Ill. Candidate: No Civil Unions

Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady (pictured) reiterated his opposition to civil unions for gay couples — something favored by his Democratic opponent — among other socially conservative stances in a wide-ranging interview Tuesday with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board.

“I’ve not found a reason to support civil unions,” he said. As a state senator, Brady proposed amending the Illinois constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

The Democratic candidate, incumbent governor Pat Quinn, supports civil unions and believes the state legislature could pass a civil unions bill before the end of the year. Quinn told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald there is a “need to encourage tolerance in the state.”

Brady has taken other antigay positions. In the state senate he backed legislation that would exempt certain nonprofit organizations from complying with the Illinois Human Rights Act, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the Sun-Times interview, he also said local school districts should be allowed to teach intelligent design, emphasized his opposition to abortion rights, voiced support for letting citizens carry concealed weapons, and said he would lift the moratorium on the death penalty imposed by former governor George Ryan.