Wisconsin group: Domestic partnership rhymes with marriage

posted at 8:54 am on July 24, 2009 by MadisonConservative

Three years ago, Wisconsin did as many other states have done, and put the power of democracy to work. The people voted on a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and it passed. The majority rules, as it should be. The argument against gay marriage has usually come down to social conservatives stating that gays have plenty of alternatives to marriage that are not called “marriage”, and to grant them that title would dilute the sanctity and meaning of marriage. However, now the ante is being upped.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed the law in the state budget last month. Starting Aug. 3, same-sex couples can register with counties to receive dozens of the same legal protections as married couples, including the right to inherit assets, make hospital visits and take medical leave to care for an ill partner.

Wisconsin became the first Midwestern state to enact legal protections for same-sex couples through the Legislature. It also became the first nationwide to allow domestic partnerships despite having a ban on gay marriage and any “substantially similar” relationships.

The lawsuit argues domestic partnerships violate that clause in the constitution, approved by voters in 2006, because they are “virtually identical” to traditional marriages. Wisconsin Family Action led the campaign for the ban and threatened legal action against the law for months.

“This new domestic partnership scheme is precisely the type of marriage imitation that the constitutional amendment approved by Wisconsin voters was intended to prevent,” said lawyer Brian Raum of the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group representing the plaintiffs.

One of the plaintiffs, Wisconsin Family Action President Julaine Appling, called the law “an assault on the people, the state constitution, the democratic process, and the institution of marriage.”

So even though it’s not marriage, it’s an assault on marriage because it’s like marriage, but not called marriage?

Multiple times, opponents of gay marriage have said that their issue does not lie with gay people having access to the rights of marriage, such as inheritance rights, but with the re-defining of the word “marriage”. Well, Wisconsin spoke, and there’s no danger of that. However, it’s becoming clear that this Wisconsin outfit doesn’t give a damn about what marriage means. They’re worried about gay people having officially recognized long-term relationships, regardless of what they’re called. That’s their opinion, and they’re free to have it, but if they ever centered their position around the definition of marriage, then they’re liars.

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