WINNEBAGO COUNTY - The Winnebago County Clerk's office
says they will uphold the state's ban on same-sex marriages. This comes on the heels of two downstate
county clerks wanting to defend the law put on the books when
Mike Wright
and Dan Ford, owners of "The Office" a gay bar in
"In a civil union you cannot get a
partner's social security benefits if they were to pass away," said Wright. "You
could not get the IRA of a person who was passing away either."
However, Margie Mullins, Winnebago County
Clerk, says it's the law.
"Our office is here to uphold the
law, and our office is here to do what we have been instructed to do," said
Mullins. "That is what we're going to do from this point forward."
Opinion and law are two different
things. Mullins says she supports what
Madigan and Cook County Clerk David Orr are doing in regard to the law, but she's
not going to take that step and break the law passed in
If a same-sex couple were to come
into Mullins' office and request a marriage license she would have to respond
with this, "We have a civil union. It's
not considered a marriage. It is a
joining of two people, but it's not on the books as marriage," said Mullins.
Wright believes the law will
change. He mentioned that it was just
over 50 years ago that black and white people couldn't get married. He says most of the marriage equality
problems are truly at the federal level and that's what Wright and Ford would
really like to see change.
