Early last week before Thanksgiving, 16 HRC interns and volunteers were phonebanking tirelessly out of HRC’s headquarters for families in Illinois. Their work paid off. Civil unions passed the Illinois legislature yesterday.
Over two nights, our volunteers made nearly 1,500 phone calls into the districts of key Illinois House members. We directly transferred several dozen civil union supporters to their state House members, so that these constituents could voice their support for this important bill. In addition, we reached out to more than 500 people to provide them with contact information for their state House member, and encouraged them to leave a message in support of the civil unions bill.
The Illinois House passed the bill, SB 1716, by a slim margin of 61-52, and the Illinois Senate followed suit, passing the bill with a 32-24 vote. The bill will now head to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, who is expected to sign the legislation into law.
Human Rights Campaign | HRC Back Story
