Monday, May 18, 2009

Wisconsin Readies For Battle


The Wisconsin State Supreme Court announced that it will hear a challenge to the 2006 constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex marriage. This challenge was filed in 2007 by a straight man, Bill McConkey, a Door County resident who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and who has a daughter who is gay. McConkey argued that the constitutional change was improperly put before voters in 2006; he said voters should have been asked to vote on two separate amendments, instead of the one put before them.


Lester Pines, McConkey's attorney, said the wording of the 2006 constitutional amendment improperly asked voters to do two things: define the only valid marriage as between a man and woman and define the legal rights of the unmarried.

Julaine K. Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, which helped lead the campaign to pass the amendment, is "cautiously optimistic" that it would be upheld by the court. The ban on gay marriage will stay in place if justices stay away from any "personal agendas" and "interpret the law, and not make law," Appling said.

The personal agenda of ending discrimination against a select group of Americans? That personal agenda. Miss Appling?

The decision by the Supreme Court to hear the case came days before the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee considers the proposal of Democratic Governor Jim Doyle to legalize registries that would give same-sex couples the right to register with local officials to obtain legal privileges now limited to heterosexual couples.

The governor wants a baby step, registries and such, while a father just wants his daughter to have the same rights and privileges afforded all Americans.

1 comment:

Say anything, but keep it civil .......