Hawaii House Passes Same-Sex Marriage Bill

by Peter J. Smith, LifeSiteNews

"Pro-family advocates were taken by surprise when the Hawaii House of Representatives unexpectedly revived and passed legislation that would establish same-sex civil unions and make them equivalent to marriage, nearly three months after everyone thought the issue was a dead letter.

The Senate bill taken up by the House (HB 444) "extends the same rights, benefits, protections, and responsibilities of spouses in a marriage to partners in a civil union."

Back in February, the House decided to take the legislation off its agenda for the rest of the legislative year in a voice vote that would have required two-thirds of the Democratic-controlled chamber to revive the issue.

However on Thursday, the very last day of the state’s legislative session, Rep. Blake Oshiro moved to revive the Senate bill. Instead of following the rules established for taking up the shelved bill, Speaker Calvin Say had the House take four votes to suspend those rules and pass the bill with just a majority.

The bill passed 31 votes in favor to 20 against, and will now proceed to the desk of Republican Gov. Linda Lingle. The governor has 45 days to make a decision on whether to sign or veto the civil unions bill, and has not indicated which way she will decide."

Read the rest of the story here.

Obama Extends Hospital Visitation Rights to Same-Sex Partners

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama issued a memo on Thursday that would require hospitals accepting Medicare or Medicaid funds to allow visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners...

He also ordered hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid to ensure that all patients' advance directives, which include appointing someone to make healthcare decisions if necessary, are respected."

Real Reason for the Easter Season

Neutered Marriages in Washington, DC

From the AP:

"About 150 couples were eligible to pick up marriage licenses Tuesday after applying on the first day the licenses were made available. Many of them stood in line for four or more hours last Wednesday.

The District of Columbia is the sixth place in the country permitting same-sex unions. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont also issue same-sex couples licenses."

Marriage DOES Matter

Opine has a link to an article summarizing social science research that shows that marriage is important and does play a positive role in society. Check it out for some good reading.

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the greatest speeches ever given. This man changed a nation.

Haiti: How You Can Help

From the AP:

"Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake flattened the president's palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. Officials feared thousands — perhaps more than 100,000 — may have perished but there was no firm count.

Death was everywhere in Port-au-Prince. Bodies of tiny children were piled next to schools. Corpses of women lay on the street with stunned expressions frozen on their faces as flies began to gather. Bodies of men were covered with plastic tarps or cotton sheets.

President Rene Preval said he believes thousands were killed in Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake, and the scope of the destruction prompted other officials to give even higher estimates."

Find links here to the Red Cross and other organizations where you can donate to help the relief effort in Haiti.

(Photo: LISANDRO SUERO / AFP / Getty Images)