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The only reason there is a domestic partnership status in California, Hawaii, and Vermont is because of the suits for legal marriage. The only reason there are domestic partner benefits at so many workplaces is because of the recognition that same-sex couples have been forbidden access to legal marriage. Civil Unions and other domestic partner registrations have created a second-class status because they do not trigger — as does legal marriage — hundreds of state laws, nor do they trigger more than a thousand federal laws. These laws comprise the rights and responsibilities which protect families in times of crisis. Domestic partnership Unions or registrations do not provide any recognition outside of the issuing state. Once crossing a state line, registered couples are considered to be legal strangers. For equal treatment as an adult citizen, the clearest words to use have always been “legal marriage.” Demanding anything short of legal marriage has never resulted in getting legal marriage. Unfortunately, There will be backlash. It is identical in nature and ferocity to the backlash that the black and woman’s movements have received. It is an expected by-product of the discrimination that prompted the cry for equality in the first place. For hundreds of years — before the beginning of the modern gay rights struggle for equality — those who were fearful, or hateful, had committed violence against gay men, lesbians, and transsexuals. They did not need a rational cause. Their own fears provided the provocation. The spiritual, legal, and physical violence committed against us is not because of our sexuality. It is because of their violence. Some think there never is a good time to fight for civil rights. Here are two quotes that keep me warm in the storm: “Equality always seems radical to those who oppose it.” “Equal means getting the same thing at the same time in the same place”
© 2006, Demian
Original article written November 8, 2004, and periodically updated.
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