It fills me with great pride to know we were able to accomplish this in the wake of the fear resulting from the presidential election in November. Despite what some would have us mistakenly believe, that the election results were somehow a mandate from the religious right, Illinois now stands out in stark contrast to that assertion as a beacon in the heart of our country that discrimination against people simply because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is no longer acceptable. Polling across the entire state shows that the vast majority of Illinois citizens believed this issue was simply one of fairness and favored the passage of this bill. Illinois can now truly live up to its state slogan of being called the "Land of Lincoln."

I would like to thank all of the people who helped make this possible. Our legislators were flooded with thousands of phone calls, emails and faxes, the likes of which they had never seen before from our community. Quite frankly, I think we shocked them. I also want to thank all of the unsung heroes of this fight who helped at various points along the way over 10, 20 and even 30 years ago. Without the loyal support of our friends, we could never have succeeded. Together we have made history in striking a powerful blow against ignorance and intolerance.

Of course this victory does not mean the end of our work at Equality Illinois. We will continue our fight to secure and defend the rights of the GLBT community across our great state. New areas of focus for Equality Illinois will be issues on adoptions, safe schools, inheritance, health care, bereavement leave and anything else that affects the rights of the members of our community.

Please continue to stand with us in our ongoing fight for Equality Illinois. If you have not already become a member please do so. It's as simple as visiting our website at www.equil.org.