Same Sex Marriage
The AB-475 which is an assembly bill for so called Defense Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed in October 2003 in the assembly and is on to the Senate for voting. This bill is directly related to two of our legislators, State Representative Mark Pocan (D-Madison) and Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) who are openly gay, each of course who oppose AB-475. “The bill aims to prohibit marriage between same-sex couples by defining a Wisconsin marriage contract as exclusively between one man and one woman. State law already defines marriage as between husband and wife” (Madison.com, 2003).
One of the reasons this bill was ever penned was due to events which came after 9/11 tragedy. Some of the partners of gay couples were killed during 9/11 from the terrorists. This has caused the living partner to struggle to prove next of kin relationship to the deceased. The loss alone was traumatic enough, but now having to fight to prove the belongings were shared as a couple is being required. It is sad that in this day and age our government cannot protect us equally whether gay or straight. “Marriage should be about love, honor and commitment. AB-475 says it’s about gender,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison. “What is the problem this bill is going to address? Why are we taking time to restate current law” (Madison.com, 2003). Many who vote for this bill are full of hate and fear of lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender people
( LGBT). One of the primary reasons this bill has been introduced is to reinforce the state’s treatment of LGBT people as sub-standard citizens. Considering this I think it’s ironic that Wisconsin was the first state to ban discrimination according to a persons’ sexual orientation.
The authors of this bill were both Republicans. Democrats have made mention of the fact that Republican Dick Cheney has gay children. The Democrats also claim that this bill has been politically motivated and serves to put votes and possibly a governor’s veto in effect. In retaliation, the minority party in this matter, the Democrats, have introduced a few half-hearted amendments that they claim truly will defend a marriage. One would have prohibited divorce altogether. Another would make marriage permanent and monogamous. Finally it states that if a person was divorced three or more times either in this state or another, they would not be allowed to marry in Wisconsin. According to this new proposal, even if a couple of same sex married somewhere else legally, it would not be recognized in Wisconsin.
In summary, AB-475 has wasted tax payer dollars with all the time and effort it has consumed. To me it only restates what is already written in Wisconsin law. I think that two people no matter what their sex is should be allowed to be recognized as each others partner. Not only in the eyes of their families, but in the eyes of all things political.
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