Image licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy of Flickr user mercier_beaucoup
Rhode Island lawmakers are considering civil unions as a possible alternative to legalizing gay marriage. A House committee will review legislation today that would allow civil unions between any two people who cannot marry under the law. Partners in civil unions would enjoy many of the rights of married couples in the areas of insurance, health care decisions, inheritance, and property ownership. The legislation would limit civil unions to those older than 18 who cannot legally marry their partners.
It s a smart start
Separate But Equal is not equal.
It’s not even “separate but equal” – it’s “separate and ‘mostly’ equal”.
So – segregated AND second-class.
I think this points to the fact that the liberals in Rhode Island are struggling to get enough support to legalize gay marriage, in spite of the fact that Rhode Island is essentially the most Democratic-heavy state in the Union.
More accurately – it points to the fact that anti-equality lobbying groups still have the ability to pressure weak politicians.
I’m an American who doesn’t belong to any of the churches attempting to derail marriage equality. Why should they have any influence on the matter at all – their arguments apply only to their own jurisdiction.
New Jersey started with domestic partnerships in 2003, and then transitioned to civil unions in 2006, hoping they would secure all the rights of marriage for same-gender couples. The civil-union legislation also included formation of a bi-partisan NJ Civil Unions Review Commission to track just how well they serve that purpose. The Commission ultimately concluded that they don’t really secure full equality, and probably can’t be tweaked to do so. So it’s been a long, difficult, expensive process to get to a point where we don’t really have equality … yet. Given recent events in Maryland, though, it’s not clear whether going for it all in one shot is the answer either. Some segments of society just have a very long learning curve.
Shure when all else fails just toss the dogs the scraps. If they aren’t happy with the scraps just kick ‘em in the nuts until they shut up!! Feee Fiii Foo Fumm methinks I smell the blood of a catholic church bum!!
While I agree that civil unions aren’t equal, I fully support them for two reasons:
- its unlikely marriage will pass in RI so civil unions are better than nothing
- civil unions are a great first step towards eventual marriage equality. Once civil unions are in place and the fear-mongering of anti-gay crusaders doesn’t come true, marriage will seem a lot less risky to vote for.
Let’s get civil unions here, and not turn out like another Maryland.