In this June 2011 photo Vernita Gray, left, and Patricia Ewert smile during their civil union ceremony at Millennium Park in Chicago. US District Judge Thomas Durkin ordered the Cook County clerk to issue an expedited marriage license to Gray and Ewert before the state’s gay marriage law takes effect in June 2014. Gray is terminally ill. Source: AP
A US judge will allow two women in their 60s to get married before gay marriage becomes law in Illinois on June 1 because one of them is dying.
Even as they celebrated their home state becoming the 16th to legalise gay marriage, Chicago couple Patricia Ewert and Vernita Gray couldn’t help but feel bitter disappointment because Ms Gray’s terminal cancer means she probably won’t live to see June 1.
That was until a federal judge intervened this week and allowed the two women to get an expedited marriage license. Now the two are set to become the first gay couple in Illinois to take their vows, a private ceremony that could take place as early as Wednesday.
“She went from one day being as full of energy as she could be to being completely bedridden,” Ms Ewert said of her partner’s deterioration.
As for waiting until June, Ms Ewert said: “It’s a long time in the cancer world.”
Their legal battle could be just the beginning and may fuel efforts to change the effective date of the law, which Governor Pat Quinn signed last week. There’s legislation pending to allow the law to take effect immediately and it could come up in late January when politicians gather in Springfield.
Gov Quinn, who helped Illinois legalise civil unions in 2011, said if politicians sent him that bill he’d sign it.
“I’d say the sooner the better,” the governor told reporters Tuesday.
The women filed a lawsuit in federal court late on Friday last week, citing Ms Gray’s cancer as a reason to get a marriage license quickly. Then on Monday, a judge ordered the license and Cook County clerk officials hand-delivered it.
All that remains is having a ceremony officiated.
“This is the realisation of a very long cherished dream for them both,” said Camilla Taylor, the head of the legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, which helped represent the couple.
She said marriage also means that Ms Ewert will be better protected when it comes to taxes and other federal benefits not guaranteed with a civil union.
The two first met at a work event hosted by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and soon started dating. They were engaged in 2009. Ms Ewert said she was “immediately attracted” to Ms Gray, who worked as a victims’ advocate in the Cook County court system. Ms Ewert works for state Chicago Democrat Kelly Cassidy.
“Vernita is bigger than life. She has done so much with her life and given so much to her community,” Ms Ewert said. “She is a force of nature.”
But both women have struggled with health issues; both have had breast cancer. Ms Gray was first diagnosed in 1996 and underwent chemotherapy about the same time as Ms Ewert.
However, things worsened for Ms Gray, especially in June when cancer was found in her brain. She underwent surgery to have a tumour roughly the size of a golf ball removed from her head.
It was also around that time when the women watched efforts to legalise gay marriage stall in the Illinois Legislature, which Ms Ewert said was “terribly” disappointing.
The measure first passed the Illinois Senate on Valentine’s Day, but the House sponsor said he didn’t have the votes in his chamber in May and didn’t call it for a vote. He vowed to bring it back and did so earlier this month when it passed through his chamber by a close margin.
The June 1 date has created some headaches for county clerk offices since it’s a Sunday. Some have said they’ll be open for business that day, while others said they won’t have the resources.
In the meantime, Ms Ewert has started to make wedding plans. She said the judge’s quick turnaround was a surprise.
“Things went so much faster than we expected them to,” she said. “We didn’t expect there to be so much interest. We’re just two little old ladies from Chicago.”
Author: AP
Publication: news.com.au
Date:27 November 2013
Original article here