Daley on gay marriage: 'no problem'

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | February 19, 2004 | Fran Spielman

[Rutles4Ever]

Mayor Daley said Wednesday he would have "no problem" with County Clerk David Orr issuing marriage licenses to gay couples -- and Orr said he's open to a San Francisco-style protest if a consensus can be built.

"They're your doctors, your lawyers, your journalists, your politicians," the mayor said. "They're someone's son or daughter. They're someone's mother or father. . . . I've seen people of the same sex adopt children, have families. [They're] great parents.

"Some people have a difference of opinion -- that only a man and a woman can get married. But in the long run, we have to understand what they're saying. They love each other just as much as anyone else.''

A devout Catholic, Daley scoffed at the suggestion that gay marriage would somehow undermine the institution of marriage between a man and a woman.

"Marriage has been undermined by divorce, so don't tell me about marriage. You're not going to lecture me about marriage. People should look at their own life and look in their own mirror. Marriage has been undermined for a number of years if you look at the facts and figures on it. Don't blame the gay and lesbian, transgender and transsexual community. Please don't blame them for it," he said.

Daley said he has no control over marriage licenses in Cook County. But if Orr wants to take that bold step, the mayor has no problem with it.

Orr said he was "game to looking at options" provided a consensus could be built.

"I'm fed up with people being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. We can't even pass a law that eliminates discrimination against gay couples. [But] whatever you do when it comes to challenging laws, you want it to be effective and not knee-jerk," Orr said.

The clerk noted the protest that has gay couples from around the nation lining up for hours outside San Francisco's City Hall was meticulously planned.

It wasn't just "the clerk waking up one day and deciding to marry someone," Orr said. It had the support of the entire "city apparatus" in San Francisco -- from the mayor, City Council and advocacy groups on down. That's the model that would have to be followed here, Orr said.

"Whether or not, here in Cook County, we should be considering a San Francisco or other kind of protest, that is what some of us are discussing. I'm quite interested in exploring that with key players in the city and county. I'm already discussing that with a number of advocacy and key groups. I would like to discuss it with the mayor," Orr said.

State law says same-sex marriage is contrary to public policy. It recognizes only a marriage between a man and a woman.

Daley and Orr are going farther than gay activists are willing to go on the issue of gay marriage.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), Chicago's first openly gay alderman, said his top legislative priority is to pass Senate Bill 101 prohibiting statewide discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing and employment.

"We're putting the cart before the horse. We have to get to that step first and then we move incrementally," Tunney said.

Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, applauded Daley for taking the lead on the explosive issue of gay marriage. "No one can accuse Mayor Daley of being some left-wing pinko. ... It means a lot. It sets a tone."

Last fall, the county board authorized Orr to issue certificates of domestic partnership that carry no legal rights. Garcia believes it's time for Orr to take it a step further and issue marriage license to gay couples. But he's not about to "initiate anything at this point" with a formal protest.

[Rutles4Ever]

a devout Catholic

I want to know if Cardinal George is going to have the guts to deny this fraud Holy Communion. Daley makes me sick.

[prion]

A devout Catholic? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't devout Catholics have to treat what the Pope says as incontrovertible and basically the word of God? And hasn't the Pope come out against gay marriage?

[newgeezer]

The mayor is living out Romans 1:32.

"...[he] not only [continues] to do these very things but also [approves] of those who practice them."

[FreedomFlynnie]

No one can accuse Mayor Daley of being some left-wing pinko.

Is this guy talking about the same Mayor Daley?

Richard M. Daley is a petty tyrant who'd be right at home running a third-world dictatorship. I grew up not far from Chicago and go back to visit friends occasionally, but between this, rampant corruption, union strangleholds, the Meigs terrorism, and his buying Blago the governorship, there's not a reason in the world I'd ever live there until the Daley dynasty and all its cronies were run out of town on a rail.

He's too entrenched for that to be likely, though. I pity any Chicago conservatives who haven't escaped yet.

[RepublicansForDean]

"a devout Catholic

I want to know if Cardinal George is going to have the guts to deny this fraud Holy Communion. Daley makes me sick."


This is my favorite. When the media bestows the title of "Devout Catholic" upon someone acting in direct opposition to church doctrine.

Daley isn't even a marginal Catholic.

[syriacus]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I wonder if any of the ***pseudly-weds*** know Barney Frank wants their taxes to increase when they get married.

Frank voted against eliminating the marriage penalty tax in 2000.

Edwards voted to keep the marriage penalty tax, too. Kerry didn't vote.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[stopem]

What is this a DimRAT Uprising?? Geez.

Question why are we Freepers sitting back and not Freeping Kerry's website?

[Squantos]

A copy of my post on the San Fransico Fiasco......It fits any city including Chicago that defies the laws for revenue IMO.

I figure this...........they get married after they pay their money to the city clerk. Judges declare later that marrige is moot. Homos then file suit against the city for fraud and the oldie but goodie ..."emotional distress". And then the taxpayers have to bail this turdburgler of a mayor and his city goobermint bean counters out with our dollars ! Doom on this POS and all polidiots that allow it to happen !

Stay safe !

[Rutles4Ever]

Devout Catholics would not be promoting gay marriage. Like abortion, this is one of those "no wiggle room" issues. If Daley is going to openly ENCOURAGE and FACILITATE this abomination, then Cardinal George needs to openly bitch-slap this fool.

No more BS.

[jscd3]

A devout Catholic? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't devout Catholics have to treat what the Pope says as incontrovertible and basically the word of God?

That not what Catholics believe. Catholics think the word of God as revealed in scripture is the word of God.

Papal condemnation of the bizarre concept of homosexual marriage is based on scripture and the philosophy of Natural Law.

[Semper Paratus]

Cook County taxpayers should have 'no problems' not paying their tax assesments either.

[ClearCase_guy]

More and more it is clear that a Constitutional Amendment is absolutely required. At the State level (MA) and the city level (S.F. and Chicago) this stuff is being pushed through. At the federal level, they have the DOMA, but it's clearly a dead letter.

Constitutional Amendment, Baby! No other way to stop this madness.

[Dataman]

They're your doctors, your lawyers, your journalists, your politicians," the mayor said. "They're someone's son or daughter. They're someone's mother or father. . . . I've seen people of the same sex adopt children, have families. [They're] great parents.

They're your mud rollers, your walking diseases, your predators, your emergency room regulars," the mayor said. "They're someone's son or daughter (nobody knows for sure). I've seen people of the same sex capture children, destroy families. [They] voted for me.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Rats chose the path of socialism many years ago. No thinking person would go that path so they cobbled together a coalition of extremists with a "you support my cause, I support yours" attitude. For many years these groups gave them the support that they needed to keep winning elections.

However, now the wackos are RULING the party and I believe that fewer and fewer people with a grain of sense are identifying with the extremists.

Even liberal California passed a proposition 60-40 to define marriage as a civil and legal union of one man and one woman. If it would lower the price of gasoline, I'll bet more than 85% would for drilling in ANWR.

When specifically asked about abortion, over 70% believe that abortions should NOT be used as a method of birth control. Even more believe that it should be illegal to abort a baby after it is able to live outside the womb.

Unfortunately, it takes brains to break from the pack and the Rats have the multitudes of useful idiots on their side.

[Rutles4Ever]

This is turning into a runaway train, and I firmly believe this is Bush's opportunity to win this election:

Make this priority #1. Kerry's trying to steal thunder from the military successes, and he's succeeding. The economic issues are a "push" at this point. Bush needs to make the Marriage Ammendment his focus because Kerry cannot win on this. If Bush takes a firm stand, Kerry will have to respond. If he supports the ammendment, he will alienate the far left. If he has to openly oppose it, he will alienate the moderates and undecided Catholics.

I know it's unorthodox ("it's the economy, stupid"), but I think this social issue is MUCH more crucial than the RNC is giving credit for.

[hgro]

Daley is butt deep in corruption and is looking for friends. Like Kerry, rolling in the gutter is a way of life for him.

[apillar]

Well, if there is any upside to these "in your face" tactics by the liberals over gay marriage is seems to be firing up the "moral majority" in a way we haven't seen since the mid-term elections of 1994. If this nonsense keeps up throughout the election season, the democrats will be able to thank the Mass Supreme Court and these liberal mayors for massive losses in congress as well as the state and the presidential level.

[ohioman]

Daley is obviously as devout a Catholic as Hitler was. This guy is scum.

[codercpc]

In the San Fransisco, and possibly the Chicago cases, I think what Conservatives should do is re frame the issue.

We should point out to the Media the precedent that these Mayors are setting. Regardless of what anyone may think about Gay marriage, I think in these cases, the issue must be the lawlessness of our public officials, and judges.

In Wisconsin, the State Constitution gives the citizens the right to bear arms, and protect themselves. Last summer, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reaffirmed that right in a case against a man who carried a concealed weapon (and I believe used it). The Wis. Supreme Court basically told the legislatures that they had to look at the laws, and make them Constitutional in this area. The Legislature did just that late last year when it passed a Concealed Carry Bill. The Dem Governor Vetoed that bill.

Every time anyone in the Media hails the San Francisco mayor, I think it is our responsibility to ask if that also means then that a mayor in Wisconsin has the right to start issuing Concealed Carry Licenses, after all hes just following his interpretation (and the Wisconsin Supreme Courts) of the State Constitution.