Same-sex couples in Peoria County can start applying for marriage licenses Monday. Several counties in Illinois already started issuing marriage licenses before the new state law took effect Sunday. Peoria County Clerk Steve Sonnemaker says his office has received a few people expressing interest in applying for the marriage license:
“But not a large amount, but we do anticipate possibly being fairly busy in the first few weeks as the folk I’m assuming would want to convert their civil union at some point,” Sonnemaker says.
The new law also allows civil unions to be converted to official marriages. Sonnemaker says Peoria County issued 143 civil unions since 2011. Some couples across the state have held off getting civil unions to instead hold a wedding when it was finally legal in their home counties.