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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Gay Marriage Advocates Lobby Illinois Republicans At Convention

On Tuesday, gay marriage advocates spoke with Illinois Republicans in Tampa. But it’s not clear how their message was received.

Equality Illinois is an organization that lobbies for gay marriage in the state. Randy Hannig is a group spokesman.

"There’s a lot of Republicans are still on the fence.They’re not too sure on how they would vote on say, for example, the marriage bill. So this is an
opportunity for us to kind of talk to them, answer their questions, kind of
assuage any fears they have" Hannig said.

Hannig says his group will sponsor a similar event at next week’s Democratic convention.

Despite their presence at the GOP convention, Tuesday's lunch was sparsely attended.

Most delegates were leaving for the convention at that time.

Bill Anderson was among those who were there. He gave the group’s message a cool reception.

"I think there’s far - uh - there are many other issues that are far more
important" Anderson said.

Later in the day - the national Republican Party passed a platform that rejects gay marriage.