ATTORNEYS ARGUE THAT LA. AMENDMENT WOULD END DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS: From the Associated Press

The marriage amendment approved Saturday will wipe out New Orleans' benefits for partners of city workers who sign onto a domestic partner registry, say attorneys challenging the amendment.

"The only immediate direct effect of this amendment is to abolish the New Orleans Domestic Partner registry ordinance. That is exactly what the people behind this amendment wanted," attorney John Rawls said. "They sued to abolish it and lost in court. So they stuck it in a craftily worded amendment."

City attorneys have said they don't think the amendment will affect the city ordinance. Mayoral spokeswoman Tanzie Jones reiterated that Wednesday, but said she did not know the legal basis for the contention and city attorneys were busy with another matter.

Michael Johnson, a Shreveport attorney who has argued in favor of the amendment, said it adds a new argument to his challenge of New Orleans' domestic partnership ordinance.

"I think and would argue that a domestic partnership is, quote-unquote, substantially similar to marriage," said Johnson, who is affiliated with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian group. ...

The sentence which Rawls said will annihilate New Orleans' ordinance states, "A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized."

"For a city to confer recognition upon a domestic partnership creates a legal status substantially similar to marriage for unmarried individuals," Rawls said. "And that is why the word 'recognized' is in this amendment.

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