Free Republic

From combined dispatches LONDON -- Same-sex partners in Britain will be able to enter into civil unions beginning in December, joining homosexuals in parts of Europe and the United States in obtaining many of the rights enjoyed by married couples, the government said yesterday. The Civil Partnerships Bill passed by Parliament last year gives same-sex couples the right to form legally binding partnerships and entitles them to some of the same tax and pension rights that married couples have. Starting Dec. 5, couples will be able to notify the register office at their local council that they intend to form...

The judge who will decide the constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriage has refused to let San Francisco submit expert studies to counter their opponents' authorities, who contend that children need opposite- sex parents and that homosexuals can be cured. snip...

LOS ANGELES — A new state law in California allows gay and lesbian couples nearly all the same rights and benefits of married spouses if they choose to sign up with a state domestic partner registry. For thousands of same-sex couples in the state, that means legal recognitions they have long dreamed about having. California Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, author of the Domestic Partnership and Responsibilities Act (search), calls the measure historic. It grants same-sex couples everything from insurance benefits to adoption rights, but also adds responsibilities like their partner's debt.

Was Lincoln Gay? By W. Scott Thompson Mr. Thompson is a professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. What drives our great to greatness? We search, and find hope and humanity, unassuageably-remembered hunger, driving fear; but sometimes the mystery goes deeper to presiding emotions unmistakable in their power but strangely indeterminate in their form. In the present case Abe Lincoln passed from death into a demigod of national might and righteousness, and now makes him the canonic hero of liveliest sympathy and spiritual growth. And neither depiction--better still a union of the two--rings false. We examine...

During the recent election, voters in 11 states approved amendments opposing same-sex marriage.So it is no surprise that Texas Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, rushed to prefile a bill proposing a constitutional amendment defining marriage in Texas as only between a man and a woman.Even though state law already defines marriage that way, Chisum's bill calls for a vote on the amendment in the November 2005 election.The measure is both unnecessary and divisive. The state should establish rules for civil unions that define legal relationships and leave the issue of who can marry to religious institutions, where it belongs.This uproar began...

I just might have the answer to the questions surrounding gay marriage. And I promise, it's very different from anything you've heard before. To agree upon a solution, we must first agree upon a problem, so let's start from the beginning. Once upon a time, homosexual couples asked for the same rights which married heterosexual couples enjoy. And you're hard-pressed to find someone who will deny that they ought to have these rights. And I agree - everyone should have the rights of contract and benefits that come with marriage, regardless of sexual orientation.

Despite having passed a referendum banning gay marriage in 2000, it looks like California has managed to establish the equivalent. A little-noticed provision of the recent expansion of California's domestic partnership laws will see the California Family Code Amended as of January to grant ALL rights and obligations of a spouse to any registered domestic partner. [Cal. Family Code Section 297.5] What does this mean? It means that by merely registering as domestic partners under the law, a gay couple in California will be considered the legal equivalent of a spouse in every way. This has completely been slipped under...

The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks for the state's high school and middle school students Friday after the publishers agreed to change the wording to depict marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The board decision could affect books sold in dozens of states because of Texas' market clout as the nation's second-largest buyer of textbooks.

September 24, 2004 — Democratic U-S Senate candidate Barack Obama says he's opposed to gay marriage because of tradition and his Christian beliefs. But Obama says he supports civil unions for gays and lesbians and would oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Obama made his comments today during a taping of W-B-B-M Radio's "At Issue" program. His Republican opponent, Alan Keyes, has said repeatedly that Obama supports gay marriage. But Obama says he personally believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. The Democratic candidate also says the issue of gay marriage should be left to the...

A debate over recognizing "civil unions" for same-sex couples in New Zealand has turned ugly, with opponents of the move being likened to hate-groups. Advocates of civil unions -- including the government minister responsible for the legislation -- have sought to link their opponents to extremists by appealing to current public worries about anti-Semitic activity and a planned visit to New Zealand by a controversial historian and Holocaust-skeptic. The Civil Union Bill, which passed its first reading in parliament last June and was sent to a select committee for public feedback, will give legal recognition to same-sex couples as well...

