Senate Republicans Vote to Deny Equal Protection to Wisconsin Families
Ban on civil unions could cost thousands of children health care and legal protection
Madison, WI – Yesterday, Senate Republicans approved a resolution to amend the state constitution to ban civil unions for same-sex and opposite-sex couples. (Same-sex marriage, also covered by the amendment, is already illegal in Wisconsin.)
Although over 700 citizens filled the State Capitol last week to voice their opposition to the measure, Republicans pushed the measure through, 19-14, on a party-line vote.
“This amendment goes too far and hurts real Wisconsin families,” said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, which opposes the amendment. “Wisconsin families deserve better than this assault on their privacy and legal protections.”
The measure is one of the nation’s most extreme assaults on same-sex families – it would eliminate any benefit substantially similar to marriage (such as civil unions and domestic partnership) for all unmarried couples, straight or gay. This includes health insurance, family visitation rights, retirement benefits, and domestic violence intervention, and over a thousand legal protections.
Similar bans in other states have resulted in dismissing domestic violence charges against abusers who aren't legally married to their victims, loss of health insurance for families, and elimination of employment benefits, among other adverse consequences.
“Most Wisconsinites believe all children deserve protection – no matter who their parents are,” said Roys. “Senate Republicans have the wrong priorities. They waste no time writing discrimination into our constitution, while ignoring the thousands of families who lack adequate, affordable health care.”
In this session, Senate Republicans have also attacked family privacy in health care decisions, attempted to de-fund family planning services, and voted to allow doctors to withhold information and treatment from patients based on their personal beliefs.
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