Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is set to amend the state office's domestic partnership policy.
The state treasurer and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate plans to sign an executive order at a news conference on Sunday in Chicago, Giannoulias spokesman Scott Burnham said.
The executive order will recognize same-sex domestic partnerships as equivalent to marriages for treasurer's office employees. For example, the policy will allow gay and lesbian employees unpaid time off to care for a sick partner or for the birth or adoption of children.
Giannoulias' office says it is the first Illinois constitutional office or state agency to adopt the policy.
Giannoulias faces Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk in the Senate race. In response to this story, Kirk spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski sent the following statement:
"Congressman Kirk has always backed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and agrees with President Obama that there shouldn't be discrimination in the workplace. We wish Treasurer Giannoulias had issued a more impressive order to make whole the Bright Start families that lost their colleges savings under Giannoulias's failed management."
