Civil Unions for Gays Pose No Threat to America

News and Opinion for Democrats Against Bush -- Part II

Civil Unions for Gays Pose No Threat to America

"Partnership is a legal reality for thousands of gay Americans, and a social reality for millions more. Thus the debate over gay marriage need not be distorted by doomsday claims that the future of America is at stake. In many ways that future is already here — and those fears have not come to pass." --WILLIAM B. RUBENSTEIN and R. BRADLEY SEARS

New York Times November 20, 2003

Toward More Perfect Unions

By WILLIAM B. RUBENSTEIN and R. BRADLEY SEARS

The complete article may be purchased online from the New York Times archives at-- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F2071EFC3C5F0C738EDDA80994DB404482at--

Excerpt--

LOS ANGELES — On Tuesday, the highest court in Massachusetts issued a path-breaking decision, making the state the first to extend to gay couples not just many of the rights and benefits of marriage but the right to marry itself. In another sense, however, the decision is simply one more in a series of steps that have already provided legal rights to tens of thousands of same-sex couples throughout America.

According to data from the 2000 United States census, about one in five people who identified themselves as living with an "unmarried partner'` of the same sex now resides in a jurisdiction that grants some legal recognition to gay unions. ...

William B. Rubenstein, professor of law, and R. Bradley Sears direct the Williams Project of Sexual Orientation Law at UCLA.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/opinion/20RUBE.html

New York TImes November 20, 2003

A Victory for Gay Marriage

The complete article may be purchased from the New York Times archives at-- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D12F93C5F0C738EDDA80994DB404482

Opening words--

Without a doubt, this is the happiest day of our lives," declared Gloria Bailey, a 62-year-old Cape Cod resident. Ms. Bailey and her partner were two of the plaintiffs in this week's landmark Massachusetts ruling that says gay people have the right to marry. When the rights of disadvantaged groups are newly recognized, there is often opposition, some of it fierce, and the road ahead may be rough. But like the early court rulings striking down segregation, this has the feel of a legal revolution beginning. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/opinion/20THU1.html?th

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