Breaking News from NewsMax.com Civil Union Leads to Battle Over Child Janet Miller-Jenkins, 39, is asking a family court in Vermont, the only state where civil unions are recognized, to award her custody of the child, claiming that Lisa has barred her from seeing Isabella even though under Vermont law she is a co-equal parent," the Washington Post reported. "The dispute has mobilized activists on both sides of the gay-marriage issue. Lambda Legal, a prominent gay rights advocacy group in New York, is advising Janet, while Florida-based Liberty Counsel, which opposes gay marriage, is consulting with Lisa." Stephen Cable, president...

BY STEVENSON SWANSON Chicago Tribune NEW YORK - (KRT) - First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes divorce. With the first legalized same-sex marriages barely 1 month old, pondering gay divorce might seem premature. But according to attorneys and legal experts, it's already here. Gay and lesbian couples have been struggling with the legal fallout of breaking up for years. Without state recognition of their relationships, partners who are splitting up can find themselves cast adrift by the courts, with few provisions for equitable division of property, parental visitation rights or child support. If anything, the advent of same-sex...

For Marty Finkel and Mike Plake, South Orange village is the place to be this weekend. A new domestic partnership law making New Jersey the fifth state in the nation to give gay couples many rights accorded married people takes effect Saturday. In South Orange, officials will begin registering couples as soon as they can -- a minute after midnight. Finkel, 45, and Plake, 41, who lobbied for the law, expect to be the first couple officially recognized as domestic partners in New Jersey. "Everyone in the state is welcome," Finkel said. "It is very exciting." The new law, hailed...

Among the first things Katy Gossman and Kristin Marshall did after their May wedding in Massachusetts was change Marshall's last name to Gossman. But they are still waiting for her new driver's license to make it official. When the lesbian couple made the trek to the Connecticut Motor Vehicle Department, the clerk was at a loss for what to do. "He started to punch it into the computer, and then he looked at the marriage license again. He looked at us, he looked at the license," Katy said. "He said he didn't know what to do with us. They weren't...

July 1, 2004 Crowd assails unequal rights By COURTNEY HUCKABAY The News Virginian More than 100 area residents crammed into a hot and stuffy council chambers at Staunton City Hall on Wednesday night to come out to the community in a way the Shenandoah Valley has never seen before. Though it seemed like the rallying action came too late for Virginia House Bill 751, the passionate activists made it clear that this town meeting was only the beginning. Though the public meeting, sponsored by Virginia Equality, was intended to inform the public at large about the effects of HB 751...

The Family Foundation of Virginia Defending Faith, Family, and Freedom Across the Commonwealth -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victoria Cobb, Director of Legislative Affairs Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Information Alert: Homosexuals Boycott Virginia Based on Misinformation Tomorrow, a new law banning civil unions in our Commonwealth will take affect. As a practical matter, House Bill 751 will not change anything. The Commonwealth of Virginia already explicitly bans same-sex marriage and has never recognized civil unions or other forms of homosexual relationships as a position of public policy. The intended purpose of the new law is to make explicit a statement of law that is...

The Institute For Marriage and Public Policy has issued a report on the high rate of divorce among homosexual males and females in Sweden. The IMAPP study surveyed results from "Divorce Risk Patterns in Same-Sex Marriages in Norway and Sweden," presented at the 2004 meeting of the Population Association of America. The survey indicated that homosexual male couples were 1.5 times as likely to divorce as opposite-sex couples, while female homosexuals were 2.67 times as likely to divorce as opposite-sex couples.

