Same Sex Marriage
Mary Cheney, the vice president's gay daughter is pregnant and anticipating the birth of a child. Gay rights advocates had criticized Mary Cheney for not speaking out in support of same-sex marriage, when Bush favored a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
This past spring, in a new book, Mary Cheney publicly broke ranks with the Bush administration by stating: “basically writing discrimination into the Constitution of the United States is fundamentally wrong.”
Last November, Cheney supported a campaign fighting a same-sex marriage ban in the state of Virginia, where she lives with her partner. That ban places strict limits on parental rights for gay couples was approved by voters. Consequently, Mary's long time partner will have no legal relationship with this child.
Canada, Netherlands and Belgium allows same-sex marriage. Vermont passed a civil union law requiring that the state grant same-sex couples the same rights and privileges accorded to married couples under the law. To be eligible, for these benefits both members of the domestic partnership have to meet certain requirements such as being unmarried and living together for a specific period of time.
Laws granting benefits to married couples include family law, taxation, probate, government benefits, real estate, and criminal law. If recognition is given to same-sex marriages and other unions or partnerships, many hundreds of rights and responsibilities would be extended to cover them. The issue involves hundreds of benefits, such as tax advantages, inheritance rights, health insurance, health care decisions, and rights to support.
Congress passed the Federal Defense of Marriage Act declaring that a marriage is a union between a man and a woman and that no state shall be required to give effect to a same-sex union. The Federal Defense Marriage Act prevents homosexuals from gaining marriage recognition in a state other than the state conferring legality. The only state that permits same-sex marriages is Massachusetts.
Our failure to recognize same-sex marriages is primarily a religious issue. It is important to distinguish between religious concepts and the law governing civil marriage especially in a democracy such as ours. For this reason it’s argued that the rights of gay and lesbian citizens can be protected without altering the traditional institution of marriage.
This past spring, in a new book, Mary Cheney publicly broke ranks with the Bush administration by stating: “basically writing discrimination into the Constitution of the United States is fundamentally wrong.”
Last November, Cheney supported a campaign fighting a same-sex marriage ban in the state of Virginia, where she lives with her partner. That ban places strict limits on parental rights for gay couples was approved by voters. Consequently, Mary's long time partner will have no legal relationship with this child.
Canada, Netherlands and Belgium allows same-sex marriage. Vermont passed a civil union law requiring that the state grant same-sex couples the same rights and privileges accorded to married couples under the law. To be eligible, for these benefits both members of the domestic partnership have to meet certain requirements such as being unmarried and living together for a specific period of time.
Laws granting benefits to married couples include family law, taxation, probate, government benefits, real estate, and criminal law. If recognition is given to same-sex marriages and other unions or partnerships, many hundreds of rights and responsibilities would be extended to cover them. The issue involves hundreds of benefits, such as tax advantages, inheritance rights, health insurance, health care decisions, and rights to support.
Congress passed the Federal Defense of Marriage Act declaring that a marriage is a union between a man and a woman and that no state shall be required to give effect to a same-sex union. The Federal Defense Marriage Act prevents homosexuals from gaining marriage recognition in a state other than the state conferring legality. The only state that permits same-sex marriages is Massachusetts.
Our failure to recognize same-sex marriages is primarily a religious issue. It is important to distinguish between religious concepts and the law governing civil marriage especially in a democracy such as ours. For this reason it’s argued that the rights of gay and lesbian citizens can be protected without altering the traditional institution of marriage.
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