Legal News

Cultural divide over gay marriage inspires negotiation

By Richard Binder

In the wake of Proposition 8, compromise abounds almost as much as contention.  Many of these seem to center around removing the word "marriage" from the argument.

Last week two Southern California students spearheaded a ballot initiative that would eliminate the term "marriage" from state statutes and replace it with "domestic partnerships." According to the summary of the measure, "'marriage' itself would become a social ceremony, recognized by only non-governmental institutions." Attorney General Jerry Brown approved the initiative for circulation. 

Two Pepperdine University professors recently recommended taking marriage out of the state's hands entirely, giving both gay and straight couples the same license that calls their relationship "anything, really, other than marriage." 

And last week Jonathan Rauch and David Blankenhorn expanded upon their New York Times op-ed during a forum at the Brookings Institute. They proposed granting federal civil union status to state-sanctioned gay marriages and civil unions, but tying that recognition to legislation providing religious organizations with the option to not recognize those unions.  Increasing the comfort zone on both sides of the issue, they argue, would consequently increase goodwill on both sides as well.

Rebecca Spence's article in The Jewish Daily Forward provides a neat summary of voices "where gay rights and religious liberty issues intersect."

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 19, 2009 (boomark / email).