A judge has just ordered that gay and lesbian couples can marry in Cook County. The Chicago Tribune has the full story, with video.
Gay couples in Cook County won’t have to wait until June to marry, under a ruling today by a federal judge in Chicago that scraps the delayed effective date of Illinois' same sex marriage law.
"There is no reason to delay further when no opposition has been presented to this Court and committed gay and lesbian couples have already suffered from the denial of their fundamental right to marry,” U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman stated.
Her ruling noted that Cook County Clerk David Orr filed a brief in support of the lawsuit, which argued that couples should not have to wait until the Illinois law went into effect on June 1.
Orr released a statement after the ruling saying he will begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses "immediately."