In a recent interview with the Chicago News Cooperative, Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said she would like to bring a host of progressive reforms to Cook County government if she is elected County Board president, but added that many would be on the back burner until she can get the county’s books in order.
One of them is legalizing gay marriage. “My view is that it’s particularly incumbent on people who’ve been discriminated against not to discriminate against others,” said Ms. Preckwinkle, who is black. “This is a view of the world that doesn’t always go down well in the African-American community, particularly among some African-American clergy. But few enough people want to get married these days anyway, and we shouldn’t quibble with the gender of the people who get married.”
However, she cautioned county residents not to expect her to take unilateral action to make it happen. She said the General Assembly needs to make the move. “It’s something we would support at the state level,” she said. “Every government entity has a lobbying agenda, and that’s where I would support this.”
Ms. Preckwinkle has called for reforms to the county’s criminal justice system, starting with sentencing for drug offenders. She said she would like to expand a small program now operating at the jail that diverts some nonviolent drug offenders from time behind bars to
substance-abuse treatment and job training. Ms. Preckwinkle said she believes this will help reduce the number of repeat offenders and save taxpayers money.
“My understanding from the people at the jail is that in the city of Chicago we’ve effectively decriminalized marijuana possession for amounts that you might use yourself—it’s the people who are dealing that basically go to jail,” she said. “But that’s a nonviolent offense, and people who are dealing are often users, and if we can help deal with their substance-abuse problems and some education and training, we at least offer them the opportunity to turn their lives around rather than sitting in the jail.”
That doesn’t mean she’s ready to endorse decriminalizing drugs or pushing for the passage of medical marijuana laws.
“I think that it’s important to set priorities and to realize what it makes sense to spend your political capital on,” she said.
“I’m not the sheriff,” Ms. Preckwinkle said, “but we’ll do our best to figure out what’s going on there once we get in.”
This was taken from another poster that shows why we need to legalize gay marriage. If you don’t feel for this person after reading it, you simply aren’t human.
“I am not sure what our President thinks of this dicission but coming from a poor family and knowing what discrimination is all about I would assume he would not care if “Gays” have equal rights. The whole reason why they are asking for rights to be considered married is from the same reason why I would be for it. My own life partner commited suicide in our home with a gun to his heart. After a 28 year union I was deprived to even go his funeral. We had two plots next to each other. But because we did not have a marriage cirtificate “(Legal Document)” of our union his mother had him cremated and his ashes taken back to Missouri where we came from. That is only one example how painful it is. His suicide tramatized me so much and her disregard for my feelings only added to my heartach. That happened on March 21 of 2007 and I still cannot type this without crying for the trauma I have to endure each day. Oh did I mention I am in an electric wheelchair for life? Yes I am and it is very diffacult to find another mate when you are 58 and in a wheelchair. “