On Jan. 31, civil unions for same-sex partners were legalized
in Illinois. The Illinois State Senate approved the legislation by a 34-32
margin.
Under the new law, employers will have to extend health
coverage to civil partners of their workers. The civil union arrangement also
allows people to visit their partners in the hospital and make sensitive
end-of-life decisions. These are important issues that, without such
legislation, would continue to make life more difficult for lesbian and gay
couples.
While this is certainly a step forward in the struggle for
legal recognition of LGBT relationships, it falls short of full marriage
equality. People in civil unions in Illinois will not be legally recognized as
a couple outside of the state, they will not be able to file jointly on their
taxes, and according to the reactionary federal Defense of Marriage Act, the
unions will not be recognized by the federal government.
Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia. Civil
unions in some form are recognized in Washington state , Oregon, California, Hawaii,
Nevada, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Colorado, and Wisconsin.
The Illinois civil union legislation will go into effect in
June. The legal process for obtaining a civil union will be identical to
obtaining a marriage license, and applicants will not be required to live
together in order to obtain a civil union. The civil union arrangement is also
available to heterosexual couples who would prefer not to be legally married.
LGBT rights activists see the recognition of same-sex civil unions as a step forward, but full
equality, not a “separate but equal” system of civil unions, is the real goal.
That LGBT relationships are not legally recognized in every
state and by the federal government is one facet of the systematic oppression of
LGBT people, which also includes discrimination in housing and employment, two
other basic rights.
LGBT oppression, fomented by the ruling class, divides the
working class and weakens and subverts working-class solidarity. The struggle
for equality of all oppressed groups requires women, lesbians, gay men,
bisexual, transgender and all allies to stand up against the oppressive
capitalist system, which refuses give us the equality we all deserve.
