Corrupt politicians, new fines, fees and taxes every day. Now this. What freekin ever. Just quit running news clips or photos of guys smooching or holding hands. We really don't need to see that.

hey crowny....grab closet knob, turn.... c'mon out

I know more homosexual couples who have been happily together longer than any heterosexual couple. So, it's about damn time they are treated like human beings in this country.

H-F's supply of homophobic comedians sure isn't short. Grow up, kids, you should value individual liberty more than your ability to oppress those who do nothing to harm you.

Doubt this will pass. Have you BEEN to any part of Illinois past Springfield?

The answer is no. Because there is no Illinois past Springfield. There's only Kentucky.

This is a wonderful step forward. I hope we can move into the twenty-first century together and choose equality and justice. This isn't the dark ages anymore; it's about time everyone had equal rights in all aspects of life. I pray to my loving, kind, fair, and accepting God that this passes in the house. It is time to leave the past of hatred and discrimination behind and enter into a bright future of respect and equality.

Yep can't wait for people to marry there dogs, and cats, horses. Because that's next in the 21th century.

The state is beyond broke.
Our past governors are in jail or just recently released.
Congressmen being investigated by the federal government.
Streets and bridges in severe disrepair.
Crime is running rampant and the murder rate in Chicago is off the charts.
People are losing their jobs and businesses are closing or just moving out of this state.
What are our leaders doing? What steps are they taking to solve any of these problems?
None, they are busy with the important issue of who can marry who.
It is estimated that only about 3.5% of the population is gay, while about 100% of the population (including the gay community) is affected by all the other problems we are facing, so by all means, lets take care of the gay marriage issue before we even start to try to fix all the other problems affecting our state.

over 95 percent of the country/state should not have to agree with this agenda or be called haters TotBS is so right on wake up personal demands about sexuality have so little to do with our state now good god how silly are the politicians to do this for so few votes its called desperation phobia is the wrong word its called disagreement thought the left preached tolerance? ha
its only tolerance if you agree with them

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
Quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson

After reading some of these comments, I feel ashamed to live in the same town as such close-minded people. Everyone is a human being and should be treated the same and have the same rights as others.

The only reason to care about any of this, is that again, government is in our business enough to manipulate the vote. This state is going down the tubes, and we continue to be led around by the nose with the social issues. Will it matter whose married or not when we are living in our cars? The economy sucks! Wake up citizens!

baba wawa, please be tolerant and stop calling people names. Nobody is calling you an npr/ msnbc kool aid drinking hack, now are they?

Do you believe in creation? Fine. Do you believe in evolution? That's OK. Do you think that if the primordial ooze that seeped out of the sea, or Adam had a itch for his or its own gender that we'd be here? Do what you want, I won't fight it, but don't flaunt it, and don't try to justify it. Go back off in you're own jack yard.

Why do we have to go through this all the time. Ladies and gentleman, I give you simple, reasonable facts.
1) Many religious groups will not be happy with this, however this is a secular government. Yes, the founding fathers were mostly Christian, but they were the same ones who made it clear this government can not suppress nor promote their religion or anybody else's. This practice has actually been fairly well done (though as with everything in life - there's room for improvement). It may not suit your personal belief, but the point of our nation shouldn't be to bend to your whim.
2) Equality is equality is equality. It does not matter how many people in this country are homosexual, just like it did not matter the percentage of our population that were black slaves, women before their suffrage, or Japanese American citizens detained during WW2. Lets stop hemming and hawwing and proceed forward with a promise that was made in the 1770's!
3) Yes, there are a LOT of problems in my city, my county, my state, my timezone, my country, my continent, my hemisphere, my planet, my solar system, my galaxy, and my universe. The best thing about the complexity of the human mind is that we don't have to take it one problem at a time. Think of how horrible this world would be if we had to decide on working to eliminate budget deficits, solve crimes or fight cancer, but not all three at once! Scary!

gays have civil unions. they can make arrangements to have all the benefits that married couples have. they only want to have the term marriage officially used so that can be a slap in the face to marriage and traditional logic. this is a stated fact. it is a deliberate campaign to make a mockery of the term marriage and piss off heterosexuals .

@elizabeth...love the use of anal-retentive in your response. very "fitting". but you wasted half of your diatribe rambling on about "traditional marriage" , which was never mentioned by me. there is only marriage. i did mentioned traditional logic. we( my wife and i) have worked too hard in the 22 years of our marriage, raising our two children and providing for them to have the bond of marriage cheapened by a hedonistic lifestyle choice and by people that want to commandeer the title of marriage. take the civil union and leave marriage alone.

Fatty Arbuckle....and you have done nothing "hedonistic" in your 22 yrs of marriage?? You have never strived to maximize your own pleasure?? To view same sex marriage as hedonistic is small minded. Two people love eachother, want to spend the rest of their life together (legally), want to have equal rights, want to make decisions for their loved one in sickness or death....where lies the problem? Does it affect your decisions? Your marriage? Your non-hedonistic bedroom? No....unless of course your threatened by it....by freedom.

Once again Illinois polititions will do anything to get votes. They will not tackle the states budget mess. Because if they cut pensions they take money out of their own pockets. They make hard decisions and lose votes they might have to get a real job and that probally scares the hell out of them.

