Travel Industry Profiting From Same-Sex Ceremonies

From "A Red Carpet for Gay Weddings," NY Times, April 11, 2008:

...Throughout the Northeast, competition has spiked among wedding sites, hotels, resorts and inns as the travel industry has realized that same-sex ceremonies can draw scores of guests, who turn these destinations weddings into weekend stays...

TRAVEL agencies, too, are catering to gay couples heading to the Northeast for civil-union ceremonies, and many Northeast states now hold gay and lesbian wedding expositions, where couples can choose among ministers who marry same-sex partners, jewelers who offer tiaras and custom rings, and numerous other vendors...

Same-sex couples may be an even more attractive market than their straight counterparts. The Travel Industry Association found that gay men tend to spend more on travel than heterosexuals do, and most unions in the Northeast involve out-of-state couples — in Vermont, over 80 percent. And a study by the School of Law of the University of California, Los Angeles, found New Jersey alone will make over $102 million annually from same-sex unions...

posted by Imapp Staff at 10:51 AM | link

PA Marriage Amendment Testimony

A second round of hearings, after the PA Judiciary Committee approved the state marriage amendment. This week it's before the Appropriations Committee, story here.
posted by maggie at 10:33 AM | link

Marriage as a Cultural Property Claim

A Seton Hall law professor, Marc R. Poirier argues in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law that something is at stake in the SSM debate (although he ends up favoring SSM): a "cultural property claim." Interesting:

"The Cultural Property Claim within the Same Sex Marriage Controversy"

Abstract:
This article argues that traditionalist opposition to same sex marriage can be understood as a cultural property claim - the sort of claim that is often made by Native American tribes and other indigenous or subordinated cultural groups of a right to control the uses of sacred or culturally central rituals, places and objects. Ultimately, the article disagrees with the traditionalist position, and suggests several arguments against allowing traditionalists to claim a property-like right to exclude same sex couples from marriage. Nevertheless, the stakes in the part of the marriage equality controversy that centers around name and status are not adequately understood, and this article offers an analytical advance by bringing the idea of a cultural property claim to bear.

The protection of shared cultural symbols, rituals and traditions can be approached doctrinally and understood culturally in several ways in addition to a cultural property claim, including trademark dilution (especially trademark tarnishment), intellectual property rights that protect against unauthorized performance, laws against blasphemy and desecration, and environmental prohibitions of pollution and contagion. The article examines each of these, shedding light on the unexplored mechanics of the signal congestion that often lies at the heart of the traditionalist concern. The article focuses not only on the name and status of marriage, but also on the daily performances of gender roles that marriage authorizes and facilitates, and that same sex marriage apparently threatens to dilute or disrupt. The article thus applies both property concepts and gender performance theory to the same sex marriage controversy. The gender performance analysis also leads to a place-based argument in favor of disestablishing marriage, as a way of facilitating a multicultural approach to a deep-seated controversy.


Suggested Citation
Poirier, Marc R., "The Cultural Property Claim within the Same Sex Marriage Controversy" . Columbia Journal of Gender and Law Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1118322

posted by maggie at 10:27 AM | link

AZ Marriage Amendment Back on Track

New Marriage Amendment Bill Passes Committee:

"The marriage amendment referendum got back on track in the House Judiciary Committee today by a vote of 6-4. The referendum will give you the opportunity to vote on placing the following language into the Arizona Constitution: 'Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.'"

posted by maggie at 10:21 AM | link

Obama Pledges to Repeal Federal Defense of Marriage Act

In an interview with the Advocate this week, here.
posted by maggie at 10:20 AM | link

Detroit Bans Transgender Discrimination

From "Detroit Bans Transgender Discrimination," 365Gay.com, April 9, 2008:

(Detroit, Michigan) Detroit has become the latest city to ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity. City council voted 8-1 to amend the city's nondiscrimination ordinance which already bars discrimination against lesbians and gays...

The Detroit-based Triangle Foundation worked for 17 years to get an all inclusive ordinance. The addition of “gender identity or expression” to anti-discrimination laws protects all people who don’t conform to rigid gender norms...

posted by Imapp Staff at 10:47 AM | link

ME Referendum on Marriage

"Referendum aims to undo gay rights," Portland Press Herald, April 9, 2008:

AUGUSTA – Marriage would be limited to heterosexual couples and civil unions would be prohibited under a referendum being pursued by the Christian Civic League of Maine.

