The battle continues to find it self in the same main battle ground areas with some gains and setbacks for both sides. This time a minister sits on the sidelines after an opening prayer that goes over the top (so say the legislators).
New Jersey Legislature Votes In Favor Of Same-Sex ‘Civil Unions’
TRENTON, New Jersey, December 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New Jersey’s legislature voted yesterday to label the same-sex partnerships allowed by the State’s Supreme Court earlier this year as ‘civil unions’, joining Vermont and Connecticut as the third state to legally recognize same-sex relationships as “civil unions”. All three states officially recognize same-sex ‘civil unions’, creating a relationship status that enjoys all the civil privileges of marriage but stops short of actually being called ’same-sex marriage’….
The bill also mandates the creation of a commission to explore whether New Jersey should legalize same-sex marriage in the future. Steven Goldstein, director of the gay rights organization Garden State Equality, said that he thought that within two years homosexuals in New Jersey would be able to get married.
It appears that the opening prayer wasn’t the expected usual flair.
Fields prayed - in his words - “We curse the spirit that would come to bring about same-sex marriage. We ask you to just look over this place today, cause them to be shaken in their very heart in uprightness.”
Invocations are not supposed to be political.
Senate President Dick Codey tells The Star-Ledger of Newark Fields was out of line and the pastor will not be invited back.
His later comments are here and include this.
“Some things need to stay in the closet,” he said. “Everything doesn’t need to come out of the closet.”
He said same-sex unions can confuse children, especially those who may be struggling with who they are.
“They’re going to start believing that’s who they are,” Fields said. “As a pastor, I can tell you that spirit — homosexuality — is a very dangerous spirit.”
In Ireland an attempt to use the unratified EU they hope to use the issue of “Human Rights” to gain a foothold.
Irish court declines bid to recognize same-sex marriage
Dec. 15, 2006 (CWNews.com) - An Irish court has turned down a bid by a lesbian couple seeking legal recognition of their marriage.Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan, whose union was recognized as a marriage in Canada, argued that Ireland should be required to acknowledge the union, under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights. But High Court Justice Elizabeth Dunne, in a decision announced December 14, said that the Irish constitution did not provide for same- sex marriage. That position, the court ruled, is not incompaitable with the European convention.
They rejected the bid but people will use such documents as a leverage. It is no wonder the Democrats have long hoped the courts would go beyond the Constitution and look to rulings in Europe. However, I don’t think this ruling is what they would have in mind.
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