CA Proposal to Strike "Marriage" from State Laws

[The Straight Story]

Proposal to Strike "Marriage" from State Laws

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- California's top election official says supporters can start collecting signatures for a proposed ballot measure to strike the word "marriage" from all state laws.

Supporters of this ballot measure want to replace it with the term "domestic partnership," while keeping all the rights of marriage in place. The proposal is in response to a voter-approved gay marriage ban that passed in November.

The new measure would repeal the ban, and define domestic partnerships as unions between all couples, regardless of sexual orientation. Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Tuesday that supporters must gather nearly 700,000 signatures by early August to get the initiative on the ballot. The measure is the grassroots effort of two heterosexual college students.

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=56069&catid=2

[Tumbulu]

1. Great, I'll sign and vote for that.

But I guess it must be national as well to deal with all the financial stuff.

[readmoreoften]

2. Well, gay couples deal with the tax complications of civil unions/DPs.

If we can't equalize up, let's equalize down.

[wryter2000]

3. That's the logical solution

I didn't realize until recently that this is a separation of church and state issue. The state shouldn't be in the business of validating a religious rite. The state should deal with the legal aspects of couple-hood and leave the religious aspect to a religious institution if the couple wants.

Everyone should have a legal union like everyone else's legal union. Then, if they want, they could have a marriage in a house of worship that they choose. There are lots of houses of worship that will marry same sex couples.

Of course, it'll never fly. We stand a better chance of simply voting Prop 8 out.

[yella_dawg]

4. Please. Oh please...

let this pass. So that the religious loonies will be directly responsible for a fundamental redefinition of marriage in California. The irony is beyond description.