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HI: Senate Passes Civil Unions Bill

Friday, January 28th, 2011

The state Senate on Friday approved Senate Bill 232, relating to Civil Unions, at its regular daily session. The bill says unmarried, unrelated couples may have a judge or clergy solemnize their civil union, which will provide the same responsibilities and benefits of marriage under state law.

The bill passed the full Senate 19-6. The six no votes were Sens. Donna Kim, Will Espero, Ron Kouchi, Mike Gabbard, Sam Slom and Donovan Delacruz.

The bill is nearly identical to HB 444, which passed last year in the last moments of the legislature, only to be vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle. New Gov. Neil Abercrombie has promised to sign whatever civil unions legislation is approved. Abercrombie has said he it is a simple issue of civil rights.

Full Story from KITV

Click here for gay marriage resources in Hawaii.

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.

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IA: Senate GOP Tries to Block Rule Change That Would Help Stymie Gay Marriage Ban

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

The first test in the Iowa Senate on the issue of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage could come as soon as Thursday, lawmakers said today.

Minority Republicans who support a constitutional prohibition on same-gender marriage are accusing leaders of the Democratic majority of parliamentary maneuvering intended to prevent the issue from coming to a full Senate vote. Democrat leaders strongly deny such an effort is underway and say that they are only following traditional policies of running the Senate that have been in place for decades.

However, Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, a Council Bluffs Democrat, has previously vowed to fight Republican efforts to push for a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Gronstal has said he won’t allow discrimination to be placed in the Iowa Constitution.

Full Story from The Des Moines Register

Click here for gay marriage resources in Iowa.

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.

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IL: Senate Passes Civil Unions Bill

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Just got this from Lambda Legal:

The State of Illinois took a big step forward today by passing a civil union bill and sending it on to the governor for his signature. Today the Senate passed The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act by a vote of 32 to 24 following a 62 to 51 vote of the Illinois House of Representatives on Tuesday.

When the law takes effect, Illinois will become the 6th state with broad legal protections for same-sex couples and their families in addition to the five states and the District of Columbia where same-sex couples can marry.

Lambda Legal fights for marriage equality and other legal protections for same-sex couples from Hawai’i to Iowa and from Wisconsin to New Jersey. While we continue to fight for full equality under the law, we also seek laws and policies that provide non-marital legal recognition, benefits and protections for same-sex couples and their families who need them to care better for each other and their children.

For many years, the Lambda Legal team in our Midwest Regional Office in Chicago has sponsored a vibrant Freedom to Marry program, held community meetings and built a speaker’s bureau to build support for equality. Lambda Legal’s dedicated staff provided extensive legal analysis and drafting assistance for the Act approved today, as well as public education and legislative advocacy pressing for its passage. Our work in Illinois will continue.

Today, we celebrate and thank the bill’s sponsors for their extraordinary leadership. We congratulate our colleagues at Equality Illinois and all the LGBT advocates and allies across the state who fought so hard for this victory.

The backlash against LGBT equality gets a lot of coverage, but despite it, we are steadily expanding legal rights and protections for LGBT people. Thank you for continuing to support our work.

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