Clerk Orr Cheers Senate Passage of Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act

A long-time advocate of marriage equality, Cook County Clerk David Orr today applauds the Illinois Senate's passage of the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. It is a good day for love, said Clerk Orr, who was recently inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. The Illinois Senate took a historic step forward today. I am hopeful that very soon I will have the ability to issue marriage licenses to the thousands of same-sex couples who help make up our communities. Clerk Orr began issuing Civil Union licenses to couples on June 1, 2011, when the Illinois law took effect. Since that time, nearly 3,000 same-sex couples applied for a civil union license in Cook County. Of those, 1,588 were female couples and 1,309 were male couples.