Gay Marriage Has ZERO Support from Stateline Representatives

ROCKFORD - With the Illinois senate passing their gay marriage bill on Thursday, the bill will now head to the house for their approval.  Governor Pat Quinn (D) says if the bill got to his desk he would sign it into law.  But representatives in the Stateline are giving an overwhelming "no" to the possibility of same-sex couples being able to tie the knot. 

Six legislators represent voters in the Stateline region from Galena to Belvidere, Rockford to DeKalb - all of them say they will not support Senate Bill 10.  Most legislators have differing reasons as to why they won't vote for gay marriage.

Representative John Cabello (R - 68^th District) cites his faith as a Roman Catholic as part of his reasoning for saying no to the bill.

"I'm afraid that this bill may have some things tied to it, where some of the amendments are going to force churches to perform some of these marriages that go against their own doctrines," said Cabello.

Legislator representing the Freeport region, Jim Sacia (R - 89^th District), claims it's verbiage - the word "marriage" - that doesn't settle well with him.

"I have no issue with same-sex couples getting together, having their unions, but I simply don't believe it should be called marriage," said Sacia.

Rochelle's representative, Tom Demmer (R - 90^th District), says it's tradition that marriage has simple always been between a man and a woman.

"I think that marriage predates government itself and I don't feel that it's our place to change that now," said Demmer.

Representative Joe Sosnowski (R - 69^th District) released this statement today regarding his stance on the proposed gay marriage bill:

"I believe that the definition of marriage is between one man and one woman, and I do not support any change to that definition.  Our legislative time should be spent fixing our horrible budget and creating opportunities for people to work and support their families."

Not even party lines will sway Stateline legislators.  Democrat, Representative Chuck Jefferson (D - 67^th District), says he was brought up believing that marriage is to be between a male and female.  However Jefferson says his beliefs didn't play as much of a role in his decision to say no to gay marriage as much as his constituents beliefs did.

"My constituents, on a daily basis, have called in saying that this is something that they do not support and as a result of that, they've helped me make up my mind," said Jefferson.

Similarly, Bob Pritchard (R - 70^th District) says he too has been listening to his constituents and he as well will say no to gay marriage.  Pritchard says he supports the idea of equal rights for all, a claim the pro-gay marriage movement says Illinois' current civil union law doesn't provide. 

"If there's a problem with that bill [the civil union bill], that there aren't benefits accruing to the spouse of same-sex couples, than I think we ought to look at that," said Pritchard.