HB5170 - Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act

• Creates the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act to provide same-sex and different-sex couples equal access to marriage status, benefits, protections, rights, and responsibilities.

• Amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act to allow marriage between "2 persons" (replacing "a man and a woman") and removes the prohibition on same-sex marriage.

• Establishes that all Illinois laws applicable to marriage apply equally to same-sex and different-sex couples and their children, including all benefits, protections, and spousal terminology.

• Adds religious exemption protections allowing religious denominations, Indian Nations or Tribes, and Native Groups to choose which marriages they will solemnize, with no requirement to perform same-sex marriages.

• Authorizes voluntary conversion of existing civil unions to marriages, with waived fees for one year following the act's effective date, and recognizes same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions as marriages in Illinois.