The Kentucky Senate on Thursday
approved a bill which seeks to establish separate marriage license
forms for gay couples.
One form would list the “bride” and
“groom” while another would note “first party” and “second
party.”
The bill also would require couples to
list their gender and would remove the name of the county clerk who
issued the license, a nod to Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who became
a Christian celebrity fighting to keep her office from issuing
marriage licenses to gay couples.
Last year, Governor Matt Bevin issued
an executive order to remove the clerk's name from the form.
Republican State Senator John Schickel
said that removing the words “bride” and “groom” was
disrespectful to heterosexual couples.
“Quite frankly, it's almost
disrespectful to the traditional family,” Schickel
is quoted as saying by the AP. “That why, wisely, we decided
to have two forms. That has nothing to do with bigotry. Nothing to
do with discrimination. It has to do with the vast majority of
Kentuckians that respect traditional marriage.”
The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) criticized the move as “unequal treatment under the law.”
“Separate forms for gay and lesbian
Kentuckians constitute unequal treatment under the law,” ACLU of
Kentucky Executive Director Michael Aldridge said. “Pure and
simple, this bill is motivated by the desire to accommodate
discrimination against same-sex couples.”
The bill now heads to the Kentucky
House, which is controlled by Democrats.
No comments:
Post a Comment