Just out., November 21, 2003, Page 25, Image 25

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NEW JERSEY
ambda Legal said Nov. 5 thar it
JL> will appeal a trial-level state court
ruling against legalizing marriage for
same-sex couples in New Jersey.
“We’re not surprised by this lower-
court ruling,” attorney David Bucket
said. “More than anything, this mling
propels 11 s forward to higher courts
where both sides have always known it
will be decided. Txlay’s mling speeds
the clock up toward the day lesbian
and gay couples in New Jersey can seek
the protections they need for their
families from the states high court."
The historic lawsuit, filed in June
2002 on behalf of seven gay and les­
bian couples, is based solely on the
New Jersey Constitution. Therefore,
the states Supreme Court will have
the last word in the case.
The words “husband,” “wife,”
“spouse” or some form of “marry”
appear in more than 850 separate pro­
visions of New Jersey law. Beyond
legal rights and responsibilities, Buck-
el noted, marriage is an enormous part
of day-to-da\ life and is the most com- Craig Hutchison and Chris Lodewyks, who have been a
mon wav that couples prove their COUp|e for 32 years, are suing the state of New Jersey for
enduring commitment to each other. ^
to marrv
O H IO
n a historic victory, Cleveland Heights voted
.overwhelmingly Nov. 4 in favor of Issue 35, a
measure establishing a domestic partner registry.
While such registries exist in more than 60
localities nationwide, this win marks the first
time a registry—or any other pro-gay measure—
has been adopted through a ballot initiative.
I
T he P earl ^
The registry, which will be open to same- and
opposite-sex committed couples, will provide
them a certified record of their relationship,
While conferring no outright benefits, this offi-
cial documentation has been used m other juris-
dictions with registries to qualify for health insur-
ance benefits and to secure other basic rights,
such as visiting a sick partner in the hospital.
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he
Action Wisconsin. “It couldn’t be clearer to
these couples that they don’t have the right to
visit each other in the hospital, to make medical
decisions for one another or to share equal legal
responsibility for their children. Marriage in
Wisconsin is already defined as ‘one man and
one woman,’ and that is painfully clear to these
families. AB 475 just adds to the sting of that
discrimination.”
The effort to create the registry started more
than a year ago, after Cleveland Heights granted
health benefits to domestic partners of city
employees. Anti-gay groups then mounted a cam­
paign to repeal those benefits, so Heights Families
for Equality was formed in response. They then
began gathering signatures to place the registry on
the ballot so that everyone, not just city employ­
ees, would have some basic protections.
Dave Fleischer of the National Gay and Les­
bian Task Force noted that this victory marks
the third consecutive year in which queers have
successfully battled the forces of homophobia at
the ballot box. “Up until 2001, our community
lost three out of every four anti-gay or gay-relat­
ed ballot measures. We’ve now won 11 out of
14— an unprecedented winning streak.”
Fleischer added that Cleveland Heights rep­
resents the future for advancing equal rights.
“Instead of waiting for the next attack by a
homophobic ballot initiative, we go on the
offensive and speak directly to voters about
issues affecting our community— and that’s
exactly what happened here.”
N A T IO N A L
[ d em ocratic presidential candidate and for-
* mer Army Gen. Wesley Clark stated his
support tor a broad range of issues affecting the
queer community in a questionnaire tor the
Human Rights Campaign released Nov. 12.
“All Americans should be treated with
equality and dignity,” he wrote. H RC has
received the same questionnaire from the other
eight candidates seeking the nomination and
has not yet made an endorsement.
In terms of relationship recognition, Clark
believes “same-sex couples deserve the same fed­
eral benefits, rights, privileges and responsibili­
ties as opposite-sex couples," although he
stopped short of supporting equal access to civil
marriage licenses for same-sex couples. He sig­
naled his support for civil unions as a mecha­
nism to provide these rights to same-sex couples.
Clark backs two key pieces of legislation: the
Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which
would outlaw job bias based on sexual orienta­
tion, and the Local Law Enforcement Enhance­
ment Act, which would add sexual orientation,
gender and disability to the 1%8 law that covers
crimes based on race, religion and national origin.
Clark also reiterated his opposition to “don’t
W I S C O N S IN
emocratic Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed legisla­
tion Nov. 7 that sought to define marriage
in Wisconsin to exclude
same-sex couples. He called
Assembly Bill 475 “divisive
and mean-spirited.”
“Lesbian and gay cou­
ples are already excluded
from over 1,000 rights and
responsibilities that come
with a civil marriage
license," said Christopher
Ott, executive director of
D
P e a r l L a
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