Comments on Advance Indiana™: IE Releases Favorable Poll Numbers For Gay Rights

Paula,The legal documents to which I refer would n...

2006-05-17T22:33:00.000-05:00

Paula,

The legal documents to which I refer would not be overturned by SJR-7. Any person of sound mind has the legal right to leave his/her estate to the beneficiaries he/she chooses. A person of sound mind can appoint a health care representative of his/her choice. You can choose a form of property ownership that protects a same-sex partner. You can contract with a same-sex partner through a domestic partner agreement to approach how marital property is allocated for recognized marriages. Where SJR-7 can pose a problem is in the public setting. For example, a public entity might be prohibited from offering same-sex partner benefits because that might be interpreted as a legal incident of marriage. That being said, that isn't a reason to sit on your hands and allow SJR-7 to become part of our constitution.

Gary, Everyone keeps pointing out that we can use ...

2006-05-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

Gary,
Everyone keeps pointing out that we can use legal documents to approximate rights gained automatically by marriage. My question is, what happens to those documents if/when SJR7 is passed and restricts the "legal incidents thereof" or whatever the legal mumbo jumbo is that it says?

I don't think it would be too hard to have a judge on either side of the conservative/liberal fence to decide that a will violates that and is null and void.

The conservative might do it just because they don't believe in our relationships and think we shouldn't have ANY rights to decide anything about our relationships.

The liberal might do it just to force the supremes into ruling it ... well, wait. That brings up another question. If it is horribly written, but is in the Constitution - what happens? It can't be ruled unconstitutional, so what can be done?