Celebrations, Protests at Unions in the Park
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 2, 2011 8:00PM
The mood at Millennium Park was quietly celebratory for this mornings "Unions in the Park" mass civil unions ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, a string quartet played and the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus was singing. To the side stage, Gov. Quinn, Mayor Emanuel, Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Tim Evans, Ald. Tom Tunney and James Cappleman chatted with state Reps. Deb Mell and Greg Harris, who sponsored the bill in Springfield. Around the field still soaked from the weekend's rains, over 30 couples waited in groups for the moment when their relationship could be declared legal in the eyes of the Land.
In his prepared remarks, Quinn spoke of how everyone in attendance were "all the family of Illinois."
"This was one of the most important bills Illinois has passed in anyone's memory," Quinn said. Emanuel echoed Quinn's sentiments as he told the crowd of how earlier, he officiated over a civil union ceremony for one of his staff - his policy and strategic planning chief David Spielfogel. "For all of you entering into civil unions today, you have a long and fruitful journey ahead," Emanuel said.
The couples and their families participating in the ceremony showed no nerves. Instead, they seemed energized and ready for whatever their futures together may hold. The couples dressed in everything from fresh pressed suits to casual wear to formalwear. the kind of mélange one might see waiting any given day of couples waiting outside the County Clerk's Office to marry.
While the mood was celebratory inside the park, outside saw a few protestors stoically holding banners and passing out literature saying that the civil unions bill was anti-Christian. Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth, reminded me that the Bible says homosexuality is wrong and that gay rights and religious freedom cannot coexist. Asked if maybe he could see that the two could be mutually exclusive, LaBarbera dismissed my question as a "canard." I asked LaBarbera about the fact that the law also covers straight couples who don't wish to be married. He said that it was another attempt to persecute his religious freedoms. All the while, our discussion was being aggressively filmed by a woman who identified herself as "Cao" (pronounced "key"), a filming that I'm certain she'll edit fairly. Cao also took time from her filming of me to correct me that the separation of Church and State was, in fact, an article in the Soviet constitution, not in the Bill of Rights.
LaBarbera, Cao and their allies were well-behaved, otherwise, preferring to let their signage do the talking. The occasional civil unions supporter would either walk past them and curse them out, or stop and hurl barnyard epithets at them, which would prompt Cao to start filming them as they walked away.
But it's their right to free assembly, whether we like the message or no. Inside the park Shirley Lee-Edwards, waiting in line with her partner, Rev. Brenda E. Lee, didn't care about LaBarbera or Cao. And neither did anyone else inside the barriers.
"Today is about love, respect and humility," Lee-Edwards said, as they waited their turn to pass past Evans, the other assembled judges and a minister. At the front of the line, Evans made official the civil union of one couple, sealing it with, "I now pronounce you a couple in civil union. Long may you love."