Various Same Sex Marriage Links

• “The moment has finally arrived to end once and for all the intolerable discrimination which many Spaniards suffer because of their sexual preferences… Homosexuals and transsexuals deserve the same public consideration as heterosexuals.” –Incoming Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, announcing that Spain will recognize equal marriage rights.
• Gabriel Rosenberg responds to Elizabeth Marquardt’s “if gays marry, we won’t be able to say that mothers and fathers have children” line of argument. To me, the least credible part of Elizabeth’s argument is the supposition that heterosexuals worry about if gays can get married when deciding to wed or not. I’m sure that a few straights do consider the question – I know some straights who refuse to get married while marriage is a bigoted institution – but it seems self-evident that the vast majority of straight marriages don’t happen (or not happen) depending on the status of SSM.

  Speaking as a wedding coordinator in Multnomah County, Oregon (the only place in the USA still issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples), I haven’t noticed any slowdown in business here since marriage equality began.

• Speaking of Elizabeth, mazil tov to her on the birth of her son James!
• Some Massachusetts Justices of the Peace are thinking of resigning rather than having to perform gay marriages. (Being a Justice of the Peace isn’t like being a minister – as a representative of the state, they might have to officiate over any legal marriage, not just the ones they approve of).
• Young straights in France are more and more using France’s “civil union” law as a way of having “marriage-light.” It’s interesting how this “compromise,” forced on same-sex couples by anti-gay-equality folks who want to “preserve” marriage, ends up weakening marriage among straights. They would have been far better off just supporting marriage equality. Link via Family Scholars.
• From the Baptist Standard, and again via Family Scholars blog.
  A landmark study of American evangelical Christians released this month determined, among several findings, that evangelicals oppose gay marriage but are lukewarm in their support for a constitutional amendment to ban it. The survey of more than 1,600 respondents found that, while 85 percent of evangelical Christians oppose gay marriage, only 41 percent of those who oppose the practice felt the Constitution should be amended to do so.
• Speaking of which, isn’t it ironic that Bush is supporting a Federal Marriage amendment which has next-to-no chance of passing; while Kerry opposes the Federal version, but supports an amendment to the Massachusetts constitution that has a good chance of passing; and yet Kerry, who is going to wind up doing more damage, is seen as the pro-gay candidate?

  The perception is that Kerry isn’t really anti-gay, but just a gutless coward giving in to political pressure; whereas Bush is sincerely a bigot. But even if that’s true, it’s quite possible that gutlessness in our allies might do more damage in the long run.

• Once again via Family Scholars, a good article on Black ministers both for and against marriage equality, and relating the question to the black civil rights movement. Personally, I feel it’s a mistake to assume that “is the issue at hand closely analogous to the black civil rights struggle?” and “is this a civil rights issue?” are questions that must have the same answer.
• A good article in the Florida Sun-Sentinel: Lack of Legal Protections Leads to Hardships for Gay Couples. (Via MarriageDebate). The article touches on an issue discussed in this post by Armed Liberal: individual contracts drawn up by lawyers are not an adequate substitute for the legal protections of marriage.
• San Jose Mercury News: Transsexuals A New Test of Marriage. Another reason to remove gender-requirements from marriage altogether, in my view. Via MarriageDebate.
• Speaking of which, what about intersexuals (people who are not male or female, biologically) – in states which have laws defining marriage as opposite-sex only, are intersexuals not legally allowed to marry anyone at all?
• The first trial about same-sex marriage in Oregon has begun. Although the Oregonian had a good article, the best trial coverage, unsurprisingly, comes from blogger The One True b!X. Interestingly, there are three sides to this trial: Multnomah county is arguing for marriage equality, the homophobes are arguing against it, and Oregon is arguing that the legislature should be given time to institute Vermont-style civil unions.

  Whatever the court decides, it’ll be appealed and appealed again until it reaches the Oregon Supreme Court. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what the lower court decides (the decision will probably come within a week).

• Even better, The One True b!X links to a pdf transcript of the oral arguments in the Oregon same-sex marriage trial. Really interesting reading, if you’re into this sort of stuff.

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