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Guam: Civil Union Bill Debate Delayed As Catholic Church Prepares Attack

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The Catholic Church in Guam has submitted a petition opposing plans to legalise same-sex civil unions in the US territory. The controversial Bill 185 on civil unions was due to be discussed this week, but has been delayed again until next month, giving the church more time to garner support for their argument that legalising gay unions will promote homosexuality.

Presenter: Corinne Podger
Speakers: Benjamin Cruz, Guam Senator; Deacon Jeff Barcinas, Spokesman for Guam’s Catholic Archbishop

PODGER: Bill 185 aims to give people in committed same-sex relationships the right to enter into civil unions, thereby enjoying the same responsibilities, rights benefits and protections as marriage. Guam Senator Benjamin Cruz, who tabled the proposed legislation late last year, says it’s unfair to deny homosexual citizens in long-term relationships the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

CRUZ: It is a civil rights issue. You’re denying individuals the right to unions that they should be able to get into. But more importantly you’re denying them the equal protection of the law. A professor at the university who, like 100 other professors at the university, paid his bi-weekly dues for retirement; when he retires his significant other will not be able to receive the retirement survivor benefits after he dies. But one of his other fellow professors could marry some 18-year-old girl that he meets online from some foreign country and, after one year, die and she would for the rest of her life be able to receive the benefits.

Full Story from Radio Australia
Click here for gay marriage resources.
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Posted in catholic church, civil unions bill, debate, delay, guam, objections | No Responses »

Guam: Nearly 200 Attend Rally in Support of Civil Partnerships Bill

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

When University of Guam student Rose Hermoso began to question why her rights as a heterosexual weren’t shared with other members of the community, she organized a rally.

Hermoso, together with three other University of Guam students, held a peaceful rally last night at the Plaza de España, to support civil rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community of Guam, she said yesterday.

“They’re not asking for anything other than the same civil rights as the rest of us,” Hermoso said. “We have to do this.”

Full Story from GuamPDN: http://www.guampdn.com/article/20091108/NEWS01/911080313/1002

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in civil partnerships, Gay Marriage, guam, rally, vigil | No Responses »

Guam "Gay Marriage" Bill Changed to "Civil Partnership"

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Guam’s Alternative Lifestyle Association has introduced an amended version of Bill 185 that they believe not only address the rights of same-sex couples but also takes various concerns into consideration. Guam Youth Congress Speaker Derick Hills worked with others to develop the changes that are based on Nevada’s Domestic Partnership Act.

Such modifications would changing the term “domestic partnership” to “civil partnership”, defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman and stressing that no religious entity is required to solemnize a civil partnership are among the proposed amendments. “The amendments were mirrored after Nevada’s domestic partnership bill,” said Hills.

Full Story from KUAM: http://www.kuam.com/Global/story.asp?S=11455131

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in civil partnerships, Gay Marriage, guam, proposed bill | No Responses »

Guam Catholic Bishop Says Radical Islam & Suicide Bombers Better Than Gay Marriage

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

From a 3 page statement distributed by the local Catholic Archdiocese on the island of Guam in opposition to Bill 185, which would would allow same-sex couples to enter into legal domestic partnerships:

The culture of homosexuality is a culture of self-absorption because it does not value self-sacrifice. It is a glaring example of what John Paul II has called the culture of death. Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. That is why they repress such behavior by death. Their culture is anything but one of self-absorption. It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers (women as well as men) is a culture that at least knows how to value self-sacrifice.

Terrorism as a way to oppose the degeneration of the culture is to be rejected completely since such violence is itself another form of degeneracy. One, however, does not have to agree with the gruesome ways that the fundamentalists use to curb the forces that undermine their culture to admit that the Islamic fundamentalist charge that Western Civilization in general and the U.S.A, in particular is the “Great Satan” is not without an element of truth.

Full Story from the Moderate Voice: http://themoderatevoice.com/51019/suicide-bombers-are-better-than-gay-marriage/

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in gay culture, Gay Marriage, guam, radical islam, suicide bombers | No Responses »

Guam Law May Already Allow for Gay Marriage

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

A local lawyer believes Guam law already allows for same-sex marriages on the island, before any action is taken on Bill 185. But if the bill is not passed, one local association is saying they’re considering bringing the issue to court.

“Do I think that same-sex marriages are recognized on Guam at this time? Yes.” Such was the assertion of former senator and attorney Howard Trapp, who believes same-sex civil unions may already be allowed on Guam. Trapp refers to Title 2 of the Guam Code Annotated, Section 2106, which states the equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.

He continued, “I think that if somebody – a gay or lesbian couple – were to apply for a marriage license, wherever you apply for one…I think they would have to grant one. And if they refuse to grant it, because it would just be a ministerial duty to grant it. I think that a judge of the superior court could be approached to issue a writ of mandate to require that.”

Full Story from KUAM: http://www.kuam.com/Global/story.asp?S=11350560

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in current law, Gay Marriage, guam | No Responses »