CHICAGO - Last Friday, an Illinois lesbian couple won a court order that allows them to legally marry in Illinois earlier than the law's official launch next June. Vernita Gray and Pat Ewert were granted special privileges to marry as soon as this week because Gray is fighting terminal cancer.
Gray and Ewert have been a couple since 2005 and entered into a civil union two years ago. Gray's last wish is to be married to Ewert. A spokesperson for Cook County Clerk David Orr's office said the court-ordered marriage license would be hand delivered to the couple as early as Tuesday.
"With Social Security and federal benefits and how estates are handled in a marriage, it really makes them full-class citizens in Illinois, their attorney told the Chicagoist.
