New Zealand legalizes same-sex Marriage

[Stark]

Considering the fact that Stark is a filthy kiwi and answered your dumb question, you just made yourself look pretty stupid.

He doesn't like answers he doesn't like. He'd rather propose head-shakingly stupid ideas, ask for data, and then be a wanker when he gets it. What's a lol is when there were 160 men for every 100 women, people were like OMG THIS IS A TERRIBLE GENDER RATIO and SHIT NZ SO FAR AWAY FROM IMPERIAL CITY THIS SUCKS FOR LADIES.

That he can't even try to engage with my speculation that smaller, richer countries are more open to social change is just a lol. I think NZ gave women the vote in 1893 after more than a decade of political pressure, so that would place it around a generation after their gold rush, and there were only about half a million people there. The makeup of the population was different to other colonies too (much more like Canada than Australia, for instance), so a young country without a fixed identity, but after a generation of wealth, might just be a better stage for social change than an older or more fixed country.

lol, change that subject. RWRRRRK RWRRRRRK. More clutch!

[amigocabal]

DW

Human Rights
New Zealand legalizes same-sex marriage

New Zealand has become the first nation in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. The tiny island country becomes the 13th worldwide to approve extending marriage rights to gay couples.

The bill, proposed by Labour MP Louisa Wall (pictured above), was passed by lawmakers on Wednesday 77 to 44. It was also given overwhelming support in a preliminary vote last month. It is likely to come into effect in August.

Leaders of most political parties encouraged lawmakers to vote according to their consciences, rather than along party lines.

The country, of 4.4 million people, gave same-sex relationships partial legal recognition in 2005, through the establishment of civil unions.

The bill was opposed by conservative political, social and religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church.

Hundreds of jubilant advocates have marked the bill's passing at New Zealand's parliament in Wellington, including a group who sang the country's national anthem in the indigenous Maori language.

Same-sex marriage is currently recognized in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina and Denmark. Uruguay last week approved a law its president Jose Mujica is expected to sign.

jr/kms (AP, AFP, dpa)

So, who wants to get married in Middle Earth?

I wonder if civil unions led people to believe that the differences between same-sex and opposite-sex unions are relatively minor, thus demolishing arguments against same-sex marriage.

In the U.S., there were gay activists who actually opposed civil unions. They argued that civil unions are “separate and unequal” and a form of “segregation”, GLAD Brief in Opinions of the Justices to the Senate, SJC-09163 (Mass. Sup. Jud. Ct. ), at 12, because they denied the
“social recognition” that comes with marriage, Id. at 24, they would
“mark [same-sex couples] as inferior to their heterosexual counterparts and diminish their status in the community” regardless of
whether they provided “the same benefits, protections,rights and responsibilities under law as are granted to spouses in a marriage”,
Civil Rights Brief in Opinions at 12 , and that civil unions “would not constitute equality, because their relationships still would not
be recognized by the rest of society as being as valued as heterosexual relationships.” id. at 13

Apparently, New Zealand proved them wrong.

(I do not argue whether this is appropriate public policy on its face. But there are differences between men and women, and, by extension, same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Whether this legislation addresses whatever current situation exists in New Zealand society will depend on how minor or major these differences are, and whether the law accounts for these differences.)