The Act, first introduced in March 2007 by Representative Greg Harris, and in the Illinois Senate by Senator David Koehler, passed 61-52 in the House on Tuesday, November 30th and 32-24 in the Senate on Wednesday, December 1st.

The crux of the Act is stated in Section 20.  Protections, obligations, and responsibilities.

A party to a civil union is entitled to the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits as are afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses, whether they derive from statute, administrative rule, policy, common law or any other source of civil or criminal law.

The entire text of the Act can be read here.

I will be discussing specifics of the Act in future posts.  In the meantime, Equality Illinois has an excellent summary, Understanding Civil Unions in Illinois.

In the first case, the men – who are identified in court records as JB and HB – were married in Massachusetts in 2006 and separated two years later.  They had been together 11 years before ending their relationship.  In the second case, partners Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly married in Massachusetts in 2004 and adopted a child.  Both couples are represented by attorney  James J. “Jody” Scheske.

Judge Tena Callahan granted a divorce to JB and HB last October and also ruled that Texas’ ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.   Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot is fighting that ruling in the appellate court, arguing that in order to recognize the divorce, Texas would have to recognize the marriage, and therefore, the couple is trying to overturn Texas’ gay marriage ban.

Texas voters approved a state constitutional amendment, and state law prohibits same-sex marriages or civil unions.  Attorney General Abbot is arguing that Texas courts can’t dissolve a marriage that the state does not recognize.

As of this writing, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage.    When trying to divorce, these couples are getting mixed results in the United States.  Judges in Pennsyvlvania, Indiana and Rhode Island have refused to divorce same-sex couples married elsewhere.  New York grants such divorces even though the state doesn’t allow same-sex marriage.

Civil unions, which give certain rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples, are legal in New Jersey.   Domestic partnerships, which give some spousal rights to same-sex couples, are valid  in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.