Ohio takes a step backward........
Jan. 23rd, 2004 12:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1While other states like Vermont and Massachusetts are progressing forward into the 21st Century by recognizing gay marriages, Ohio is taking a step backward by refusing to recognize them. Yesterday, the State Senate narrowly passed a Defense of Marriage Act, which will ensure that gay marriages and same-sex civil unions performed in other states will not be recognized here. The vote was 18-15, with the vote nearly split along party lines. Governor Taft has already stated that he intends to sign the bill. Read the Dayton Daily News article.
Marriage stated as a social institution centuries ago -- people would pair off and start a family. It has since become a religious and legal institution.
I know several gay people. Some are in committed relationships. They would like to have the same privilege as straights, and legitimize the relationship so they can get the benefits of marrriage.
Did I lobby my state senator about this issue? No. I don't even know who my state senator is. I suspect he or she is a conservative Republican, and therefore not interested in my point of view. [Update: I checked the Project Vote Smart web site, gave them my ZIP code, and my state senator is.....Jeff Jacobson, the former chair of my county's Republican Party. Ooh, ick.]
50 years ago, there were probably some states that outlawed interracial marriages. Hopefully all of them have been stricken down by now. I see what's happening now as no different from what has happened years ago, except that the issue back then was skin color. Now it's sexual orientation.
I believe this new law is discriminatory, and it's going to take a more enlightened -- and less conservative Republican -- State Legislature to overturn it in the future.
On the happy side, the AFA's online poll on gay marriages was resoundly defeated, according to this article in Wired. (And there was Much Rejoicing....)
Marriage stated as a social institution centuries ago -- people would pair off and start a family. It has since become a religious and legal institution.
I know several gay people. Some are in committed relationships. They would like to have the same privilege as straights, and legitimize the relationship so they can get the benefits of marrriage.
Did I lobby my state senator about this issue? No. I don't even know who my state senator is. I suspect he or she is a conservative Republican, and therefore not interested in my point of view. [Update: I checked the Project Vote Smart web site, gave them my ZIP code, and my state senator is.....Jeff Jacobson, the former chair of my county's Republican Party. Ooh, ick.]
50 years ago, there were probably some states that outlawed interracial marriages. Hopefully all of them have been stricken down by now. I see what's happening now as no different from what has happened years ago, except that the issue back then was skin color. Now it's sexual orientation.
I believe this new law is discriminatory, and it's going to take a more enlightened -- and less conservative Republican -- State Legislature to overturn it in the future.
On the happy side, the AFA's online poll on gay marriages was resoundly defeated, according to this article in Wired. (And there was Much Rejoicing....)
