Time for a little history lesson. Massachusetts get a lot of press for being the first state to have same-sex marriage but actually that’s not entirely true. Hawai’i legalized it first… way back in 1993. Unfortunately, there was a constitutional amendment passed 6 years later that banned it. However, now it seems that that Hawai’i is getting back on the marriage equality train as their state senate has overwhelmingly passed a civil unions bill, 18 to 7:
The state Senate today passed a civil-unions bill, sending a strong message to the state House and Gov. Linda Lingle with a veto-proof majority vote.
The vote was 18 to 7. The Senate rejected an amendment to change the effective date of the bill, which is Jan. 1, 2010.
The bill would allow same-sex and heterosexual couples to enter into civil unions and receive the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as marriage under state law.
The state House passed a civil-unions bill last session that would only apply to same-sex couples. House leaders have said they would wait and see what the Senate vote was before deciding whether to move forward on the Senate version of the bill.
An overflow crowd filled the Senate gallery for the debate, with many supporters of the bill wearing rainbow colored lei and many opponents dressed in white T-shirts.
White T-shirts…. Really? That’s the best you guys can come up with? I know we queers can be awfully bright and flamboyant sometimes but I really don’t think that the right counter to that is to be drab and boring. Or maybe they just can’t help themselves… Ah well.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий