Sadly, the New Jersey Senate whimped out yesterday and further underscored the fact that the USA is increasingly sliding toward becoming a semi-theocracy where one set of Christian beliefs trumps the civil laws and gay affirming denominations are told to go f*ck themselves. How many banana republics will have to approve gay marriage before most of the USA stops demonstrating that the nation's Constitution is a farce and that legal equality and full freedom of religion are a myth in this country? Portugal appears headed to "getting it" but not New Jersey and a host of other states that have made anti-gay Christianism the de facto state religion? I know that there are many gay affirming Christians, but Christianists continue to prove that they are enemy No.1 when it comes to gay equality and freedom of religion. The New York Times has coverage on New Jersey's knuckling under to religious based bigotry. Here are some highlights: *
TRENTON — The State Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal that would have made New Jersey the sixth state in the nation to allow marriages involving same-sex couples. The vote was the latest in a succession of setbacks for advocates of gay marriage across the country.
*
After months of intense lobbying and hours of emotional debate, lawmakers voted 20 to 14 against the bill, bringing tears from some advocates who packed the Senate chambers and rousing applause from opponents of the measure, who also came out in force. The vote ends the effort to win legislative approval of the measure, and sets the stage for a new battle before the New Jersey Supreme Court.
*
With the effort to win legislative approval now dead, supporters of same-sex marriage vowed to focus their efforts on the state’s highest court, which in 2006 ordered lawmakers to give same-sex couples the same rights as others whether or not they called such unions marriages. The Legislature responded by enacting a civil unions law, but gay-rights leaders say that the measure still leaves them subject to discrimination when applying for health insurance or trying to visit partners in hospitals, and that they will ask the court to grant them equal treatment.
*
[L]eaders of Lambda Legal Defense Fund, which has helped coordinate gay rights causes in New Jersey and elsewhere, said they said they were confident that the court would prove more receptive than the Legislature. “We are upset, we are disappointed, but we aren’t done fighting,” said Leslie Gabel-Brett, Lambda’s director of education and public affairs.
*
[S]upporters of gay marriage view their cause as a matter of civil rights which should be settled by the courts and Legislature, and point out that in 1915, New Jersey voters in a referendum rejected giving women the right to vote. Five years later, the 19th Amendment granted women voting rights.
*
Senate President Richard J. Codey, a Democrat from Essex, said that the furor surrounding gay marriage was based on the same type of unfounded fear of the unknown that was used to justify discrimination against women and racial minorities. “One day people will look back and say, ‘What were they thinking?’ ” Senator Codey said, and, “ ‘What were they so afraid of?’ ”
TRENTON — The State Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal that would have made New Jersey the sixth state in the nation to allow marriages involving same-sex couples. The vote was the latest in a succession of setbacks for advocates of gay marriage across the country.
*
After months of intense lobbying and hours of emotional debate, lawmakers voted 20 to 14 against the bill, bringing tears from some advocates who packed the Senate chambers and rousing applause from opponents of the measure, who also came out in force. The vote ends the effort to win legislative approval of the measure, and sets the stage for a new battle before the New Jersey Supreme Court.
*
With the effort to win legislative approval now dead, supporters of same-sex marriage vowed to focus their efforts on the state’s highest court, which in 2006 ordered lawmakers to give same-sex couples the same rights as others whether or not they called such unions marriages. The Legislature responded by enacting a civil unions law, but gay-rights leaders say that the measure still leaves them subject to discrimination when applying for health insurance or trying to visit partners in hospitals, and that they will ask the court to grant them equal treatment.
*
[L]eaders of Lambda Legal Defense Fund, which has helped coordinate gay rights causes in New Jersey and elsewhere, said they said they were confident that the court would prove more receptive than the Legislature. “We are upset, we are disappointed, but we aren’t done fighting,” said Leslie Gabel-Brett, Lambda’s director of education and public affairs.
*
[S]upporters of gay marriage view their cause as a matter of civil rights which should be settled by the courts and Legislature, and point out that in 1915, New Jersey voters in a referendum rejected giving women the right to vote. Five years later, the 19th Amendment granted women voting rights.
*
Senate President Richard J. Codey, a Democrat from Essex, said that the furor surrounding gay marriage was based on the same type of unfounded fear of the unknown that was used to justify discrimination against women and racial minorities. “One day people will look back and say, ‘What were they thinking?’ ” Senator Codey said, and, “ ‘What were they so afraid of?’ ”
*
Let the litigation resume and hopefully the justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court will have the guts and integrity to demand that religious based discrimination against same sex couples cease.
1 comment:
Michael, entiendo tu enfado, pero creo que cometes un grave error el llamar "banana republic" a Portugal, eso es arrogancia, la típica arrogancia que cabría esperar de un republicano o un derechista cristiano Americano, no de tí. Portugal es un país mucho menos rico que los USA, pero no es un mal país ni muchos menos una república bananera, son nuestros vecinos, y comparados con algunos de tus compatriotas cristianos fanáticos, los portugueses son de mente abierta y tolerantes como los Españoles.
Yo es que cada día no dejo de sorprenderme de que un país como los USA haya caido(una parte de su población) en el más absoluta ignorancia y fanatismo religioso.
Y lo peor de todo, lo peor es que la tierra de Harvard University, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, los "liberal americans" hayan permitido que país se conviertiera en el bastión de la irracionalidad de "western world".
Salud y Libertad.
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