The right's dangerous legal argument
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The right's dangerous legal argument
| Thu, 03-05-2009 - 9:46pm |
Appearing for the supporters of Prop 8, Kenneth Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor, said the people hold the right to modify the state constitution by adding or subtracting protections for civil rights.
Court appears ready to uphold Prop. 8
Full length fiction: worlds undone
"You have no power over my body..." ~ Anne Hutchinson
"You think you know, sir!" ~ Cornflake Girl ~ Tori Amos.

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Thank you :)
Kate
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~overturning DOMA would be a huge step, but still don't agree that there should be any step which grants different ways to access the same legal rights for gay and straight couples.~
That's what I'd suggest, also.
(changed my sign-on as mentioned the other day, should be easier on the boards to keep us straight)
Kate
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Kate
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Nope.
>>>>> A church wedding is NOT a requirement for a marriage in the US.
>>>>> I also don't understand why the solution here is not apparent - to simply recognize gay marriage the SAME way we recognize straight marriages. It takes a while.
Did you email Obama yet, asking him to: 1 overturn the DOMA asap (to include gay couples), and 2 grant churches that wish to marry gay couples the same 'licence' as any other church (so there aren't 2 separate ceremonies needed)??
Churches already can marry gay couples.
In the states where marriage is legal for gay couples, or civil unions...Churches can already perform those ceremonies.
>> Except that civil unions don't provide equal access to civic institutions.
Which ones?<<
>>> How about social security.
What about it? And since civil unions are a contrivance, why not just petition to expand their scope to cover all of the same "rights" conferred by marriage?
>> Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education
This is relevant how?<<
>>> separate but equal isn't.
That's the whole point...and as far as I know, it's the only point of compromise.
Civil unions do not confer the automatic 'rights' that legal marriages confer automatically.
Same sex couples cannot file joint federal taxes, are denied access to social security benefits, are denied immigration for their spouses, pay taxes on domestic partners health insurance, do not automatically inherit property if the spouse dies...and must pay estate taxes on the property, do not have the same right to live together in nursing homes that hetero couples have, do not automatically get pension benefits, do not have their marriage recognized in all other states like straight couples do, an on and on and on.
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) was asked by congressional members to compile a list of U.S. federal laws which are affected by marital status. The results of their first study was completed on January 31, 1997.
The GAO subsequently did a second search for the federal laws that are triggered by legal marriage. In December 31, 2003, it identified a total of 1,138 federal statutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving benefits, rights, and privileges.
http://www.buddybuddy.com/mar-g03.html
Seperate is not equal
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