 |
 |
| President Bush on Tuesday called on Congress to promptly pass a constitutional
amendment banning gay marriage so that the states could ratify it. It would take
two-thirds of the members of both houses in Congress and ratification by three-fourths
of the states before a gay marriage ban would become part of the Constitution.
(Photo by Susan Walsh/AP)
|
|
|
| | |
|
| |
| |
|
|
| | |
HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
continued...
countries (Netherlands, Belgium,
several provinces of Canada) issue marriage licenses
to gay couples
16 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada,
Denmark (including Greenland), Finland, France, Germany,
Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal,
Spain and Sweden) extend marriage-like rights to gay couples
0 states recognize same-sex marriages
but Massachusetts has been ordered by its Supreme Judicial
Court to begin doing so by May 17;
1 city (San Francisco) has issued marriage
licenses to more than 3,200 same-sex couples since Feb.
12 but California state officials are moving to invalidate
those marriages
1 state (VT) recognizes civil unions
that extend marriage-like rights and responsibilities to
gay couples
1 state (NJ) and DC recognize domestic
partnerships that carry limited legal rights and don’t
have a DOMA law
2 states (CA, HI) offer limited legal
recognition to gay couples. But California voters passed
a 2000 initiative limiting marriage to heterosexual couples;
Hawaii passed a state constitutional amendment limiting
marriage to heterosexual couples
10 states have not passed any law concerning
same-sex couples
33 States have passed Defense of Marriage
Acts (DOMAs) restricting marriage to heterosexual couples
and have no other laws addressing same-sex couples
2 states (NE, OH) have passed “Super
| 
