BREAKING: Delaware State Senate Votes to Become the 11th State to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

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1. BREAKING: Delaware To Become 11th State With Marriage Equality

BREAKING: Delaware To Become 11th State With Marriage Equality

Just now, the Delaware Senate voted 12-9, to approve marriage equality legislation (HB 75), guaranteeing that Delaware will become the 11th state that recognizes same-sex couples’ marriages. Civil unions, which Delaware previously legalized in 2011, will convert to marriages after one year. The House passed the marriage equality bill two weeks ago by a 23-18 vote and Gov. Jack Markell (D) has promised to sign it.

The rhetoric today was heated, as religious leaders invited to speak by the bill’s opponents condemned homosexuality for multiple hours. Conservative witnesses and senators alike repeatedly sought explanations for why people should not be free to discriminate against same-sex couples, even though such discrimination is already illegal under Delaware law. Many argued that marriage is primarily about raising children, ignoring that many same-sex families are already raising children in Delaware. Unsurprisingly, one witness cited the debunked Regnerus study, while an Alliance Defending Freedom attorney claimed that the Ocean Grove pavilion in New Jersey was an example of “religious freedom” being violated, even though it wasn’t. A motion by opponents to table the bill failed 9-12.

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http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/05/07/1975311/breaking-delaware-to-become-11th-state-with-marriage-equality/