A false compromise

New Jersey conservatives are officially weighing in on the issue of gay marriage. As expected, they are planning to unveil a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman — an amendment that woudl write discrimination into law.

And they are planning to unveil a compromise domestic benefits bill that would grant all of the rights and benefits of marriage not only to gay couples, but to nearly every non-married living arrangement. On the surface this seems a useful compromise, but it falls short for two reasons. First, it ignores the psychic and social benefits that come with the marriage designation (a purposeful sleight). And, just as importantly, it would not cover heterosexual couples who choose not to marry because they would be eligible to marry — making it both unfair to gays and straights and unnecessarily coercive.

A better and fairer approach would be to include gay couples in a new marriage law while also creating a separate domestic benefits bill that would cover all of those arrangements short of marriage.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet