After months of false starts, the Illinois House of Representatives
on Tuesday voted to legalize same-sex marriage, and Pope Francis's
recent comments about homosexuality may have played a small but
significant role, reports suggest.
At least one Catholic lawmaker cited the pope's statement as she
explained her recent decision, and Speaker of the House Michael Madigan,
also a Catholic, used the pope's words to articulate his own reasons
for supporting the bill. Previously, he had been criticized for not
pushing hard enough to rally support for the bill.
Other factors
played into the shift that made passage through the House possible
Tuesday, including two US Supreme Court decisions this summer in favor
of gay marriage, reports suggest.
But with polls showing public opinion
moving toward greater acceptance of gay marriage, the events in Illinois
raise questions about whether opposition among Catholic lawmakers could
be waning.
Pope Francis caused international ripples in July, when he warned
that the Roman Catholic Church had become too focused on its opposition
to homosexuality, asking, "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good
will, who am I to judge him?"
At that point, the Illinois bill
had passed through the state Senate but was languishing in the House.
The House convened in both January and May without voting on the bill,
as its supporters struggled to assemble a majority amid a tide of
organized opposition, with churches among the leading opponents.
But according to The Chicago Tribune,
Pope Francis' comments "sparked a wave of soul-searching by several
Catholic lawmakers who had battled to reconcile their religious beliefs
with their sworn duty to represent their constituents who were
increasingly supportive of gay rights even as Cardinal Francis George
remained opposed."
State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D), who had spent
much of the summer undecided, voted for the bill on Tuesday, telling
the Tribune, "As a Catholic follower of Jesus and the pope, Pope
Francis, I am clear that our Catholic religious doctrine has at its core
love, compassion, and justice for all people."
And House Speaker
Madigan (D) echoed the Pope's words in the Tribune, adding a legal
twist: "For those that just happen to be gay – living in a very
harmonious, productive relationship but illegal – who am I to judge that
they should be illegal?"
Though he was an early supporter of
the bill, his commitment to it had been question. But on Tuesday,
advocates told the Tribune that he had been instrumental in rounding up
the needed votes in recent weeks – and Madigan told the paper that he
had personally helped persuade at least five legislators to support it.
The
bill passed, 61 to 54, and Gov. Pat Quinn (D) has promised to sign it,
making Illinois the 15th state to legalize gay marriage.
The Chicago Sun-Times noted how the statement had a neutralizing impact on the arguments of local Church leadership:
"Despite harsh rhetoric on the issue from Cardinal George and other [local] Catholic leaders, their positions against the bill were severely undercut by several statements from newly installed Pope Francis that were widely interpreted – as Madigan himself did Tuesday – as more welcoming to gay and lesbian couples."
The Tribune
also pegged the Supreme Court decisions this summer as instrumental.
"Supporters said efforts to pick up votes were boosted by events that
unfolded since May, the first being the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark
ruling that struck down the definition of marriage as between a man and a
woman for the purpose of receiving federal benefits," writes the paper.
Local Catholic officials were dismayed by the House vote.
"We
remain concerned about the very real threats to religious liberty that
are at stake with the passage of this bill," said the Catholic
Conference of Illinois, in a statement released Tuesday. "Today's
vote to redefine marriage in the State of Illinois is truly grievous,"
said Bishop David Malloy, in a separate statement.
But according to a poll released Oct. 22 by Fako & Associates of Lisle, Ill., state voters who identify as Catholic support gay marriage by a 2-to-1 ratio. This is dramatically higher than the rate of approval among Illinoisans in general (52 percent), according to the same poll.