make friends and influence people

[waider]

Well, influence people, anyway. The most amusing part of this story about a gay couple being refused entry to the US is that they were on their way to a human rights conference. I do find this quote curious:

The US Embassy in Ottawa defended the action by US immigration officials at Toronto airport, saying that the 1996 US Defence of Marriage Act defined marriage as "only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife".

...because I thought someone was recently pushing for some sort of declaration that a marriage is such a thing in order to ward off the evil memes from the Northern Wastes.

Comments

[kodi]

It's that accursed federalism again.

This is what we got in 1996:

"No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship."

and

"In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."

So. If Hawaii institutes same-sex marriage, California doesn't have to recognize same-sex couples from Hawaii as married, and neither does the federal government. The only way the federal government can absolutely prevent gay marriages would be through an amendment to the Constitution, though - I'm assuming that's what you were hearing noise about. So Hawaii can still create same-sex couples which are recognized as married under the laws of that state.

Immigration is federal, of course.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for the enlightenment!