “I certainly respect when two people find happiness together and want to share their lives together,” he said. “I’m certainly going to listen to the debate and listen to what’s contained in the piece of legislation, but right now, I still believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.” State Rep. Jack Franks, a Democrat from Marengo, said he wasn’t prepared to give his opinion on the topic because there are more pressing issues: pensions, which go hand-in-hand with school funding, and the budget. “I think we should be concentrating on those things
Legislators avoid local cost shift issue • PENSIONS
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“We’re going to just keep working until we get it done,” Anderson said. Decades of inattention to saving up for state workers’ retirement plans, including years where legislatures and governors skipped payments, means the state’s five pension accounts are short $96 billion. The piling debt has hurt the state’s credit rating, limiting its ability to borrow. It also has threatened to eat up more and more money for education and other public services. Madigan’s compromise, announced a day earlier and praised by Quinn as a breakthrough, would eliminate – for now – one of the reasons reform efforts collapsed in last spring’s legislative session. Chicago schools already shoulder pension costs for their teachers, but Republi-
cans worried that forcing the rest of Illinois to follow suit would result in higher property taxes. Various plans floated in the last year have included bumped-up contributions and less-generous rewards for current employees, raising the retirement age and reducing cost-of-living adjustments for retirees. Democratic Senate President John Cullerton has said he wants lawmakers to pass a more modest alternative that the Senate adopted last spring. That proposal affects only a portion of the workers and retirees but would be a starting point, and Cullerton is concerned that more ambitious efforts could be unconstitutional. Joining Quinn at Saturday’s meeting were Madigan, Cullerton, House Republican leader Tom Cross and Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno.
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Afterward, spokesman Ron Holmes noted Cullerton also has agreed to delay the issue of shifting costs for teacher pensions. “He urges the House to take bipartisan action on a pension reform proposal in the coming days,” Holmes said. Radogno said she wasn’t married to any particular framework, but that “we still obviously have a long way to go.” Cross left the meeting without speaking to reporters. Quinn, a Democrat, has called the pension issue Illinois’ “own fiscal cliff.” He is hoping lawmakers pass and send him a reform bill on Tuesday, before the lameduck session ends. The House convenes today with plans to work until Wednesday morning. The Senate adjourned abruptly Thursday night but Cullerton cautioned senators to be ready to return Tuesday if needed.
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before we concentrate on social issues,” Franks said. ••• Harris, a social worker, and Glaubke, who works for domestic violence agency Turning Point, came to McHenry County about 12 years ago from Evanston. With the county’s conservative reputation, they admit they had reservations about the move. But they’ve found support. “When Deb and I bought a house out here, we were worried about how we would be seen in the community,” Harris said. “We have not had any problems whatsoever.” To some extent, it does affect Glaubke when her legislators come out against gay marriage. “It does affect how I think about them in the polling place,” she said. “I couldn’t deny that it doesn’t have an
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impact for me, but I tend to look at the politician in the bigger picture.” In 1989, Harris and Glaubke had a do-it-yourself kind of commitment ceremony. Once civil unions became legal in Illinois, they did that, too, although they had some discussion about whether they should because it was second best. A marriage would represent a validation, Harris said. “I really do believe that marriage is a civil right and has nothing to do with religion or anything else,” she said. “Gay families are fundamentally not any different than any other kinds of families, although we’ve had to jump through some extra hoops.” Harris said she doesn’t take it personally when someone opposes gay marriage.
“I’m sure there are a lot of things that I get wrong,” she said. “It doesn’t make me angry or anything.” She figures they just need “a little more education.” “If they’re coming from a Bible-based bias, if you want to call it that, they’re going to be looking at that rather than the human being in front of them,” Harris said. She’s the daughter of a southern Baptist minister, but her father never stood in the way of her relationship, she said. The pendulum, Harris said, is swinging toward allowing gay marriage. Glaubke just never really imagined it would be in her lifetime. “I thought maybe the next generation,” she said.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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