The Right to Be Gay

[Behind the Aegis]

Two significant events related to the gay community are due to take place shortly in Jerusalem, the city of three religions and the capital of Israel. Over the next few months, an expanded panel of the High Court of Justice will rule on a petition filed by five male couples who wed in Canada and are asking the Interior Ministry to register them as married. In addition, the international Gay Pride parade is slated to take place in the city next month.

The five couples are demanding that the state register them as married, just as it registers heterosexual couples as married if they are wed abroad. The gay couples are arguing that the Interior Ministry's refusal to register them as married impinges on their right to equality. The state counters that Israel does not have a "suitable legal model" for recognizing same-sex marriages.

The institution of couplehood is constantly in flux. Once, polygamy was allowed; today, it is a criminal offense. Once, homosexuality was a criminal offense; today, Western culture recognizes the right of the individual to love someone of his or her own sex. In Israel, too, there has been significant progress, and same-sex couples have been recognized as partners in common-law marriages for the sake of issues such as financial agreements, inheritance and survivors' benefits.

We hope that the justices will further this trend in their ruling. But there is no doubt that ultimately, as Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has said, it is up to the Knesset to decide whether to recognize same-sex marriages, and it is up to the Knesset to legislate recognition of same-sex couplehood.


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[rubberducky]

1. Why can`t people

just let other people live THIER OWN lives,as they see fit. We are all on this earth together. Why can`t we all just play nice??? I read ,somewhere, on the net today that some group was offering a $5,000 price tag on the head of anyone who shows up for that gay-pride parade. How damn sick is that??

[freesqueeze]

2. I believe in the right to be gay

and also the right to be tall, the right to be Mexican, the right to be red headed, the right to be uncoordinated, the right to be smart, the right to be healthy, the right to be quiet and the right to be.

[NMMNG]

3. I believe in the right to BE

So long as you are not harming anybody else, you should have the right to be whatever you are or want to be. Period.

[sui generis]

4. ultimately there is real confusion

1. what is gay? does it always have something to do with sex? can the sex part be proved case by case?
2. what is the difference between "affectional orientation" and "sexual orientation"
3. is there a test for heterosexuality?
4. is there a gene that codes for it?
5. is it a learned behavior?

Sounds sophomoric, but let's be serious - same-gender relationships, like opposite gender relationships, imply sex, but do not prove it. A better question is, if two people of the same gender who were heterosexual or asexual lived together would that still be considered as "immoral"?

So what if two people of the opposite gender lived together and were asexual - why wouldn't that then also be considered immoral?

Why does "sex" have anything to do with it? All "sex" is presumed or on the honor system anyway - there is no test for it. Certainly there is nothing in a marriage license that requires that both opposite gender parties be heterosexual.

Confusion. I say we help them clear it up or else move on.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. Bad idea. Roughly analogous to telling Rosa Parks....

>>>>One can argue that homosexuals and lesbians should also display tolerance for the feelings of the religious population in Jerusalem and favor holding the parade in a secular city like Tel Aviv.>>>>

to sit down on a bus in, say , Milwaukee, when the primary problem is in Montgomery.

If, that is, you accept the premise that much of the social stigma sexual minorities encounter is rooted in religious absolutism. If so, there couldn't be a better venue.