Saturday, April 14, 2007

Dennis Richardson's 3/5 Compromise

Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point) is offering up a Reciprocal Benefits bill as a compromise to SB2 (nondiscrimination against gays and lesbians) and HB 2007 (Civil unions).

According to Kristin Flickinger at Blue Oregon, Richardson's compromise delinates 300 specific rights to gays and lesbians.

The ACLU notes that married couples in Oregon recieve about 500 specific rights based on the legal marriage contract.

Flickinger does the math--Richardson is essentially saying that gays and lesbians are entitled to 3/5 of the rights that heterosexuals are entitled to.

Oh the irony.

Not only is this monumentally politically stupid--its shameful on Richardson's part.