Catholic group, two county clerks push back on gay marriage
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A Chicago-based Catholic group and two downstate county clerks filed a motion Friday seeking to defend Illinois' ban on gay marriage by intervening in two lawsuits that challenge the ban's constitutionality.
Lambda Legal and the ACLU filed the twin lawsuits May 30 in Cook County Circuit Court, claiming Illinois' ban on gay marriage violates the right to equal protection under the law and due process guaranteed in the state constitution.
The Thomas More Society filed the motion Friday on behalf Tazewell County Clerk Christie Webb and Effingham County Clerk Kerry Hirtzel, the society said in a statement posted to its website.
Defendant Cook County Clerk David Orr has declined to defend the ban and publicly voiced support for the plaintiffs. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who represents Orr in court, said in a previous legal filing that Orr is violating the equal-protection clause in the state constitution by enforcing the state's prohibition of gay marriage.
Their support prompted the Thomas More Society to request to enter the case, the society's statement said.
The motion claims 15 of the 25 plaintiff couples were denied marriage licenses in Cook County despite living in other counties. That "raises a disturbing question" about whether the couples or their attorneys filed the suit in Cook County because they knew Orr would be sympathetic to their cause, it reads.
"When the ACLU and Lambda Legal brought plaintiffs from across the State of Illinois to sue the Cook County Clerk, this became a statewide issue affecting the duties and responsibilities of every county clerk in the State of Illinois," said Peter Breen, the society's executive director and legal counsel, said in a statement.
Breen previously called the legal motions filed by Alvarez an "end run" around the will of Illinois citizens and the General Assembly, which passed the ban in 1996 with broad bipartisan support.
Judge Sophia Hall will preside at a Tuesday morning hearing on the motion.
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