Same-sex civil unions legalized in Illinois
Yesterday, more than twenty-five same-sex couples gathered to, um, civilly unite in Chicago, on the first day it was legal. The state still doesn’t call the unions “marriages,” but affords a civilly united same-sex couple (we really need a new verb for that) the same rights and tax breaks as a married couple. But they'll still will miss out on the federal benefits afforded to married straight couples.
This is just one more sign that the tide is slowly shifting towards universal recognition of same-sex marriage. Bills are on the ballot in several states, including New York (although rumors suggest it won’t pass until next year). And, of course, the federal government stated it would stop defending the Defense Against Marriage Act (DOMA) earlier this year, paving the way for its repeal, and new court challenges nation-wide.
Illinois joins Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Washington D.C. in allowing same-sex unions. Civil unions are also legal in most of Western Europe, Canada, South Africa, and a few Latin American countries.
Commentarium (13 Comments)
coverage for sexual reassignment is complicated for me not on moral grounds, but in terms of precedent and scope. that is, when does it stop? if a small-busted woman feels that, deep down, she is a large-busted woman and must have surgery to achieve the appearance that she feels most truly conveys her identity, then why shouldn't she be covered as well? what about penis enlargement? what about permanent cosmetics? it's an interesting proposition, but they "why" of it (beyond improving morale) needs to be more clearly defined.
I agree that reclaiming the n-word is dubious. It's co-option attempts to take away it's power to hurt from the outsiders who use it, but it's just such a powerful, nasty word that is too connected to slavery and cultural genocide. I would say that the biggest success story in these realms has to be embracing the word queer.
I think that Lady Chatterly's Lover or some of Henry Miller's works probably "angry up the blood" just as much, if not more, than garden-variety porno.
Me you sex
oddly enough the Chicago Tribune reported that the proper verb for Civil Unions is to certify. So people have been "certified"....which just sounds so technical and unfeeling.
Hmmm... shortage of men in Russia, (scarier) shortage of women in India and China... I think we need to hook that up.
I don't want to sound judgemental, but how do you not know that your wife was a man?
She spent tens of thousands of dollars chaning jnto a woman her penis isnt there and she pronablt didnt look like a man at all thats how he didnt know his wide was a man
No kidding, well I figured she had had surgery, it just seems like you would be able to tell the difference between a biological vagina and one that was constructed, especially if you're married and presumably putting fingers or penises inside of it.
Hey, that post leaves me feeling floiosh. Kudos to you!
It would appear that you have never heard of a book called The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt. The subject matter of which you speak is hardly new or even really that profound anymore, as it's been around and discussed in feminist circles of academia for well over a decade.
Stay with this guys, you're helping a lot of peolpe.
Yeah, it'll only cost $32,000 extra per year... We have problems with cuts in education and unemployment but we can afford to pay for people to get a sex change? My tax dollars will NOT support this. This is absurd. If they think they were born the wrong sex let them pay for it to be corrected from their own pockets.
Now you say something