[Seattle-editorial] Article: An Aisle Seat - Same Sex Partnerships and America

[sheelanagig at juno.com]

A localized version of this article is in the Oct 2003 issue of The
Manifesto News, (www.manifestonews.org), out of Monterey/Santa Cruz, Ca.,
but it is a relevant issue to Seattle, with our large out gay community,
and also with Vancouver right over the border, letting gay couples get
legally married, whic America is battling now! So what I need to know is
should I just be submitting these articles to the freewire post, or it a
good idea to float some of these by you for features? Should I be posting
them to freewire AND sending them to this list? It is still all fuzzy to
me how it works...Again, I have put this into html form. If it best I do
*not* do that, tell me that too.

kirsten

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<P>An Aisle Seat—Same-Sex Partnerships and America 
<BR>By Kirsten Anderberg Copyright 2003

<P>What are the differences between registered same-sex domestic
partnerships, and legally married couples, in California? The major areas
of inequity, and concern, to same-sex partners include those of child
custody and child/spousal support, rights to make funeral arrangements,
community property rights, mutual responsibility for debts. And those
civil rights will finally be accessible to registered same-sex domestic
partners now that Measure AB 205 (Goldberg, Los Angeles) passed in the
California legislature (<a
href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html">www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.
html</A>).

<P>Measure AB 205, the Domestic Partnership Rights and Responsibilities
Act of 2003, was first proposed by Equality California, (<a
href="http://www.eqca.org"www.eqca.org</A>), a grassroots organization
with offices in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Equality
California says that one in every six same-sex couples reside in
California, and promoted this as an issue of importance to the populace
and legislature of California. But this legislation will also be a
landmark regarding equal rights for same-sex couples in the US. The
Massachusetts Supreme Court is also handing down a decision on Same Sex
Marriage very shortly. This is quickly spreading to become a national
issue, and California is leading the way. Since the inception of the
same-sex and senior opposite-sex couples registry in California three
years ago, 20,000 couples have registered. AB 205 will give that registry
some backbone. Unfortunately, these changes will only affect California
state benefits. Federal benefits for same-sex partners are still not
recognized.

<P>At the heart of this "marriage rights versus same-sex domestic
partnership rights" controversy, is whether same-sex couples want
religious or civil confirmation of their partnerships. Many argue that
marriage is a religious sacrament and that gay marriages cannot have
religious context. Others argue same-sex partners aren’t seeking
religious confirmation of their partnership, but rather the same civil
rights, the same legal rights, as married couples.

<P>Marriage Equality California (MECA), (<a
href="http://www.marriageequalityca.org">www.marriageequalityca.org</A>),
has joined the organizations at the forefront of activism, to push for
fairness and equality regarding same-sex partnerships in California.
Santa Cruz and Monterey both launched chapters of MECA in August.
According to Owen Wolf, co-chair of Santa Cruz MECA
(santacruz at marriageequalityca.org), their goal is to converse one on one,
and explain the harm that the "lack of a legally recognized contract
between two adults of the same sex who wish to form a long lasting,
loving relationship does to same sex couples and their families." This is
a growing national issue, and one that we will see challenging America's
"family values" and entrenched homophobia. As a matter of fact, a gay
couple, who are recognized as married in Canada, were just denied entry
into the United States, in September 2003, because they filled out their
forms for entry into the United States as a "family." We are going to
hear more and more about this issue, as people have outgrown the archaic
laws in this area.   



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