Public Act 102-0171
 
SB0139 EnrolledLRB102 10217 LNS 15541 b

    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
Marriage Act is amended by adding Section 221 as follows:
 
    (750 ILCS 5/221 new)
    Sec. 221. Request for changing or removing gender
identifying language on a marriage certificate.
    (a) Upon completion of an affidavit provided by the county
clerk and confirmation of identity, a person, still currently
married, may request a certificate of the person's current
marriage free of any gender identifying language. The person
may request a change from terms such as "bride" and "groom" to
a nongendered term such as "spouse" or a variant of "Spouse 1"
or "Spouse A". Upon such request, both parties shall be listed
with a nongendered identifier on a certificate. The request
shall not permanently change the gender identifying language
in the clerk's records, and the affidavit and issuance shall
be kept in the permanent records of the clerk.
    The affidavit shall be created by the county clerk, may
appear on a combined form with the form under subsection (b),
and shall be substantially as follows:
    
REQUEST FOR NONGENDERED COPY OF A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
        I, .........., state that I am a named spouse on a
    marriage license held in this office, that I am still
    married to the other named spouse on that marriage license
    as of the date of this request, and hereby request the
    holder of this record provide me, and only me, with a
    marriage certificate with any gender-identifying language
    removed or changed to "spouse". I affirm that this change
    is for purposes of this certified copy, the change will
    not be made to permanent records, and a record of this
    request shall be held by the holder of this marriage
    record.
    Date..........
    Signature..........
    (b) If 2 parties currently married request a marriage
certificate with gender identifiers changed, such as "bride"
to "groom" or "groom" to "bride", both parties shall appear
before the clerk, indicate consent, and complete an affidavit.
If the clerk is technologically able and the parties desire,
the change in gender is permanent.
    The affidavit shall be created by the county clerk, may
appear on a combined form with the form under subsection (a),
and shall be substantially as follows:
    
REQUEST FOR NONGENDERED COPY OF A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
        We, ..........[Spouse A] and ..........[Spouse B], the
    still-married named persons on a marriage license held in
    this office as of the date of this request, hereby request
    the holder of this record to provide a marriage
    certificate with gender-identifying terms such as "bride"
    and "groom" changed as follows:
        ..........[Name of Spouse A] Bride, Groom, or Spouse
    (select one).
        ..........[Name of Spouse B] Bride, Groom, or Spouse
    (select one).
        We affirm that this change is for purposes of this
    certified copy, and the change will not be made to
    permanent records, unless indicated by selecting Yes or No
    (select one) and a record of this request shall be held by
    the holder of this marriage record.
    Date..........
    Signature of Spouse A..........
    Signature of Spouse B..........
    (c) If a county provides a certified record, photocopy, or
reproduction of an original record in lieu of a summary data
sheet, the county clerk shall work with the Department of
Public Health to develop a new certificate that can be issued
in lieu of a reproduction of the prior record. Nothing in this
subsection authorizes the county clerk to permanently mark or
deface a prior record in lieu of a summary data sheet
certificate.
    (d) When a clerk issues a nongendered marriage certificate
under subsection (a), the certificate shall not include any
language indicating it has been amended nor that it is not a
true and accurate record of the facts stated therein.

Effective Date: 1/1/2022