NOTES FROM A SAME-SEX MARRIAGE CONFERENCE: From David Wagner's blog, Ninomania

David Wagner is a law professor at Regent University.

"...More interesting, among the morning panels, were the presentations by European law profs who have recently been active in various forms of SSM/civil union legislation in Western Europe. Overall, I sense that Europeans are less passionate about this, on both sides. It seems France, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries have all created some form of civil union for same-sex couples; some benefits traditionally associated with marriage go with these, others are still reserved for marriage. Good old European urbanity: not much principle, but not much venom-spewing either. ...

"And what did most of us at the Boston Radisson's 6th floor conference room that day want [marriage] to be? The answer was very clear: benefits. ...

"Are certain reasonable benefits (such as the right to be with a loved one in the hospital, or the right to designate one's partner as executor of one's estate) available without legal marriage? SSM advocates are constrained to say no--yet at one of the afternoon panels, Scott M. Donohue, Esq., a practicing attorney who clearly supports SSM somewhat embarrassed his allies by detailing the numerous ways in which, with a smart lawyer like himself, same-sex couples can in fact secure many of the legal benefits of marriage."

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posted by Eve at 10:40 AM VOTE

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