Advance Indiana comments on a recently announce lawsuit from the American Family Association — suing to block same-sex couples from receiving university health care benefits on the basis of Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages.
I’m blogging this specifically for my mom and other family members — THIS IS THE REASON THESE BANS ARE SO DANGEROUS. Because they aren’t just after preventing same-sex marriages. They’re after outlawing ANY legal relationships between gay people, including health-care benefits.
And the law that Indiana is trying to pass (SJR7) is even more broad than Michigan’s: “Constitution or any other Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”
Which means that regardless of a legal marriage, a whole host of legal rights that Stephanie and I have today because we own property together could suddenly be considered invalid, including some of our property rights if one of us dies.
Please recognize how dangerous this is, and help me fight this law. The best way that you can do this is by not putting the same bigotted Republican officials back in the state legislature. They have to vote on this law a second time (it’s already passed once) for it to be put on a state ballot.
AFA Sues Michigan State To Block Same-Sex Benefits
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Steph,
you are absolutely right about how the general public needs to be educated on this issue. There are many, many people who are against gay marraige but are FOR domestic partner benefits. If they knew all the ramifications involved in amending the state’s constitution, they would likely not vote for it.
I’m a firm believer that if SJR7 makes it to the ballot, a heavy advertising/education campaign would need to take place statewide. Currently, only one state GLBT organization has the (recently acquired) funds to do that. It is certainly not my place to tell them how to spend their money but if it does make it to the ballot, we will need more than grass roots efforts.
In the meantime, I agree that our short term solution is to get a democratic majority in the statehouse in hopes that they can kill SJR7. That solution is not a given but our best hope at this time.