Illinois may see gay marriage fight

"Illinois does not want to be the last state in the union to do this," said David Smith, director of Protect Marriage Illinois, a Chicago-area group organizing the petition drive to gather about a half-million signatures to get the question of gay marriage on the ballot next year. But gay rights activists predicted the effort won't get past the first procedural hurdle in politically moderate Illinois. Organizers are collecting signatures around the state to put on the November 2006 ballot an advisory referendum asking for an addition to the state constitution. The addition would read: "To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, a marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state." The story from Kevin McDermott the of St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Springfield, IL., bureau.