Under the proposed legislation, same-sex couples would not be allowed to adopt, sexual orientation would be removed from the Maine Human Rights Act and funding for the civil rights teams in the Attorney General’s Office would be eliminated.

Michael Heath, the organization’s executive director, initiated the process last week. The effort will need to gather 55,087 signatures – a figure equal to 10 percent of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election – within 18 months of the issuance of an approved petition by the Secretary of State.

In 2005, voters supported a state law that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 1998 and 1990, voters had opposed gay-rights laws.

posted by Imapp Staff at 9:48 AM | link

New Study: Marriage Means More Housework for Women

From "Study: 'I do' Means 7 Hours More Housework for Women," Fox News, April 7, 2008:

When a woman says 'I do,' she is getting more than a husband — she is also signing up for an extra seven hours of housework a week, according to a new study.

The University of Michigan study also showed getting married will reduce a man's housework by an hour a week, allheadlinenews.com reported.

Researchers at the school's Institute for Social Research analyzed diaries kept by participants and also found the amount of housework women do overall has declined since 1976, the Web site reported...

posted by Imapp Staff at 8:50 AM | link

Bromances are Everywhere

From "Bromances aren't uncommon as guys delay marriage," Columbia News Service, April 7, 2008:

…[In NBC's hospital-based comedy "Scrubs," the two main characters] are two straight male doctors who are, without a doubt, in a bromance, a relationship defined as "the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males," according to urbandictionary.com.

From "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" to "Good Will Hunting," popular culture is filled with examples of straight guy love...

But close male friendship isn't just a quirky television fantasy or a running gag in the movies. Real-life bromances are everywhere...

Experts say the prevalence of these friendships can in part be explained by the delay in major life milestones. Fifty years ago, a man could graduate from college, get a job and get married all within a couple of months. But today's men are drifting, as opposed to jumping, into the traditional notion of adulthood.

...[M]en are getting married later — an average age of 27, according to a 2007 report by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, up from the average marrying age of 23 in 1960. Men with more education are marrying even later, in their 30s...

posted by Imapp Staff at 11:24 AM | link

New Australian Study: More-Educated Women More Likely to Marry

From "Smarter women marry, Australian research shows," AFP, April 7, 2008:

SYDNEY (AFP) — Women with a university degree are more likely to marry than their less-educated sisters, according to Australian research released Monday that reverses long-held views about bookish females...

The research [Heard, Genevieve (2008), "Partnerships at the 2006 census: preliminary findings" People and Place , vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 31-39] found that while the marriage rate was falling overall, for women aged over 30 it was declining rapidly for those with only a high school education.

The census data on women aged 30 to 34 revealed that in 1996, 64 percent of women with a bachelor degree or higher were married, slightly less than the 65 percent of women in the same age group who did no extra study after school.

But the group more likely to be married had reversed within the decade; with 61 percent of women aged 30 to 34 with degrees or higher married by 2006, compared with 53 percent of women in the same age group with no post-school qualifications...

posted by Imapp Staff at 9:00 AM | link

Do Pro-Natal Public Policies Work? Russia's Baby Boomlet

From "Russia Has First Post-Soviet Baby Boom," AP, April 5, 2008:

...Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's population plummeted, and until recently was shrinking at the rate of about 750,000 people a year.

...Because of falling birthrates and rising death rates, the number of Russians dropped between 1989 and 2008 from about 148 million to 141.4 million. Villages emptied, the pool of military recruits shrank and a labor shortage loomed...

Some experts have estimated that the number of Russians could fall below 100 million by 2050, making one of the world's most sparsely populated countries even more so and - some fear - threatening its very existence...

So the Kremlin [has] made kids a priority. A 2007 law expanded maternity leave benefits and payments, and granted mothers educational and other vouchers worth $10,650 for a second child and any thereafter. More important, perhaps, Russia's surging economy has made it possible for young couples to plan for their future.

