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1    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.
 
6    Section 5. Purposes; rules of construction. This Act shall
7be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying
8purpose, which is to provide same-sex and different-sex couples
9and their children equal access to the status, benefits,
10protections, rights, and responsibilities of civil marriage.
11Nothing in this Act is intended to abrogate, limit, or expand
12the ability of a religious denomination to exercise First
13Amendment rights protected by the United States Constitution or
14the Illinois Constitution nor is it intended to abrogate,
15limit, or expand the Illinois Human Rights Act or the Religious
16Freedom Restoration Act.
 
17    Section 10. Equal access to marriage.
18    (a) All laws of this State applicable to marriage, whether
19they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy,
20common law, or any other source of civil or criminal law, shall
21apply equally to marriages of same-sex and different-sex
22couples and their children.

 

 

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1     (b) Parties to a marriage and their children, regardless
2of whether the marriage consists of a same-sex or different-sex
3couple, shall have all the same benefits, protections, and
4responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute,
5administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other
6source of civil or criminal law.
7    (c) Parties to a marriage shall be included in any
8definition or use of terms such as "spouse", "family",
9"immediate family", "dependent", "next of kin", "wife",
10"husband", "bride", "groom", "wedlock", and other terms that
11refer to or denote the spousal relationship, as those terms are
12used throughout the law, regardless of whether the parties to a
13marriage are of the same sex or different sexes.
14    (d) To the extent the law of this State adopts, refers to,
15or relies upon provisions of federal law as applicable to this
16State, parties to a marriage of the same sex and their children
17shall be treated under the law of this State as if federal law
18recognizes the marriages of same-sex couples in the same manner
19as the law of this State.
 
20    Section 15. Religious freedom. Nothing in this Act shall
21interfere with or regulate the religious practice of any
22religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native
23Group. Any religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or
24Native Group is free to choose which marriages it will
25solemnize or celebrate.
 

 

 

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1    Section 20. Severability. If any part of this Act or its
2application to any person or circumstance is adjudged invalid,
3such adjudication or application shall not affect the validity
4of this Act as a whole or of any other part.
 
5    Section 905. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
6Marriage Act is amended by changing Sections 201, 209, and 212
7and by adding Section 220 as follows:
 
8    (750 ILCS 5/201)  (from Ch. 40, par. 201)
9    Sec. 201. Formalities.) A marriage between 2 persons a man
10and a woman licensed, solemnized and registered as provided in
11this Act is valid in this State.
12(Source: P.A. 80-923.)
 
13    (750 ILCS 5/209)  (from Ch. 40, par. 209)
14    Sec. 209. Solemnization and Registration.)
15    (a) A marriage may be solemnized by a judge of a court of
16record, by a retired judge of a court of record, unless the
17retired judge was removed from office by the Judicial Inquiry
18Board, except that a retired judge shall not receive any
19compensation from the State, a county or any unit of local
20government in return for the solemnization of a marriage and
21there shall be no effect upon any pension benefits conferred by
22the Judges Retirement System of Illinois, by a judge of the

 

 

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1Court of Claims, by a county clerk in counties having 2,000,000
2or more inhabitants, by a public official whose powers include
3solemnization of marriages, or in accordance with the
4prescriptions of any religious denomination, Indian Nation or
5Tribe or Native Group, provided that when such prescriptions
6require an officiant, the officiant be in good standing with
7his or her religious denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or
8Native Group. Either the person solemnizing the marriage, or,
9if no individual acting alone solemnized the marriage, both
10parties to the marriage, shall complete the marriage
11certificate form and forward it to the county clerk within 10
12days after such marriage is solemnized.
13    (a-5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require any
14religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native
15Group, or any minister, clergy, or officiant acting as a
16representative of a religious denomination or Indian Nation or
17Tribe or Native Group, to solemnize any marriage. Instead, any
18religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native
19Group, or any minister, clergy, or officiant acting as a
20representative of a religious denomination or Indian Nation or
21Tribe or Native Group is free to choose which marriages it will
22solemnize. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a
23refusal by a religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe
24or Native Group, or any minister, clergy, or officiant acting
25as a representative of a religious denomination or Indian
26Nation or Tribe or Native Group to solemnize any marriage under

 

 

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1this Act shall not create or be the basis for any civil,
2administrative, or criminal penalty, claim, or cause of action.
3    (a-10) No church, mosque, synagogue, temple,
4nondenominational ministry, interdenominational or ecumenical
5organization, mission organization, or other organization
6whose principal purpose is the study, practice, or advancement
7of religion is required to provide religious facilities for the
8solemnization ceremony or celebration associated with the
9solemnization ceremony of a marriage if the solemnization
10ceremony or celebration associated with the solemnization
11ceremony is in violation of its religious beliefs. An entity
12identified in this subsection (a-10) shall be immune from any
13civil, administrative, criminal penalty, claim, or cause of
14action based on its refusal to provide religious facilities for
15the solemnization ceremony or celebration associated with the
16solemnization ceremony of a marriage if the solemnization
17ceremony or celebration associated with the solemnization
18ceremony is in violation of its religious beliefs. As used in
19this subsection (a-10), "religious facilities" means
20sanctuaries, parish halls, fellowship halls, and similar
21facilities. "Religious facilities" does not include facilities
22such as businesses, health care facilities, educational
23facilities, or social service agencies.
24    (b) The solemnization of the marriage is not invalidated by
25the fact that the person solemnizing the marriage was not
26legally qualified to solemnize it, if either party to the

 

 

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1marriage believed him or her to be so qualified or by the fact
2that the marriage was inadvertently solemnized in a county in
3Illinois other than the county where the license was issued.
4(Source: P.A. 95-775, eff. 1-1-09.)
 