<p>Employers, insurance companies, consumers and the government would foot the bill for the financial benefits that homosexuals would gain if same-sex "marriage" is legalized nationally. Insurance and tax costs would drop for the partners, while spousal benefits would increase. A General Accounting Office report lists 1,138 federal laws in which marital status conveys benefits, rights or privileges. The benefits include Social Security, disability payments, food stamps, Medicare and welfare. "Won't this just break the bank?" said Rep. Spencer Bachus, Alabama Republican, during a House Judiciary Constitution subcommittee hearing last week on same-sex "marriage." Health care and retirement benefits for domestic partners of federal employees would cost the government about $1.4 billion from 2004 to 2013, according to a Congressional Budget Office report that was cited by Mr. Bachus. Like President Bush, he supports a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The exact cost to the government if same-sex "marriage" benefits were extended nationally has not been tallied, although government officials say it would be high. "It would undoubtedly have a significant impact on the budget through lower revenues and higher spending," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. Massachusetts yesterday began allowing same-sex "marriages," and other states are considering it. However, only the federal government can decide who can file joint tax returns, receive Social Security or get other federal benefits. "For tax purposes, it doesn't matter what the states rule," said Tara Bradshaw, spokeswoman for the Treasury Department. Many unmarried homosexual couples pay significantly more in federal and state taxes than their married counterparts, according to a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force report released last month. The report profiled a homosexual couple that paid $1,929, or 25 percent, more per year in state and federal taxes than a heterosexual couple earning the same amount. The homosexual couple could not file a joint tax return. As with opposite-sex couples, the sliding scale of tax rates would create the biggest advantage of a joint return for same-sex "married" couples with greatly different incomes. Equal incomes would create no advantage for a joint return. Greater financial advantages also would come from insurance and Social Security benefits, which married people can receive when their spouses are sick, injured or die. Insurance companies interpret their obligations to same-sex domestic partners differently. In California, Kaiser Permanente, a health care provider, said it would provide same-sex partner benefits until the state Supreme Court rules otherwise. However, State Farm Insurance, the auto and home insurance company, said it would provide same-sex partner benefits in California, only if the state Supreme Court gives legal recognition to homosexual "marriages" this summer. Nevertheless, many employers are granting domestic-partner benefits, such as health insurance, as an incentive. "By itself, that's a big advantage, because an individual can rarely find the same kind of health insurance deal offered by a big company," said Jackie Perlman, senior tax research analyst for H&R Block. Currently, employees who receive the benefits for domestic partners pay taxes on them. Legalized "marriage" for same-sex couples would eliminate the tax. Any higher costs for employers would be passed on to consumers as higher prices for products and services. The costs for employers would include more expensive insurance as insurers raise rates to cover the new beneficiaries and protect their bottom lines. "If the law required that such benefits be paid, then rates would be adjusted accordingly and insurers would suffer no net loss," said Bob Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade organization of the insurance industry. A limit on costs is naturally imposed by the number of homosexual couples. The Census Bureau estimates 594,000 homosexual couples live together, compared with 57.9 million heterosexual married couples living together. In the past year, 36 more of the nation's 500 largest companies have offered domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples, raising the total to 311, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual advocacy group based in Washington. They include Apple Computer, General Electric, UPS, Nike, Best Buy and Anheuser-Busch. The Institute of Management and Administration (IOMA), a human resources trade organization, says the costs are relatively small for employers. Same-sex partner benefits raise costs for employers by less than 2 percent, according to IOMA. Other federal taxes and benefits reserved for heterosexual married couples involve estates and gifts. Married couples can give each other gifts and their estates without paying taxes. Same-sex couples get no special tax break. "For marriage purposes, an estate is treated as a community," said Chris Sega, an estates and trusts lawyer with Washington law firm Venable. "In the absence of a marriage, when it passes from one to the other, it would be taxed. In a marriage, it would be taxed only when it's left the community." The Virginia Bureau of Insurance forbids state-based companies from offering domestic-partner health-insurance benefits to same-sex couples. Self-insured companies are exempted. In Maryland, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, opposes same sex "marriages," said spokeswoman Shareese DeLeaver. The issue has arisen in the Maryland General Assembly, but any legislation has been killed in committee, she said. Support for same-sex "marriage" in the District is weak. D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams is "very clear about not pursuing that at this time," said spokesman Tony Bullock, the mayor's spokesman. "There's too much political intensity right now." The city allows same-sex couples to apply for a certificate of domestic partnership. If they are city employees, they can receive family health care benefits for their partners. In addition, the D.C. Council is considering recognizing same-sex "marriages" from other states.</p>

THAT VIRGINIA LAW [Ramesh Ponnuru] A while ago, I said I would look into a bill underlying a dispute between Jonah and Andrew Sullivan. The latter said that Virginia had passed a law that made it impossible for gay couples to make certain contractual arrangements. He said that conservatives should denounce the bill, especially since many conservatives had suggested the use of contracts as a substitute for the practical benefits of same-sex marriage. Here’s the Virginia law in question: “A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations...

Public remains divided on constitutional amendment to ban gay marriagePRINCETON, NJ -- Same-sex marriages have been cleared to become legal Monday in Massachusetts after a federal judge last week refused a challenge to the Massachusetts court ruling that granted same-sex couples the right to marry. A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey finds a modest increase in the number of Americans who support giving gay couples some of the legal rights that heterosexual couples enjoy. The public is about evenly divided on a law that would establish gay civil unions with some of the same rights that marriages have, and it remains...