Same Sex Marriage. If state law recognizes same-sex marriage, the COG plan specifications will be modified to include those individuals.
Same Sex Marriage. In light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriages, the COG plan specifications will be modified to include those individuals.
Same Sex Marriage. The employee and the domestic partner have entered into a valid, same-sex marriage recognized under the laws of the state in which they currently reside. If the employee and domestic partner move to a state that does not recognize same-sex marriage, the employee will need to (1) register his or her same-sex domestic partnership by government registration, or (2) satisfy the “company registry” requirements of a same-sex domestic partnership, as explained below.
Same Sex Marriage. The generation of gays and lesbians that grew up in the 1960s were settling down and had partners with whom they lived just like any straight married couple, thus sharing economic duties. In 2000, 34 percent of lesbians and 22 percent of gay men who identified as cohabiting same-sex couples had children (Xxxxxx 2006). So it would make sense for these couples to receive recognition as married and the benefits that come with it. But opposition from conservatives and religious right, who saw this as an affront to the sacredness of marriage, rendered all logical arguments for gay marriage as not negotiable. Enough so that in 1996, The Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law by President Xxxxxxx. It denied recognizing gay marriage and stuck to the Constitution’s definition of marriage (i.e. it was between a man and a woman) (Xxxxxx 2006). Once again the gay rights movement had to attend to another compelling issue in its struggle for equality. Xxxxxx (2006:258) summarized it best by saying: If gays in the military had been the major gay issue in the United States during the early 1990s, it was now the issue of same-sex marriage that had become the leading edge of the gay and lesbian movement. But the decision for upholding civil marriage rights depended on the state and each approached it differently. While the Superior Court Judge in Alaska found no basis for prohibiting gay marriage, the Alaskan voters voted in favor of an amendment against same-sex marriage. After same-sex couples approached the Vermont Supreme Court for marriage licenses, the court ruled that they should receive the same benefits of marriage as a straight couple. But instead, Vermont reached a compromise that it would grant civil union i.e. the same benefits of a marriage “but without the polarizing ‘M-word’” (Xxxxxx 2006:532). In 2003, Massachusetts became the first state to grant full marriage rights. For the purpose of this research it is important to note that on election day in 2004, Georgia was among the states that approved the constitutional amendment that marriage was between a man and a woman (Constitution of the State of Georgia 2009:7). LGBT youth played an important part in radicalizing the gay rights movement in its early stages and still do, as they are also the most easily targeted and harassed. This is evidenced by the history of the Student Homophile League (SHL) on various college campuses. Why are these student groups important? Xxxxx Xxxxxx (2003), whose essay on th...