5    (750 ILCS 5/212)  (from Ch. 40, par. 212)
6    Sec. 212. Prohibited Marriages.
7    (a) The following marriages are prohibited:
8        (1) a marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of
9    an earlier marriage, civil union, or substantially similar
10    legal relationship of one of the parties, unless the
11    parties to the marriage are the same as the parties to a
12    civil union and are seeking to convert their civil union to
13    a marriage pursuant to Section 65 of the Illinois Religious
14    Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act;
15        (2) a marriage between an ancestor and a descendant or
16    between siblings a brother and a sister, whether the
17    relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by
18    adoption;
19        (3) a marriage between an uncle and a niece, between an
20    uncle and a nephew, or between an aunt and a nephew, or
21    between an aunt and a niece, whether the relationship is by
22    the half or the whole blood;
23        (4) a marriage between cousins of the first degree;
24    however, a marriage between first cousins is not prohibited
25    if:

 

 

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1            (i) both parties are 50 years of age or older; or
2            (ii) either party, at the time of application for a
3        marriage license, presents for filing with the county
4        clerk of the county in which the marriage is to be
5        solemnized, a certificate signed by a licensed
6        physician stating that the party to the proposed
7        marriage is permanently and irreversibly sterile;
8        (5) (blank). a marriage between 2 individuals of the
9    same sex.
10    (b) Parties to a marriage prohibited under subsection (a)
11of this Section who cohabit after removal of the impediment are
12lawfully married as of the date of the removal of the
13impediment.
14    (c) Children born or adopted of a prohibited or common law
15marriage are the lawful children of the parties.
16(Source: P.A. 94-229, eff. 1-1-06.)
 
17    (750 ILCS 5/220 new)
18    Sec. 220. Consent to jurisdiction. Members of a same-sex
19couple who enter into a marriage in this State consent to the
20jurisdiction of the courts of this State for the purpose of any
21action relating to the marriage, even if one or both parties
22cease to reside in this State. A court shall enter a judgment
23of dissolution of marriage if at the time the action is
24commenced, it meets the grounds for dissolution of marriage set
25forth in this Act.
 

 

 

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1    (750 ILCS 5/213.1 rep.)
2    Section 910. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
3Marriage Act is amended by repealing Section 213.1.
 
4    Section 915. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and
5Civil Union Act is amended by changing Section 60 and by adding
6Section 65 as follows:
 
7    (750 ILCS 75/60)
8    Sec. 60. Respect for marriages and civil unions entered
9into in other jurisdictions Reciprocity. A marriage between
10persons of the same sex, a civil union, or a substantially
11similar legal relationship other than common law marriage,
12legally entered into in another jurisdiction, shall be
13recognized in Illinois as a civil union. A marriage, whether of
14the same sex or different sexes and providing that it is not a
15common law marriage, legally entered into in another
16jurisdiction, shall be recognized in this State as a marriage
17in accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Marriage and
18Dissolution of Marriage Act, except that Section 216 of the
19Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act shall not
20apply to marriages of same-sex couples validly entered into in
21another jurisdiction.
22(Source: P.A. 96-1513, eff. 6-1-11.)
 

 

 

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1    (750 ILCS 75/65 new)
2    Sec. 65. Voluntary conversion of civil union to marriage.
3    (a) Parties to a civil union may apply for and receive a
4marriage license and have the marriage solemnized and
5registered under Section 209 of the Illinois Marriage and
6Dissolution of Marriage Act, provided the parties are otherwise
7eligible to marry and the parties to the marriage are the same
8as the parties to the civil union. The fee for application for
9a marriage license shall be waived in such circumstances.
10    (b) For a period of one year following the effective date
11of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly, parties to
12a civil union may have their civil union legally designated and
13recorded as a marriage, deemed effective on the date of
14solemnization of the civil union, without payment of any fee,
15provided the parties' civil union has not been dissolved and
16there is no pending proceeding to dissolve the civil union.
17Upon application to a county clerk, the parties shall be issued
18a marriage certificate. The parties' signatures on the marriage
19certificate and return of the signed certificate for recording
20shall be sufficient to convert the civil union into a marriage.
21The county clerk shall notify the Department of Public Health
22within 45 days by furnishing a copy of the certificate to the
23Department of Public Health.
24    (c) When parties to a civil union have married, or when
25their civil union has been converted to a marriage under this
26Section, the parties, as of the date stated on the marriage

 

 

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1certificate, shall no longer be considered in a civil union,
2but rather shall be in a legal marriage.
 
3    Section 997. Severability. The provisions of this Act are
4severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
 
5    Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect 30 days
6after becoming law.