Some Fox Valley couples make it official at Millennium Park
By Susan Frick Carlman scarlman@stmedianetwork.com June 2, 2011 7:18PM
Diana Shull (left) and Maggie Burke (right) of St. Charles during their civil union ceremony held Thursday in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. | Marianne Mather~Sun-Times Media
Updated: July 8, 2011 3:08PM
The anniversary will always be July 21.
Next month will mark four years since Jamie and Nikki Pagano were married in the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Naperville. It wasn’t until Thursday, though, that the union won the state’s blessing.
As their 2-month-old son Cooper snoozed between them, the two Naperville women stood face-to-face in Millennium Park’s Wrigley Square and took their vows once again. The pair was among 35 same-sex couples joined in the Chicago park in a civil union ceremony, conducted the day after the new Illinois law sanctioning the relationship took effect.
“This means a lot, because it’s legal,” said Jamie, 32, a therapist who works full-time counseling inmates through the Salvation Army and part-time at the Centers for Family Change in Naperville. “We considered ourselves married before, but this makes it official in the eyes of the law.”
Laurie Houle, Nikki’s mom and a Yorkville resident, was delighted, saying she has come to view Jamie as another daughter.
Nikki, 31, who teaches seventh-grade science at Washington Junior High School in Naperville, said part of the impetus behind the most recent ritual was the budgetary bite of health care. The medically aided conception process was at the couple’s expense, but the cost of routine wellness can add up, too.
“It’s nice to have decision-making power, should one of us ever end up in the hospital,” she said. “But the biggest thing is probably surrounding our work, just making sure we’re covered, if anything ever happens.”
Diana Shull and Maggie Burke, who live in St. Charles, also were joined together in the civil union ceremony at Millennium Park.
The two have spent most of the past two decades together after meeting while they were students at Illinois State University.
Burke said it was nice that their families wouldn’t oppose decisions they make for each other, but now the state won’t stand in the way, either. Shull was pleased by that as well.
“The best part about today is that it’s recognized by the government and the people,” she said.
On hand for the ceremony were Gov. Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other dignitaries. Quinn, who signed the legislation granting full legal rights to those in civil unions, drew the most robust applause.
“All of us in the Land of Lincoln can celebrate,” he said in comments before the ceremonies. “... There’s all kinds of families in Illinois, but we are the family of Illinois, and we understand and love one another.”
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