The fight for gay marriage has been grueling and arduous for gay rights activists, and on Nov. 20th Governor Pat Quinn signed gay marriage into law in Illinois. Quinn held an hour long ceremony commemorating the joyous manifestation of democracy and human rights.
The ceremony consisted of Governor Quinn signing the bill with 100 pens ritualistically, the pens quickly became a memento to a glorious milestone in gay rights history. According to the Chicago Tribune Quinn signed the bill on the very desk that President Abraham Lincoln used to pen his initial inaugural address.
Quinn addressed the congregation of eager attendees of the ceremony:
"In the very beginning of the Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln of Illinois said that our nation was conceived in liberty. And he said it's dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, and that's really what we're celebrating today," he said. "It's a triumph of democracy."
Due to security reasons signs were banned within the confines of the address, as a preemptive strike to avoid unwarranted confrontation, yet onlookers displayed miniature rainbow flags with pride.
The bill has sparked controversy for decades. The law was opposed by certain African-American Democratic lawmakers who were swayed by black Protestant churches, remonstrating that it is unethical to ask churches who oppose gay marriage to sanctify it, and incur subsequent lawsuits for refusing to wed gay couples.
CSM reports protestors displayed signs outside of the ceremony auditorium that said "Homosexual 'Marriage' is against nature's law and nature's God."
Illinois is the 16th state to sanctify gay marriage.
