Wednesday, April 06, 2005
What's right with Kansas.....
Kansas has passed a tightly written constitutional amendment on marriage. It passed by 70-30; predictably, the county containing Lawrence was the only dissenter. Lawrence (KU) is where the Commies live, of course.
Here's the text of the amendment:
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Marriage (a) The marriage contract is to be considered in law as a civil contract. Marriage shall be constituted by one man and one woman only. All other marriages are declared to be contrary to the public policy of this state and are void. (b) No relationship, other than a marriage, shall be recognized by the state as entitling the parties to the rights or incidents of marriage.
Reference to the amendment and its explanation:
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/11303693.htm
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Note the careful exclusion of 'civil unions' or other compromise tricks from state recognition; also note that it doesn't prohibit companies from deciding to give their own benefits to any sort of couple.
Terse writing, whether literary or legal, has power. I admire this little gem, and know that the Kansas legislature, unlike some others I could mention, will have the guts to enforce it!
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Historical note: Kansas didn't really follow the 1968 "trade of constituencies", which means that Dems are still sort of blue-collarish, and Reps are still sort of country-clubbish. So the newer correlation of D=Lib, R=Cons doesn't work very well. In some other states, you'd see strong support for life and marriage, and you'd correctly assume total R control. Not so in Kansas. State offices are about equally divided. ¶ 7:27 PM
Here's the text of the amendment:
-----
Marriage (a) The marriage contract is to be considered in law as a civil contract. Marriage shall be constituted by one man and one woman only. All other marriages are declared to be contrary to the public policy of this state and are void. (b) No relationship, other than a marriage, shall be recognized by the state as entitling the parties to the rights or incidents of marriage.
Reference to the amendment and its explanation:
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/11303693.htm
-----
Note the careful exclusion of 'civil unions' or other compromise tricks from state recognition; also note that it doesn't prohibit companies from deciding to give their own benefits to any sort of couple.
Terse writing, whether literary or legal, has power. I admire this little gem, and know that the Kansas legislature, unlike some others I could mention, will have the guts to enforce it!
-----
Historical note: Kansas didn't really follow the 1968 "trade of constituencies", which means that Dems are still sort of blue-collarish, and Reps are still sort of country-clubbish. So the newer correlation of D=Lib, R=Cons doesn't work very well. In some other states, you'd see strong support for life and marriage, and you'd correctly assume total R control. Not so in Kansas. State offices are about equally divided. ¶ 7:27 PM
