So California gets to join Vermont as the looniest state in the nation. Here's some details (from the Associated Press):
Legislation that would give domestic partners many of the same legal rights as married couples was sent to the governor's desk Wednesday following a heated Assembly debate in which opponents claimed the bill amounted to gay marriage.
They argued the legislation would violate the will of voters when they approved Proposition 22, a 2000 ballot measure that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
"Gay marriage is wrong; it is an aberration to God," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia.
Not quite the right argument for the Assembly, even though I agree.
"May the wrath of the people of California come down on you," another opponent, Assemblyman Jay La Suer, R-Mesa, told the measure's supporters.
That's more like it. We approved prop. 22 by about a 60/40 margin.
But the bill's backers denied it would conflict with Proposition 22 and said most Californians draw a distinction between gay marriage and giving domestic partners greater rights.
"Nobody is talking about gay marriage except the people who are trying to wave it around as a straw man issue," said Assemblyman John Longville, D-Rialto.
Sure.....
"This is catching up government with where the people of California are," added Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz. A recent Field Poll found that 72 percent of California voters surveyed supported expanded rights for same-sex couples.
I'm sure the poll did not cover any details. Heck, I even support some rights like patient visitation, wills and trusts, burials and a few other things.
Scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2005, the bill, would give domestic partners the ability to ask for child support and alimony, the right to health coverage under a partner's plan and the ability to make funeral arrangements for a partner.
No on child support and alimony and a big no on health coverage. That forces companies who do business in California to accept that concept. Not a good idea at all.
Other provisions would give domestic partners access to family student housing, bereavement and family care leave and exemptions from estate and gift taxes, and in the event of a partner's death, the authority to consent to an autopsy, donate organs and to make funeral arrangements.
I agree with most of this except the student housing.
It also would prevent courts from forcing a domestic partner to testify against the other partner in a trial, and it would give domestic partners the ability to apply for absentee ballots on a partner's behalf.
OK
The bill, by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, would place greater legal responsibilities on domestic partners as well. They would be responsible for their partner's debts, would have their income factored into their partner's eligibility for public assistance benefits, and would be required to disclose their relationships to avoid nepotism and conflicts of interest.
You want rights, you've got to take them all.
Gay rights activists, who had made the bill the centerpiece of a legislative agenda that also included job and housing protections for transgender individuals, applauded Tuesday's Assembly action. "It's an extremely historic day in a historic summer that we are beginning to call the summer of gay love in California," said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality Now, a statewide civil rights group.
Job and housing protections for transgender individuals... did they poll that? So, if I have a business I can't not hire a transgendered person to work at a Bible bookstore? This opens up a can of worms.
In 1999, California became the first state in the country to allow gay and lesbian couples, as well as elderly heterosexual couples, to register as domestic partners. Since then more than 22,000 couples have signed up.
Two years ago, the Legislature passed a measure giving domestic partners about a dozen rights previously available only to heterosexual spouses or the next of kin, including the right to make medical decisions for incapacitated partners, to sue for a partner's wrongful death and to adopt a partner's child.
Adoption? Heck no.
Once Gov. Gray Davis signs this year's measure, as he has indicated he would, California will be in the same league as Vermont in terms of the rights afforded gay and lesbian couples, Kors said. Responding to a court order, Vermont allowed so-called "civil unions" for same-sex couples, but otherwise the laws differ only in the state-specific rights they confer, according to Kors.
Next thing, us Californians will elect a socialist to Congress. Never mind, Barbara Boxer is already in the Senate.
"Either way, they are still separate but equal institutions, and they still fall short of true equality," he said.
Wednesday's 41-32 vote approved Senate amendments to the Goldberg bill removing a provision that would have allowed domestic partners to file their state income taxes jointly.
Big victory :)
Posted by Tim at September 3, 2003 09:09 PM
