Thanks to all who attended last week's Young Advocates event! It was great to talk with so many of you about the urgent need for action to win civil unions here in Illinois. Here are a few steps you can take:

• Talk to your legislator in person. We’ll be making trips down to Springfield on Wednesdays in April – You can sign up for a trip by emailing Nick Rutan at nrutan@aclu-il.org or calling 312-201-9740 x339. If you can’t take the day off, we can also help you set up an in-district constituent visit. This is the single most important thing you can do to help convince your legislator to stand up for fairness. There is no substitute for looking them in the eye and declaring your support for civil unions.

• Write a letter. Handwritten letters can make a world of difference. Taking the time to handwrite your letter will make sure it gets noticed in the flood of constituent mail your state senator and representative receive. Not sure who your representatives are? Visit http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/AddressSearch.aspx. Need to look up their address? Go to http://www.ilga.gov/. You can also find fact sheets and talking points on our civil unions web page: http://www.aclu-ilorg/civilunion/index.shtml.
  
  
• Send a free fax. You can send a free, personalized fax to your legislator by going to our civil unions webpage: http://www.aclu-ilorg/civilunion/index.shtml. There, you will also find talking points and suggestions for other steps you can take to support civil unions in Illinois.

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See you at the next Current Event!

P.S. Save the Date! Tuesday, April 8th, from 5-8PM. Lorie Chaiten, the Director of the ACLU Reproductive Rights Project, will be discussing developments on parental notification. Email us at youngadvocates@aclu-il.org to receive evites and updates.