Saturday, January 31, 2009

RIGHTS OR WRONG?

Domestic partnership bill clears first hurdle in Legislature

Dan Boyd The Albuquerque Journal Special to El Defensor Chieftain

SANTA FE — Religion, politics, sexuality and the law crossed paths in the Roundhouse on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Several hours later, a measure that would recognize and grant rights to domestic partnerships passed its first milestone on a still rocky horizon in the New Mexico Legislature. Several hundred people looked on as lawmakers took public testimony and then voted.

The Senate Public Affairs Committee voted 5-4 to give a favorable recommendation to the measure (SB 12), which would extend the same legal benefits that married couples have under New Mexico law to unmarried couples, whether homosexual or heterosexual.

Domestic partners would have the right to take family medical leave to care for a partner who is ill, the authority to make end-of-life decisions for a partner and would be entitled to property rights in a partner's pension and inheritance rights. Domestic partners also would have the same responsibilities as married couples in child custody and visitation issues and paying child support.

The three Republicans on the Senate Public Affairs Committee voted against the bill sponsored by Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque. They were joined by Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, while the other five Democrats on the committee voted in favor.

The bill, known as the "Domestic Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act," advances to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which could vote on the proposal as early as Friday.

Similar measures have died in the Senate in recent years.

Opponents warned the bill could be the "Trojan horse" that opens the door to gay marriage in New Mexico.

"What we're doing now is we're opening the back door legally through state statute to same-sex marriage," said Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque.

Supporters disagreed.

"This is not a marriage bill," McSorley said. "In New Mexico, there's only one way to be married and that's to have a legal marriage."

An alternative bill (SB 144), sponsored by Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, providing for "contractual common household" agreements between two adults sharing domestic responsibilities, was tabled by the committee. Proponents said it would ensure contractual rights while preventing same-sex marriages.

The New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops was among the opponents to McSorley's bill, and at least one Albuquerque church bused opponents of domestic partnerships to Santa Fe for Wednesday's hearing, but some New Mexico religious leaders spoke in support of the proposal.

"Not all Christians fear this bill," said the Rev. Talitha Arnold of the United Church of Santa Fe. "In fact ... many of us support this bill."

But Deacon Steve Rangel, associate director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, "I would ask you to preserve marriage as we know it."

Several members of the public testifying Wednesday said they feared their religious beliefs could be infringed upon by passage of McSorley's bill.

"I'm a Christian and I believe God's word is completely his word," said Brenda Shanley-Brown of Albuquerque, who traveled to Santa Fe with her mother for Wednesday's hearing.

Proponents had an almost opposite perspective.

"Why do they care so much about something that has nothing to do with them?" asked Terry McGuire, a regional field officer for the Human Rights Campaign. "It's really about fairness. It's not about redefining marriage."

Legislative advocates said the bill, which would require couples that meet basic requirements to file an application and pay a minimal fee in order to have their domestic partnership recognized, would be beneficial to more than just same-sex couples.

"This law will be particularly helpful to seniors and those with disabilities who are in a loving relationship but don't want to get married," McSorley said.

McSorley's bill also includes a reciprocity measure that would extend those rights in New Mexico to couples who were married or entered into civil unions in other states.

Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, a youth minister at his Catholic church, compared the issue to previous struggles to allow interracial marriage.

"I think at the heart of this issue, this is a civil rights issue," Griego said. "I disagree with my church on this."

At least in terms of public demonstrations, the McSorley proposal so far has seen more opposition than support at the Roundhouse. A protest that attracted more than 3,000 people to demonstrate against abortion and domestic partnerships took place during the first week of the legislative session.

Gov. Bill Richardson, who would have the final say on legislation adopted by the Senate and House, has voiced support of extending domestic partnership rights.

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