Last spring, local gay-rights advocates felt they were within striking distance of securing marriage rights when an Illinois House committee advanced State Rep. Greg Harris' civil unions bill (HB 2234) to the floor. Their hopes were dashed, however, when the bill never came up for a vote. Discouraged, but not deterred, Harris vowed to one-up the civil unions legislation by reaffirming his commitment to his separate, same-sex marriage bill (HB 178).  Last October, his Democratic ally on Chicago's North Side, State Sen. Heather Steans, followed suit and introduced a companion measure in the upper chamber.

Determined to finally see the measures through, the gay rights organization Equality Illinois announced this week that it's loading up on lobbyists in an effort to push the civil unions bill in Springfield.  From a release:

Illinois statewide gay rights organization has renewed its effort to pass legislation to recognize and protect same-sex couples in Illinois. During the first week of the new legislative session last week, Equality Illinois had its full lobbying team in place meeting with legislators and advocates at the Illinois Statehouse [...]

The Equality Illinois is renewing its push this year confident that the bill can get the necessary votes for passage and is working with a range of community, civil rights, religious and civic organizations to solidify support.

As regular readers may recall, the civil unions bill would guarantee same-sex couples with many of the same legal protections that, as the Tribune's editorial board put it, "heterosexuals take for granted." Among those rights: a place at a hospital bedside, survivor benefits, and the authority to make end-of-life decisions.  "This bill asks for no special rights," Harris says in the release, "only to grant all families access to what most families are given automatically under the law."