Gymno

succumbing to peer pressure

Monday, June 27, 2005

More unintentional consequences

(from Ms.)

"When Ohio voters said yes to a gay-marriage ban in November, they unwittingly may have approved of domestive violence as well. Because of the ban, a judge ruled in a case involving an unmarried couple that the man's physically abusive behavior didn't legally qualify as domestic violence. That's because the state constitution now excludes unmarried couples from the rights and protections specifically extended to a husband and wife - which include protection from domestic violence. The case in point involved a man who slapped and pushed his live-in girlfriend, but he was convicted only of assualt, a misdemeanor, rather than domestic violence, a felony."

Georgia's anti-gay-marriage ban is similarly vague and all-encompassing. What's even sadder is that this case resulted in such a crappy ruling, rather than an opportunity to overturn the ban as unconsitutional due to it's over-reaching wording. Then again, why should I be surprised? To the kind of individuals who support the gay marriage ban, homosexuals aren't people, and all too often, women barely are.

2 Comments:

Blogger Aerodad said...

Okay, time for a devil's advocate to ask questions. Domestic violence law seems a bit like hate crime law: assualt is assault, murder is murder. If a guy smacks a stranger, and that's a misdemeanor, why should it be a felony if he smacks his girlfriend?

Perhaps the response to that is, well a stranger, after pressing charges against the assailant, can learn to avoid the assailant. However, a spouse has other compelling reasons to remain with the abuser -- children, cost of divorce, financial dependence -- making the situation prone to repetition or becoming a pattern, a "captive audience" as it were. So the punishment should be higher as the stakes are higher.

If that's the logic behind the increase in penalty, I can see where it's coming from. And it is true, then, that by denying homosexual couples the legal protections associated with marriage, the state is allowing a similary "trapped" partner to be stuck with an abuser for the same familial/fiscal reasons a hetero spouse might stick around. And yes, that is a damn shame.

But tough shit for that girlfriend. Press the misdemeanor charge and goddamn leave the guy. Or call Jerry Springer.

10:41 AM  
Blogger blithering moron said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2:22 PM  

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