November 23, 2009 – IR Summary/NYT -
As regards Gay people, the balance of opinion, though divided, its trend otherwise, public or legal, is very much in favor of the Gay people who may get full civil rights in their final battle in the United States.
There are of course, disputes of rights in many angles including the right to marry throughout the United States but the things are moving in such a way that the rights to marry and the like shall be recognized throughout the United States.
According to NYT editorial, the Gay people will eventually win full civil rights — including the right to marry — throughout the United States. Between now and then, there will be many more disputes like the one unfolding between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the District of Columbia City Council over a bill recognizing same-sex marriages that could be voted on as soon as next week.
City lawmakers who are negotiating with the archdiocese over the language of the bill should try to settle it without acrimony — but not by abandoning the District’s equal-rights tradition or by selling out same-sex couples.
The District of Columbia has a distinguished tradition of statutes dating back to the 1970s that protect the rights of gay people. It passed its first domestic partnership law nearly 20 years ago and recently recognized same-sex marriages created in other jurisdictions.
The pending bill appropriately exempts religious institutions from having to marry same-sex couples, promote same-sex marriage or rent church property to them for receptions or other affairs. But this bill rightly requires that employers providing spousal benefits to employees extend those same benefits to same-sex partners who marry.
This law, which deals in the civic institution of marriage and not religious doctrine, would cover Catholic Charities, an organization that receives public funds and that does extraordinary work feeding and housing the poor in Washington and elsewhere in the country. Full
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