By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Gay marriage was just one of the issues touched on last week when the two candidates vying to fill the seat being vacated by Illinois state Sen. Carol Ronen (D-Chicago) met with community members in Rogers Park.

At the forum, held Jan. 19 at Rogers Park Community Church, Heather Steans and Suzanne Elder each explained the depth of their commitment to marriage equality for gay and lesbian Illinoisans.

In a previous forum Elder had reportedly questioned how seriously her opponent took the issue, noting that Steans’ website only said Steans supported civil unions.

But Steans, who has been endorsed by Rep. Greg Harris, said at the weekend forum, “I 100-percent support same-sex marriage,” and went on to praise the current efforts, led by Harris, to institute civil unions in the state.

“This is a key issue in our district and something I plan entirely to focus and help on,” Steans said.

Elder said that marriage equality, not civil unions, should be where activists set their sights.

“The conversation has now degraded to where we are going to satisfy ourselves with a compromise,” she said. “Can we imagine, just for a minute, if we started out the battle for civil rights by starting out with a compromise?”

She added, “I’m a strong proponent of marriage equality, and while I understand the practicality of civil unions legislation, it does not provide the same level of humanity (and) the same level of dignity.”

After the forum, Steans further clarified her views on marriage equality, saying, “I fully support that. I just think that civil unions are the first step.” She added that her website was going to be fixed to better represent those views.

Elder also said after the forum that too much energy is being concentrated on civil unions and not enough on the final goal of marriage.

“My starting point is marriage equality,” she said. “I see this as less about the (logistics of) the legislation and more about where it lives in the minds and hearts of the people in this district.”

Questions at the forum touched upon other issues of importance to community members, including neighborhood TIFs, campaign finance and school reform.

The candidates were essentially in agreement on some issues, such as when Elder and Steans were asked about healthcare for the uninsured.

Elder said that in the long run healthcare expansion was best done at the federal level. But if that was not forthcoming, she agreed with the governor’s idea that coverage should be implemented by the state.

“I don’t agree with his strong-armed tactics to get it,” she said. “Elbowing one’s way through an issue in that fashion only erodes the support that you need later…in implementing universal healthcare coverage, for which I am an absolute proponent.”

Steans agreed that, with 2 million uninsured Illinoisans, the state would have to step in if the federal government did not. She added, “We also need to make sure that, at the same time, we provide quality health care that moves from back-end treatment to prevention.”

She further praised community health centers as a means to administer preventative treatment, and suggested that they be expanded to offer more specialized services.

Near the end of the forum, Steans was asked how she could claim to be independent given her numerous endorsements from elected officials.

She answered, “There’s no entrenchment here. …My independence comes from my ability to stand up and be beholden to no one—not the governor, not the mayor, not the speaker of the House, not the Senate president.”

Elder replied that Steans had gotten those endorsements even before the people in the district knew there was a race.

“I am not endorsed by the elected officials,” she added. “…I’m the grassroots candidate. …I do not have the machine backing. I have no machine help.”

Steans and Elder face each other in the Feb. 5 Democratic primary.