On gay marriage

[grenadier32]

So anyone reading this LJ probably knows by now that a same-sex marriage bill was signed into law in New York State last night. In today's aftermath, I was reading a bit about the process and I came upon this video of State Senator Mark Grisanti speaking on the floor--he was one of the key Republicans who came out in favor of the legalization bill

Comments

[ladyliberal]

[grenadier32]

Temple Israel, in Ridgewood! The vote was, reportedly, unanimous.

[sniffnoy]

...wait, since when?

Also from earlier discussions I'm really not certain that such protections are explicitly needed? (In that they're automatic.) BICBW.

[valmora]

re: religious places being required to perform gay marriages in the future: I don't think that "twenty years" will be when that happens. I know there was a court case a year or two ago in which a church got sued (and lost, natch) for its pastor refusing to perform an interracial marriage - but "miscegenation laws" were declared unconstitutional in 1967.

I do think that within the next twenty years we will see state-recognized gay marriage (in whatever name) become de rigeur; I'm not sure that all religious institutions will follow quite as quickly.

I'm also rather dubious that those marriages/unions will see state recognition throughout the world. Western [+Australia, NZ] and Central Europe, certainly; Eastern Europe, possibly. East Asia, maybe - they'll either hold out kicking and screaming or do it faster than anyone expects. Anywhere else, I'm a bit dubious.

[grenadier32]

I think we're in agreement there. I didn't mean to imply that I expect all religious organizations to change their positions within twenty years; I expect the federal government or a least a majority of states to legalize it. If my entry implied that, it should probably be clarified.

As for the foreign recognition issue, who knows--are there conventions regarding marriage in international law? Does it affect anything besides immigration?

[valmora]

Many countries acknowledge straight marriages performed elsewhere (one of my sempai host-students married her husband in India, and even though they never got a US wedding due to sudden onslaught of pregnancy, they're still legally married); that courtesy is not necessarily extended to marriages/marriage-surrogates for homosexual couples.

e.g., if a married same-sex Canadian couple moved to France, they'd probably be legally treated as having been PACSed; or if to Spain, married; or if to, say, Japan, single. You can have the same thing between US states, obvs. A same-sex marriage in Iowa is treated as a civil union in Illinois and is treated as a non-legal non-tax-relevant ceremony by both Alabama and the federal government.