yea, california!

[thesilia]

according to hot press releases, the california supreme court just legalized gay marriage and referenced "separate but equal" in their decision. they ruled that the state's domestic partnership law was analogous to the racial segregation of the last century and that it was designed to deny homosexuals the right to marriage, to free association,

Comments

[madknits]

Actually, only 2 states now allow marriage rights for gay and lesbians, Mass and Calif.

NJ and VT have civil unions for gay folk, but because of federal laws, since those are not the same thing as marriage, companies do not have to grant the same benefits to civilly unioned queer couples that they do to straight married couples.

www.civilunionsdontwork.com

[thesilia]

thanks. your comment came in whilst i was editing the post to amend that bit. i couldn't remember if nj and or had authorized marriage or partnership/unions. thanks for setting me arights!

:)

[madknits]

De nada, chica!

;-)

[eryn_]

I don't think they should have religion dictate anything about civil partnerships. I think people should be able to have a domestic partnership for legal reasons and if they also want to be married religiously that would be a separate thing

[thesilia]

yeah, i have a child-free couple on the east coast i'm friendly with... and they say pretty much the same thing you do. for them, their marriage isn't about "guarding the sanctity of the traditional family." it's about making a commitment to be bonded monogamously for life to each other. they cringe every time they get lumped in with "traditional" marriages because they fear that if the right wing had their way, the slope would slip the other way and they could find their child-free marriage annulled.

[grey_evil_twin]

It's a bit tricky to say "I want to domestic partnership you!" Let everyone call it whatever they like. It's not like churches have copywrite over a word. I mean, they can't even agree over which god to worship, and in what way, so why on earth would we care about using a word they find so special?

[thesilia]

i think you have a good point about the verbal awkwardness, but i think people will come up with a suitable slang term if the institution is put in place. (do you remember how weird "significant other" used to sound?) also, i agree with your point that there is so much that the various world religions disagree on, including definitions and terminology. that said, almost every culture i've ever read or studied about recognizes a binary, heterosexual partnership as a basic social unit and calls it some word that we translate as "marriage" into english. and in most cultures, that social unit is religiously organized or influenced. whether i agree or disagree with it, it IS, and the reason i promote separating "marriage" from "union" is out a pragmatic desire to make this palatable to as many people as possible, while still getting what i want. in many states, a pro vote on the part of the citizens is going to be required to make gay marriage legal, and this is one way to recruit votes. if not to recruit pro votes, at least it stays

[gnomi]

I'm an observant Jew, and I really don't have any problem with the states getting out of the "marriage" business and just calling it civil unions or whatever else they want to call it, leaving "marriage" in the hands of religion.

[thesilia]

ok. first: icon love!

second: thanks for weighing in!

[gnomi]

I made that icon (after Jon said what the text says on a "Daily Show" a couple of years ago) when I talk about religion but not necessarily religious practice. I'm glad you like it.

[thewaterbaby]

I love hearing you all say this. I have felt for a long time that marriage should only be recognized as a religious ceremony and not a legal one. As it is now, with tax breaks for marriage, it's as if people who choose not to marry are penalized for it. Gay, straight or whatever, if you never want to be married you shouldn't have the government force higher taxes on you for it. In my opinion it's legislation based on a moral point of view. I thought we moved past that once Prohibition was repealed.