by Jill M. Metz, Attorney

Four years before Illinois passed the Illinois Civil Union Act, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU), with contributions from Lambda Legal staff, drafted a civil union bill. As this civil union bill made its way through the Illinois Senate and House, the ACLU supplemented its lobby force of two staff lobbyists by hiring contract lobbyists. Polling on the question of people's support for civil unions was also paid for by the ACLU. As 2010 neared, the ACLU paid for patch-through calls from citizens to legislators and organized voter visits to legislative offices that were in swing districts because the ACLU wanted to make sure to counter the belief of some legislators that they did not have constituents in their districts interested in this legislation. The ACLU mobilized its 22,000 Illinois members through online Action Alerts about the legislation while working with other coalition members to successfully make Illinois one of the 13 states to provide protections and rights, as well as obligations, under the civil union law. On June 1, 2011, the Illinois Civil Union Act goes into effect.

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