Cheyenne, WY: Today Wyoming Senate passed
a bill that would refuse to recognize same-sex
marriages from other states or nations.
In this unprecedented step the overwhelmingly
Republican lawmaking body made the decision to
explicitly condone the expansion of government
by voiding legally binding, civil
contracts.
The full Democratic
Caucus opposed the bill and offered legislation
that would create civil unions in the state of
Wyoming as an alternative. Marriage is
already defined in Wyoming statutes as between
a man and a woman.
House Minority
Floor Leader Patrick Goggles said, “The
Democratic Caucus is disappointed by the
passage of HB 74, but will remain hopeful that
equal rights will be extended to all Wyoming
citizens regardless of sexual orientation in
future legislative sessions.”
In
debate Democratic Senators brought a myriad of
concerns about the consequences this step will
have for current and future Wyoming
residents. From harming Wyoming
economically to institutionalizing a blatantly
discriminatory policy, it was widely argued
that the precedent set by this legislation
would not help a single Wyoming citizen.
“We haven’t heard from the
sponsors and the supporters of the bill how
this will help Wyoming. How does this
help the people of Wyoming?” said Senator Chris
Rothfuss (D-Laramie) on the
floor.
Sen. John Hastert (D-Green
River) pointed out that this legislation has
been largely championed by groups from outside
Wyoming, such as the Alliance Defense Fund,
saying, “There are outside entities that are
trying to come into the equality state of
Wyoming to dictate some of this bigotry or
hatred.” He went on to quote several of
the equal protections clauses in the Wyoming
and US Constitution.
Rothfuss
explained some of the problems that will arise
from passing this legislation, “The reality is
that this so-called closing of a loophole opens
up so many legal problems that we will have to
face in the months and years ahead We are going
to be finding ourselves in situations where a
gay couple from another state comes to Wyoming
and wants to figure out how to handle their
social security benefits, how to handle their
health insurance, how to handle inheritance or
estate tax, how to handle pensions, family
leave. There are innumerable areas of law
where the contract of marriage which is
recognized in other states needs to be
recognized in Wyoming, otherwise the law breaks
down.”
The proposal, HB 74, passed the
Senate with amendments and will now be sent
back to the House for concurrence.
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