Gay marriage backlash
April 29, 2004
Virginia has just passed the so-called Marriage Affirmation Act. The Act not only prohibits the state from recognizing civil unions, but strips private contractual rights between same-sex couples by outlawing any "partnership contract or other arrangements that purport to provide the benefits of marriage." As I understand it, that means health care proxy/durable power of attorney, custody, health insurance, estate planning and wills, even shared home ownership.
I knew there would be a backlash against the progressive goings-on in Massachusetts and California and Oregon and New York, but this is beyond the pale. I'm joining the ACLU.
At least I can count on the Shalom Center to cheer me up with good articles about same-sex marriage within Judaism, like A Wedding Liturgy for a Same-Sex Marriage by Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Enlarging Sacred Space: K'dusha and Gay Marriage by Rabbi Daniel Siegel, and A Covenant of Same-Sex Nisu'in and Kedushin by Eyal Levinson.