Gov's Sister-in-law Arrested At Chicago Gay Marriage Rally

Chicago, IL - The sister-in-law of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested during a gay marriage protest in front of the Cook County Administration Building Thursday.

Deborah Mell, the sister of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's wife Patty, and the daughter of Richarard Mell a Chicago Alderman, was handcuffed and taken away in a police van after an altercation with police as they tried to clear the demonstrators from Washington Street across from Daley Plaza.

Mell was one of about 300 same-sex marriage advocates who were demanding that the county clerk issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"The fact of the matter is words are cheap," Andy Thayer, one of the organizers of the rally told the Chicago Tribune. "It's action that counts. We demand our civil rights. [Cook County Clerk David] Orr is hiding behind the law and saying the law does not allow him to do this. The fact of the matter is that the 1960s civil rights movement had to go up against Jim Crow laws that they proudly and defiantly defied."

Earlier this week Orr said that although he supported gay marriage rights state law forbids him from issuing them. (story)

Mell was the only person arrested at the protest. Her father, alderman Mell said he supported his daughter and that he is opposed to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

"I'm proud of my daughter," Mell told the Tribune, adding that he knew his daughter was going to the demonstration and was glad that she was protesting for "something that she believes in and that she stands for."

"I think that you should do what you believe is right," Mell added. "I'm not going to tell anybody to defy the law. I am going to tell people that I'm going to do what I believe is right."

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