CHICAGO - Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady will be working for the ACLU to get Illinois House Republicans to vote for same sex marriage. He announced his new role in a WBEZ interview Tuesday afternoon.
Brady told the Chicago Sun-Times he was hired by the ACLU to lobby state lawmakers on passing same-sex marriage — the very issue that got him pushed out of his position as State GOP chairman this year.
“I have been hired by them,” Brady said. Will he be lobbying state lawmakers? “Yeah, that’s what they hired me for.”
“I think the very core of the conservative movement, which I consider myself a part of, is application of equality under the law for all,” Brady said Tuesday in an interview with WBEZ's Alex Keefe.
Illinois Family Action (IFA), the organization leading the fight to keep Illinois' definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, responded to the news:
"It really isn’t a surprise to hear that Pat Brady is now working for the far left ACLU to promote marriage redefinition," said Dave Smith, IFA Executive Director. "Brady doesn’t understand the nature of marriage, the importance of religious liberty and the rights of children to be raised by both parents." What I want to know is, when will Illinois Republicans start demanding real, across the board Republican leaders and stop promoting RINOs?"
Brady will focus on lobbying House Republicans in hopes of getting the same-sex marriage bill passed during this fall’s veto session, Brady said on WBEZ. He’ll also tap the political donors he cultivated during his four years as party chairman to raise money for groups that support gay marriage, and for Republican lawmakers who may be hesitant to cast a yes vote, fearing a challenge in next year’s primary.
Brady’s hiring comes after the ACLU launched a $10 million national push in June, aimed at winning support for same-sex marriage from Republican lawmakers and voters in a handful of states, including Illinois.