In an effort to spark discussion, as I'm sure it will, I am posting the following which I received from the Ohio Democratic Party:
"Under pressure from New Jersey's highest court to offer marriage or its equivalent to gay couples, the Legislature voted Thursday to make New Jersey the
third state to allow civil unions. Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign the measure, which would extend to same-sex couples all the rights and
privileges available under state law to married people. The bill passed the Assembly 56-19 and the Senate 23-12.
Massachusetts is the only state to allow gay marriage. Vermont and Connecticut have civil unions, and California has domestic partnerships that work similarly.
Among the benefits gay couples would get under New Jersey's civil unions bill are adoption rights, hospital visitation rights and inheritance rights.
Gay rights advocates welcomed the bill as a step forward but said they would continue to push for the right to marry.
The bill was drafted in response to a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in October that required the state to extend the rights and benefits of marriage
to gay couples within 180 days. The court, in its 4-3 ruling, left it up to the Legislature to decide whether to call such unions ''marriages'' or something
else.
Gay rights groups have argued that not calling the arrangement ''marriage'' creates a different, and inferior, institution. Some conservatives argued against
civil unions altogether, and Republican Sen. Robert Singer said Thursday he wanted to add a provision to the bill defining marriage as a union between
a man and a woman.
Citing recent state polls showing strong support for marriage equality, Steven Goldstein, director of the gay rights advocacy organization Garden State
Equality, said he expects gay couples to be able to get married in New Jersey within two years. (AP)"
Friday, December 15, 2006
new Jersey Legislature makes Civil Unions Legal in that State
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2 comments:
Good post Jer, thanks for stirring the pot. I just read a viewpoint in time magazine yesterday where Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter is having a baby with her life partner. (Good for her)
The viewpoint was from James Dobson of Focus on the Family, and he was less than pleased with the decision of gay couples to raise kids. Typical viewpoint however, he cited 1 study in which the researcher said the best relationship to raise a child was a man and a woman. He touched on divorce and single parenthood, which is extrmely high in our beloved union, but would not say that two people of the same sex is better than one. Only a man and a woman, sorry that is just bullshit to me. I have studied child development and the research does not show his viewpoint to be correct all of the time. If you read any research from the Search Institute, you will noticce that an Assets based approach to development is probably more effective. It states that children develop into more healthy adults based on the assets they recieve in their youth. It mentions family life, creative use of time, positive support and it never mentions the gender of the parents or the sexual orientation of the people involved.
Also, we had a letter come into a local non profit that I work for from a man who will not contribute to our organization, because we do not discriminate services based on sexual orientation. He actually said "I am dissappointed you can't stand your ground on this issue" I want to write him back and say "Hey ass, we have stood are ground! This is our stand! We will not discriminate and I am sorry that you do!" but, hey I can vent on the internet.
I think that if you put a child in a home with a pair of adults who love and support that child in a way that helps he or she grow up to be responsible and able to eventually go out on his own into this world, then it doesn't matter what gender the parents are or what type of relationship they have. The truth is....is that it's almost 2007 and it's about time people stop imposing they're unrealistic values that don't even have a concrete backing on the government and the rest of the world. Just because some conservative ass in some remote part of the country doesn't believe it's "right" to be gay doesn't give the government the right to dictate who is allowed to get married and who is not. It's too rare that couples truly are happy and it shouldn't be mine, the governments, or anyone else's job to say whether it's right or wrong! Millions of parents looked shocked every day when their grown, adult children tell them about a secret lifestyle they've been leading because their families are not accepting.....get with the program parents! You want your children to be open and honest with you....then you need to learn a little bit of open-mindedness and begin using it early on. Their overall happiness SHOULD be more important than how society may view them.
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