Topinka reiterates stand against gay marriage

Topinka reiterates stand against gay marriage
By Gary Barlow
Copyrigt by The Chicago Free Press

In an interview with The Southern Illinoisan newspaper published July 24, Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka reiterated her stance against equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians.

“First of all, I do not want to see gay marriage, and if anything ever came to me as governor on that front, I would veto it.”

Topinka went on to say, however, that she opposes right-wing efforts to amend the Illinois Constitution to outlaw gay and lesbian marriages, noting that state law already makes such unions illegal.

“On the other hand, there is no need to tinker with the Constitution,” she said. “I am very reluctant to ever tinker with the Constitution unless there are structural types of things such as expanding the benefits of the Constitution rather than constricting it. The law is the law, and in the state of Illinois it says that there is no same-sex marriage so there is no need to go further with that.”

Topinka added that she supports civil unions legislation for gay and lesbian couples, which would grant same-sex partners some, but not all, of the rights and benefits married couples enjoy.

“As far as civil unions, I think they are good because they allow people to move funds, estates and if they are sick, it allows for privacy, and I think that makes sense,” Topinka said.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic incumbent Topinka is trying to unseat in November, has said he also opposes equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians but would support civil unions.