It seems that a push by President Obama, backing by the head of the Illinois GOP, and the star power of an actor with the hit television show Modern Family wasn’t enough to get gay marriage passed in Illinois. If passed, Illinois would be the tenth state in the nation to allow gay couples to obtain a legal marriage.

At the end of December President Obama urged Illinois lawmakers to pass the bill that addressed the issue . While he doesn’t ordinarily get involved in individual state’s legislation, he obviously felt that this was an important issue to weigh in on. A bill was drafted earlier in the year, but had not been acted on since March. Its chief sponsor, Representative Greg Harris, worked with other Chicago area state legislators to push for a vote during the lame duck session. It seems the push helped the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act to make progress. Just a few days before the end of the lame duck session, the Senate Executive Committee passed it on a vote of 8-5.