Wilco's frontman, Jeff Tweedy, is a long way from forgetting his roots.
Tweedy has a history of sharing his opinions on gay marriage, and now he is taking the message home – to Belleville, Illinois to be exact.
He used his local paper, the Belleville News Democrat, as his stage to express his support for same-sex marriage. Tweedy wrote them an open letter and explained why he believes same-sex marriage is good for Illinois. Mentioning how he was raised in Belleville and still resides in the "Prairie State", he describes how excluding same-sex marriage would hurt Illinois ‘families and businesses’, and calls on Illinois to join the 9 other states that have legalized same-sex marriage.
The letter is timely as the house is expected to make a decision on Illinois’ same-sex marriage legislation by mid-April. The legislation has already been approved by Illinois’ state Senate and a house committee. Tweedy ends his letter with a plea of support for the bill saying, “I hope you'll join me in calling on the Illinois General Assembly to give same-sex couples the freedom to marry by supporting SB 10.”
What's more, although Tweedy only refers to Illinois in his letter, this issue is hot nationwide. This week the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California's Proposition 8, which both define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
The ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ motto has been in vogue for a while now, but Tweedy shows he is one individual who has taken this motto to heart.