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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Vernita Gray on March 19, 2014; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Vernita Gray, a native Chicagoan who attended St.
5Mary High School and Columbia College, came out as a lesbian in
61969 and spent the rest of her life advocating for the rights
7of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, mentoring
8gay and questioning youth, opposing violence in all its forms,
9and working tirelessly for a more just Illinois; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited
11Chicago when Vernita Gray was a young girl and inspired her to
12a lifetime of activism through his campaign to end de facto
13segregation in Chicago neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools;
14and
 
15    WHEREAS, Vernita Gray's career was varied, including
16ownership of the Uptown restaurant Sol Sands and 18 years at
17the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, where she assisted
18LGBT victims of crime and coordinated the office's outreach to
19the LGBT community; and
 
20    WHEREAS, In the early 1970s, Vernita Gray started the first
21LGBT helpline out of her one-bedroom apartment; over the years,

 

 

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1she sheltered many teenagers forced to leave their homes
2because of their sexual orientation; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Vernita Gray, who described herself as a "gay
4hippie", traveled the world; she was a friend of many social
5justice pioneers, including James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks,
6and Barack Obama, and visited the White House 4 times during
7the Obama administration, yet remained committed to the
8struggle for equality and understanding in her hometown of
9Chicago; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Vernita Gray was a gifted poet who knew how to
11rally a crowd with the spoken word; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Vernita Gray received dozens of awards for her
13work, including the Stonewall Award and the Horizons Community
14Services Human First Award; she was also inducted into the
15Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Vernita Gray met her wife, Pat Ewert, in 2009; she
17subsequently entered into a civil union with her soon after
18Illinois law created that option for same-sex couples in 2011;
19and
 
20    WHEREAS, When Vernita Gray was diagnosed with terminal
21cancer, she and Pat Ewert knew they wanted to be married under

 

 

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1the laws of the State of Illinois, thereby publicly declaring
2their love for one another, enjoying the fruits of a long labor
3for one of the major goals of the LGBT justice movement, and
4assuming the rights and responsibilities of marriage in the
5eyes of family, friends, and the State; and
 
6    WHEREAS, On the basis of her doctor's opinion that her time
7on this earth was coming to an end, Vernita Gray, along with
8Pat Ewert, successfully filed suit for the right to marry
9before the June 1 effective date of the Illinois Religious
10Freedom and Marriage Equality Act; in doing so, she opened the
11door for other similarly situated same-sex couples to obtain
12marriage licenses in Illinois; and
 
13    WHEREAS, In the midst of her personal battle with cancer,
14Vernita Gray served as a trailblazer and an inspiration, dying
15as she lived - as a creative, committed and compassionate voice
16for a more just society; therefore, be it
 
17    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL
18ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we, along with her
19wife, family, and friends, mourn the passing of Vernita Gray;
20and be it further
 
21    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
22presented to the family of Vernita Gray as an expression of our

 

 

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1sympathy.