Please support civil union act

My partner and I grew up in the 1970s, back then it was hard to imagine a time would come when it would be possible for us to live happily as an openly gay couple and enjoy the love, support and respect of our friends, co-workers and community. And yet that is exactly what happened.

It's high time committed lesbian and gay couples didn't have to do without the legal protections under state law that straight married couples take for granted. Things like inheritance rights, funeral arrangements and other spousal benefits.

Why should I have to delay getting to the hospital to go to the house, open our safe and locate the power of attorney that is necessary for me to visit my partner in the event of a medical emergency? Why do we even have to prepare such documents in order to receive protections that are automatic for our straight married friends?

Why is our love and commitment to each other valued less by our own, ostensibly progressive, state's laws than by the states of California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New York, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia? Why is my family denied legal protections automatically granted to a similar relationship between two members of opposite sexes?

Please ask your legislators to support HB 2234, the Illinois Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act, and finally provide my family with the same basic state law legal protection long enjoyed by your family. It's a matter of simple fairness.

John Dalton

Elgin