Equally Speaking
Equally Speaking
Thursday, April 5, 2007
First up on HRC's daily webcast, the Indiana Legislature kills a proposed marriage amendment. A tie vote of 5 to 5 effectively killed a proposed state constitutional amendment this week in an Indiana legislative committee. The House Rules Committee vote came after a long string of victories for the amendment including passing both chambers in 2005 and the Senate in March. Proponents of the bill pledged not to give up trying to pass the discriminatory amendment.
In other good news, the New Hampshire Legislature voted 243 to 129 yesterday to extend the state-level rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples through civil unions, but stops short of full marriage equality. The bill now goes over to the Senate.
While campaigning in New Hampshire this week, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd announced that he supports civil unions for same-sex couples but not marriage equality. He framed the debate in very personal terms, saying as a father he wants his young children to grow up and have the same rights as anyone else, no matter what their sexual orientation turns out to be.
Turning to Arkansas, it appears an attempt to ban gays, lesbians and unmarried heterosexual couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents has died for this session. The bill, sponsored by state Senator Shawn Womack, is in response to a state Supreme Court decision last year striking down a previous ban but was voted down by a voice vote twice on Tuesday by a House committee.
A non-binding popular vote in Alaska eked out a slight win this week encouraging a constitutional amendment to ban the state from providing equal benefits to public employees. Ever since the state’s high court ruled for equal benefits, legislators have been debating ways to circumvent the decision. The vote, which cost the state over a million dollars, is not binding on the Legislature.
Finally, three members of the GLBT religious group Soulforce were arrested this week at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. The conservative school is known for its repressive anti-gay policies and the group paid a visit as part of their Equality Ride trying to change policies at religious colleges.