Today in Chicago History: Same-sex couples receive marriage licenses for the first time in Illinois
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 1, according to the Tribune's archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Here are Chicago's hottest days — with temperatures of 100 degrees or higher — on recordWeather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
1924: WDAP radio station was renamed WGN by the Tribune in honor of the paper's slogan — World's Greatest Newspaper. The station broadcast from The Drake. Among WGN's first broadcasts was the Memorial Day 500-mile classic in Indianapolis.
1984: The Delta Air Lines complex opened at O'Hare International Airport. Consisting of a 391-foot addition to Terminal 3 and a 740-foot Concourse L, it was the first new passenger area constructed since the airport opened 22 years earlier. The project was part of a $1 billion modernization program.
2011: For the first time in Illinois history, gay and lesbian couples obtained civil unions. Many of the same rights married counterparts received — including sharing a nursing home room, visiting a loved one in a hospital, preventing those in the union from testifying against each other in court, funeral and end-of-life decisions, inheritance of property and certain employment-related benefits such as insurance — now applied to same-sex couples who were united in civil unions.
Illinois became the sixth state to recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. Another five states and the District of Columbia already allowed gay marriage.
2014: Marriage licenses were available for same-sex couples for the first time in the state as part of the Illinois Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. The new law changed the definition of marriage in Illinois from an act between a man and a woman to one between two people.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn put his signature on the historic measure in November 2013. The action made Illinois the 16th state to allow same-sex marriage, capping a 40-year push for gay rights that picked up major momentum during the previous decade.
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