WASHINGTON - The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today condemned the passage of same-sex marriage in Illinois following legislative maneuvers that reduced the vote threshold needed to enact the law. The group predicted that the law would result in widespread harassment of individuals, businesses and religious organizations that believe marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
“It’s disappointing but not surprising that the House has voted to redefine marriage. The losers will be the people of Illinois who will see that redefining marriage will unleash a torrent of harassment toward those who believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s President. “Once the law goes into effect in June of next year, we will see individuals, businesses and religious groups sued, fined, brought up on charges of discrimination and punished simply for holding true to the traditional view of marriage.”
NOM also criticized the near complete lack of religious liberty protections in the law that was passed. “The legislation that has been adopted contains no meaningful protections for religious liberty. We will see a torrent of actions aimed at people of faith and religious groups,” Brown said. “All we need to do is recall the words of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel when Chick-fil-A’s CEO expressed his support for true marriage. Emanuel pledged that businesses like that would not be allowed to operate in Chicago.”
