Bush Threatens D.C. Funding Veto Over Gays
SUMMARY: President Bush threatens to veto a routine appropriations bill to the District of Columbia over its recently strengthened partner rights.
In what the Human Rights Campaign called "a new low" of "anti-gay zeal," President Bush has threatened to veto this year's routine appropriations bill to the District of Columbia over the district's recently strengthened recognition of domestic partners.
The district, governed by a city council, gets about 25 percent of its funding directly from Congress, giving that body control over local affairs far greater than it has on other cities. Congress' Democratic takeover in the 2006 elections heartened the district's gay activists, out D.C. Council member Jim Graham told the Washington Post this month.
Graham, one of two out council members, told the Post that he plans to introduce a bill in the next two years for the district to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions.
The District of Columbia first recognized domestic partnerships in 1992 and greatly strengthened them last year. The registry is open to same- and opposite-sex unmarried couples and confers hospital visits, medical decisions, joint tax filings and inheritance rights, among other rights, according to the local Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance. D.C. public employees also can get health and other benefits for their partners. About 80 percent of the registered partners are gay.
Said the White House in its June 27 policy statement on the bill:
"Under federal law, legal marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Federal tax dollars are not used to extend employment benefits to domestic partners of federal employees, and D.C. should not enjoy an exception to this rule. If the final version of HR 2829 does not include this longstanding provision, the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill.
"With his popularity at an all-time low, this president has yet again dipped his cup into the well of anti-gay bigotry," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which like many advocacy groups is based in the district.
"He has issued a veto threat on funding for the District of Columbia because long-term, committed couples want to have such basic rights as visiting each other in the hospital and making medical decisions for their partner," Solmonese said.
"The anti-gay zeal of this administration has reached a new low." (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
It's obvious that Bush doesn't care about anyone, gay or straight, who doesn't somehow further his narrow agenda and put more money in the pockets of him and his rich, white, "Christian" buddies.
In what the Human Rights Campaign called "a new low" of "anti-gay zeal," President Bush has threatened to veto this year's routine appropriations bill to the District of Columbia over the district's recently strengthened recognition of domestic partners.
The district, governed by a city council, gets about 25 percent of its funding directly from Congress, giving that body control over local affairs far greater than it has on other cities. Congress' Democratic takeover in the 2006 elections heartened the district's gay activists, out D.C. Council member Jim Graham told the Washington Post this month.
Graham, one of two out council members, told the Post that he plans to introduce a bill in the next two years for the district to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions.
The District of Columbia first recognized domestic partnerships in 1992 and greatly strengthened them last year. The registry is open to same- and opposite-sex unmarried couples and confers hospital visits, medical decisions, joint tax filings and inheritance rights, among other rights, according to the local Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance. D.C. public employees also can get health and other benefits for their partners. About 80 percent of the registered partners are gay.
Said the White House in its June 27 policy statement on the bill:
"Under federal law, legal marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Federal tax dollars are not used to extend employment benefits to domestic partners of federal employees, and D.C. should not enjoy an exception to this rule. If the final version of HR 2829 does not include this longstanding provision, the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill.
"With his popularity at an all-time low, this president has yet again dipped his cup into the well of anti-gay bigotry," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which like many advocacy groups is based in the district.
"He has issued a veto threat on funding for the District of Columbia because long-term, committed couples want to have such basic rights as visiting each other in the hospital and making medical decisions for their partner," Solmonese said.
"The anti-gay zeal of this administration has reached a new low." (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
It's obvious that Bush doesn't care about anyone, gay or straight, who doesn't somehow further his narrow agenda and put more money in the pockets of him and his rich, white, "Christian" buddies.
posted by Leo at 11:40 PM
2 Comments:
What a biggoted ass, he sure seems to be using the full extend of his presidential power! I would think that the executive power given to the president should be used sparingly, not every damn day! Bush is like that kid you played when you were little that took his toys and when home every time you played a game he didn't like!
Jenn, Lol! Good analogy! Thanks for your input.
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