The population decline hasn't halted, and demographers warn it could plummet again. But today births are on the rise, from 1.4 million in 2006 to 1.6 million in 2007 - their highest level in 15 years...

posted by Imapp Staff at 4:21 PM | link

Legal SSM Will Undermine Religious Freedom

From "Legalizing gay marriage will spark lawsuits against churches" by Roger Severino, Examiner, April 7, 2008:

...The experience of legalizing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, and of civil unions elsewhere...shows that, even with the best of intentions, legalizing same-sex marriage will seriously undermine the religious freedom citizens have enjoyed since the founding...

Simply changing the definition of marriage opens the door to a flood of lawsuits against dissenting religious institutions based on state public accommodation and employment laws that prohibit marital status and sexual orientation discrimination.

Additionally, religious institutions that refuse to recognize a new state-imposed definition could be stripped of access to government programs, have their tax exemption denied and even lose the ability to solemnize civil marriages...

posted by Imapp Staff at 1:16 PM | link

Civil Bar Mitzvah

Many of my friends who support same-sex marriage don't understand why defenders of traditional marriage can't stick with the old definition solely within their churches and synagogues, while the society as a whole moves forward with a "non-discriminatory" approach that ignores the sex of the individuals to be married. In fact, California's same-sex marriage bills have had the ludicrous title "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act," to emphasize that same-sex marriage in that state would force no faith to perform marriages it does not believe in. Given that the First Amendment clearly obviates the need for any such additional "protection," this Orwellian title is mostly a distraction from the actual harm same-sex marriage causes those of us who oppose changing the man-woman definition of marriage.

To show why religious people have every right to be upset about judges and legislatures monkeying around with traditional marriage, consider an analogy: the civil bar mitzvah. In Judaism, a young man becomes responsible to fulfill the commandments that are part of the Jewish people's covenant with God when he turns 13 years old. Now, imagine that the legislators in the state of Massachusetts admire the non-religious aspects of the bar mitzvah, and they decide to implement a civil bar mitzvah. At a civil bar mitzvah, young men and women of any faith - or no faith - read from an ancient text (which could be Biblical, or from Greek Mythology, or from the Epic of Gilgamesh, or from the Indian Upanishads), deliver a speech declaring personal values, enjoy a lavish party, and receive cash and fountain pens galore from friends and family members - and perhaps a scholarship from the state. Now, let's say that because of the Bay State's powerful Tween lobby, Massachusetts sets 10 as the age of civil bar mitzvah.

How do you imagine traditional Jews might feel about such an institution? I know I, for one, would be outraged. I recognize that it is probably a compliment that the state admires and wants to emulate a Jewish tradition. But for it to casually redefine an institution that already has a firm definition - one that Orthodox Jews, at least, believe comes from God, is a direct state attack on the integrity of my faith. While I might be resigned to accept such a radical civil redefinition of a central Jewish concept if it came about through a fair vote of the people, I would have a serious problem with a judge or even the legislature trying to redefine a concept - bar mitzvah - that has never been applied to 10- and 11-year olds and never should.

I don't imagine I have to lay out the analogy to marriage.

Labels: Marriage

posted by David Benkof at 11:23 AM | link

Domestic Partnership Bills Advance in MD Legislature

From "Md. Hospital Deal Advances," Washington Post, April 5, 2008:

...In the [Maryland] House of Delegates, gay rights advocates scored two victories in their piece-by-piece pursuit of rights now provided only to married couples. A bill allowing domestic partners to make medical decisions for each other cleared the General Assembly and headed to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk for his signature. And delegates gave final passage, 86 to 47, to a measure extending some property ownership rights to same-sex couples...

The House property bill would exempt gay couples from paying recordation taxes and state and county transfer taxes when they transfer property to their partner or the partner's family member.

The bills are incremental measures that fall far short of a legalization of same-sex marriage that gay rights advocates had sought. The General Assembly remains deeply divided on gay rights issues, as was clear yesterday in the House, where opponents of the medical decisions bill called it a thinly veiled attempt at marriage rights...

posted by Imapp Staff at 9:04 AM | link

Single Motherhood on the Rise in China

From "Single Mothers in China Forge a Difficult Path," NY Times, April 6, 2008:

...In a society where until quite recently premarital sex was often punished, the issue of single motherhood has been slow to enter the public arena...

Official statistics on the number of single mothers are unavailable in China. But with premarital sex now commonplace and women’s earning power growing, particularly in the wealthy cities of the east, experts believe their numbers are rising fast, albeit from a small base...

posted by Imapp Staff at 8:52 AM | link