Illinois Now the 15^th State to Allow Same-Sex Marriage: How Long Until Every State in the United States Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage?

Illinois was the 15^th state in the United States to pass the Marriage Fairness Act that allowed same-sex couples to be legally married. The vote passed in the Illinois General Assembly by a vote of 61 to 54.

Nico Lang from RollingStone.com wrote and article about the recent passing of the Marriage Fairness Act. He wrote, "The bill came up for a vote in the Illinois General Assembly earlier this May, but the bill never got called to the floor. So what changed between May and November? Johnka credits the Supreme Court's decision in June to strike down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, as well as the example set by four other states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota and New Jersey) which legalized same-sex marriage in the interim. Says Johnka, "It was a journey.'"

Several people were not sure that the bill was going to pass before the vote. One of those people was Anthony Martinez, the executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda, a Chicago-based LGBT non-profit company. Martinez claimed that one of the "for sure" yes-votes for the bill was out of town on a family emergency and had to drive back through the night to make sure they were there for the vote.

Yasmin Nair, the co-founder of Against Equality, says that there is still a lot of work left to be done. She said, "We live in a state that has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country and a city where we have decimated the school system. We have issues that marriage will never solve."