Dempublicents
23-09-2004, 23:38
So Georgia has an idiotic gay marriage amendment up for the vote this coming November. Now, I've voted on referendums before - and in those, they generally put the exact text of the law on the ballot, so that the voter can fully understand what is going on.
However, in the case of the amendment they are proposing, the full text is:
MARRIAGE
Paragraph I. Recognition of marriage. (a) This state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state.
(b) No union between persons of the same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled to the benefits of marriage. This state shall not give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other state or jurisdiction. The courts of this state shall have no jurisdiction to grant a divorce or separate maintenance with respect to any such relationship or otherwise to consider or rule on any of the parties´ respective rights arising as a result of or in connection with such relationship."
The question to be put on the ballot is:
The above proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be published and submitted as provided in Article X, Section I, Paragraph II of the Constitution. The ballot submitting the above proposed amendment shall have written or printed thereon the following:
Shall the Constitution be amended so as to provide that this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman?"
"( ) YES
( ) NO
So, basically, the legislature is trying to trick people who are against the idea of granting marriages to homosexual couples but would be fine with the idea of a civil union into voting for this bill.
On top of that, there are only two immutable laws in the Georgia Constitution - one of them is that any Constitutional Amendment can address only one issue. This quite clearly addresses two, and actuall addresses three - whether or not to grant gay marriages, whether or not to grant any type of union to homosexual couples, and whether or not to recognize marriages that are performed in other states.
In other words, it is malicious and it is bullshit. I know many people who will vote against this amendment with no thought. However, a much larger percentage of people are against actual marriage but perfectly fine with the idea of civil marriages. The question on the ballot does not even mention the idea of other unions, but the amendment does. Utter bullshit.
Meanwhile, I am usually not one to choose between political parties - as I think they are all idiots - but I do know that this whole thing was spearheaded by Republicans - and that many who had decided not to vote at all were pushed into doing so.
However, in the case of the amendment they are proposing, the full text is:
MARRIAGE
Paragraph I. Recognition of marriage. (a) This state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state.
(b) No union between persons of the same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled to the benefits of marriage. This state shall not give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other state or jurisdiction. The courts of this state shall have no jurisdiction to grant a divorce or separate maintenance with respect to any such relationship or otherwise to consider or rule on any of the parties´ respective rights arising as a result of or in connection with such relationship."
The question to be put on the ballot is:
The above proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be published and submitted as provided in Article X, Section I, Paragraph II of the Constitution. The ballot submitting the above proposed amendment shall have written or printed thereon the following:
Shall the Constitution be amended so as to provide that this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman?"
"( ) YES
( ) NO
So, basically, the legislature is trying to trick people who are against the idea of granting marriages to homosexual couples but would be fine with the idea of a civil union into voting for this bill.
On top of that, there are only two immutable laws in the Georgia Constitution - one of them is that any Constitutional Amendment can address only one issue. This quite clearly addresses two, and actuall addresses three - whether or not to grant gay marriages, whether or not to grant any type of union to homosexual couples, and whether or not to recognize marriages that are performed in other states.
In other words, it is malicious and it is bullshit. I know many people who will vote against this amendment with no thought. However, a much larger percentage of people are against actual marriage but perfectly fine with the idea of civil marriages. The question on the ballot does not even mention the idea of other unions, but the amendment does. Utter bullshit.
Meanwhile, I am usually not one to choose between political parties - as I think they are all idiots - but I do know that this whole thing was spearheaded by Republicans - and that many who had decided not to vote at all were pushed into doing so.