States broke, ranked 50th worse state financially. Pol's have been robbing Peter (pension funds) to pay Paul (balance budgets) and have created the biggest financial mess 2nd only to the nations financial mess. Headlines abound about Gay Marriage, Gun Control, Immigration Reform. WAKE UP people! It's all about taking the focus off of the real problems on a state and national level. Balancing a budget and getting the finances in order! People are easily misled. Lemmings!

why does it have to be called marriage? they have civil unions. thats not good enough for them. they wont be happy until they eliminate all american family values . if u want to b a pervert thats your right,stop shoving it in our face and telling our children its normal to b gay.

Unless a person on this thread has never committed a sin, really can't use the Bible to state that Marriage Equality is a sin.

Smoke and mirrors. Anything to distract the people from what is really going on.

Moment I read the title in the e-mail I rushed right over here! The mere fact that they are EVEN CONSIDERING this is an insult to all of us and what we stand against!!!

I've read nearly all of the comments above and all I can say is, you people who are pro-gay are not very civil either. Calling people names and acting like children is not a way to get your point across. One person said that people who don't agree with same sex marriage are "sick". Are you serious? Calling "normal" people sick? You need a therapist! Now! The rest of you can rest assured I don't care who you marry or sleep with, as long as you do it behind closed doors. I, like most normal people don't want to see you swapping spit with your significant other in public, I'm straight and I don't do it, neither should you. Save it for your own private place. You don't need everyone elses support to be gay, and you will have less problems with people who oppose it if you stop trying to push your way of life onto everyone else, and stop trying to berate everyone who disagrees with your way of life. All you others who feel like you are on the right side even though you don't think you are gay, GUESS AGAIN!!!

phxdr,
What is normal? Normal is defined as the usual, average, or typical state or condition.
So does that make homosexual behavior "normal"? I would have to say no.
Since it is estimated that only about 3.5% of people are gay, that means that almost 97% are not gay. That would make homosexuality "abnormal" or not the usual or average behavior.
Sorry if this is not what you believe, but just because you don't have the room to list all the animals in nature who have homosexuality in their species, the majority of the animals in nature don't have homosexuality in their behavior, thus making homosexuality an abnormal behavior.

I thought we were above animals... So because a male cocker spaniel humps another male cocker spaniel, he's a homosexual? See, I thought it was a display of dominance... You proved my point, that your support is a clear indication of your "Not" being normal. I never mentioned the bible, or God in my post, don't know where you got that from... You didn't make one valid point, you just attacked me because you don't like what I wrote (the truth)...Your lack of christianity or belief in God indicates that your parent's raised a person with no sense of value and most likely a homosexual as well, as you indicated that you "know" gay people. My whole point is keep it to yourself...

What is normal is a log cabin GOP (homo - queer or faggot) charlatan preacher like Ted Haggard doing hard drugs with male hookers or the immaculate conception of GOP lesbians like Cheneys daughters or a in the closet voting Congressman voting on anti abortion ot defending marriage between a man and a woman as it was in the Bible when Adam and Eve were disobeying god!

Well folks it is my version of a TPARTY version of TIRED'S VERSION of normal, not my opinion or anti gay or anti anything except TPARTY normal.
Any conservation with any TPARTYER or listener to FOX talks like this, have any of u seen what they do and say about POTUS, women issues, labor or health care for all?
But they give a pass to their icon Christian Charlatans ( Haggard) and the Cheney EXTENDED FAMILY whose Lesbian marriage was not really an immaculate conception it was consummated by a male jornalist whose night job was a male hooker. While u think this is hate my friend it is really a turn around of their bombast, they are are not anti gay but anti anyone who is not a supporter of AIPAC, THE LOG CABIN my uninformed friends are GOP GAY CONGRESSMEN in and out of the closet! Shocking how dense u are ? Now does make u barf up or feel warm after all the bombast and noise from RANT clear Chan Bain Radio and FOX!
The can't we be friends and bipartisan bs is what I detect as real intolerance and beyond pathetic so get used to it, if they did not say it I would not make these totally incoherent words of wisdom they only say and do what they are guilty of and u and most Liberals and Dem's have not figured it out and besides u have not been around long enough to read incoherent.

Butch, you're not worth a rebuttle and you still don't make sense.

@Birdie i thank u for proving that the Kool Aid will never run out, so much waste in education with very few persons in MURKA under 50 with a knowledge of DHS or Political Science as in modern Zionism and no Historical-. Geographical unless it is on the mythic bible of the EZRAITES.
It's good u all can bring attention to the injustices of health care and the estate Tax. ,Every day more Americans- Murkans are feeling like they are Red Haired GAY step child's with nothing much to leave their loved one's after 8 years of Bush and 12 of Reagan Bush but that's not on your plate GAYS are now the center of some universe. We soon will be forced to return to reality as more returning Vet's with no job nor in some cases no home or a room.
This is what the grateful nation of gay and straight flag wavers and especially the NEO CON queen planners in DOD, WHICH WAS THE ULTIMATE INJUSTICE.
The LOOTING of IRAQ was a gift to KBR and Wall street faggot Banksters by the largely NEO CON QUEENS in hi positions in DOD, so the bottom line is frankly DEARIE i don't give a damn about an apology!
@ Anthony Susan or first? I am not posting or writing on anything but the facts and hypocrisy of the wingnuts nor am i into skull and bones etc initiations just the facts! It's hard enough to get them to comprehend basic myths from historical events of just a generation ago!

@ B Laird have u ever ventured to Cape Can aka Kennedy Center it is the center of the space program that tries to go to those Galaxies, The City of Canaveral had the first maybe only Gay mayor in the sunshine state. How's that for nonsense! i doubt if he's whining on a Patch about the injustice of it all, you seem well informed for a submariner who was under the pack too long! ha