Back in September, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias became the first major statewide candidate in Illinois history to speak up in support of gay marriage. Since then, raising the profile of the civil rights abuses leveled against the GLBT community has become a central theme of his U.S. Senate campaign.  Indeed, the Chicago Democrat has already pledged to help repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy if he is sent to Congress.

So it's not surprising that Giannoulias was quick to respond to the news that Maine voters yesterday repealed same-sex marriage rights at the ballot box -- a stinging defeat for the gay rights community.  From his statement this morning:

The march toward marriage equality was dealt a setback yesterday, and I am disappointed with the results.  But we know that change never comes easy.  I believe strongly that we cannot give up hope, that we must not stop moving forward, and that no matter how difficult the setback, we must never stop fighting for people to be treated equally under the law.

The defeat in Maine has some gay-rights advocates already rethinking their strategy at the state level.  Even though state lawmakers like Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) and Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) continue to push for equal marriage laws here in the Prairie State, additional focus is likely to shift to Congress, where the federal same-sex marriage ban could be reversed without voter approval. Already, Giannoulias has indicated that if sent to D.C., he's ready to do his part to end these retrograde policies. "This goes to what this country was founded on," Giannoulias recently told the Sun-Times Mark Brown, "equality and fairness."

Full Disclosure: The SEIU Illinois State Council,which sponsors this website, has endorsed Alexi Giannoulias in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.