Pa. Senate to weigh contrasting measures on gay marriage

[struggle4progress]

Pa. Senate to weigh contrasting measures on gay marriage
By Amy Worden
Inquirer Staff Writer

... Hoping to capture the pro-gay-marriage momentum in other state legislatures, Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) yesterday introduced the state's first bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, a colleague across the aisle, Sen. John Eichelberger (R., Blair), is preparing to introduce a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, to prevent court decisions, such as the recent one in Iowa, allowing gay people the right to marry.

Leach said denying gay Pennsylvanians the right to marry robs them of the fundamental equal rights that heterosexual couples enjoy, such as the right of survivorship, power to make medical decisions, even the right to hospital visitation ...

Eichelberger said that the growing number of states legalizing same-sex marriage - and Leach's bill - were reasons for a constitutional amendment, even though Pennsylvania has since 1996 had a law establishing marriage as a union between a man and a woman ...

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20090604_Pa__Senate_to_weigh_contrasting_measures_on_gay_marriage.html

[Pat Riot]

1. too much Bible belt in the middle of this state

but kudos to Leach for trying.

Dammit, either we have separation of church and state or we don't. I don't get why it's not just that simple. What does the gov't have to do with any marriage except the civil union, legalese part?

[struggle4progress]

2. Tell me about it. I remember Bud Shuster, and I'm always horrified to see BudLite still in office.

[ShadowLiberal]

3. How hard would it be for the fundies to get a gay marriage ban on the ballot?

Much as I'd love to see my state of PA legalize gay marriage now, I fear it would trigger the fundies putting a gay marriage ban on the ballot that for now would win support of a majority of voters. I recall reading somewhere that the PA legislature has tried to put gay marriage bans on the ballot before, only to have it blocked each time in one house of the legislature, but I'm not sure if that's the only way to put it on the ballot.

[ShadowLiberal]

4. Nevermind, I think I found my own answer

I think I've found an answer to my question about how hard/easy it is to get something on the ballot statewide in PA.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Pennsylvania

It says here that PAers can only vote on amendments from the legislature, not from the citizens (as in not from citizens who gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot).

In that case then there's probably not as much risk of pushing for gay marriage too soon.

Unfortunately it's probably going to be impossible to get a gay marriage legalization bill through the state senate, it's just too heavily gerrymandered in the GOP's favor, and with the GOPers still proposing gay marriage bans in the legislature it doesn't seem too likely that we can get a gay marriage bill past them. We'll have to try through the courts here probably.