They’re not quite registering June brides, but the joyous end of American civilization has legislatively spread to Cook County and the rest of the Land of Lincoln. Starting today, the state is granting all of the rights and privileges of marriage under state law to same-sex couples.
With all the recent excitement in Minnesota over the effort to ban same-sex marriages in the state constitution, I neglected to mention that civil unions have also been legislatively approved in Delaware (effective January 1). It’s the eighth state to provide comprehensive recognition to same-sex relationships under the title of civil union or domestic partnership. Five states recognize same-sex marriages. A few others provide a more limited set of legal protections.