Posted on 03/04/2011 2:18:56 PM PST by NYer
LUXEMBOURG, March 3 (C-FAM) Legal experts warn that a European court is on the verge of deciding that Germany’s privileged legal status for traditional marriage violates European Union law.
An Advocate General for the European Court of Justice, which is the highest court in matters of European Union law, issued an opinion to the court which states that same-sex couples must have access to the same employment benefits as married couples in every EU state, regardless of a state’s constitutional laws. While the opinion of the Advocate General, one of eight that assist the court, is not binding on the court, the opinions are almost always followed.
A leading Austrian homosexual rights activist has called the Advocate General’s opinion “groundbreaking”. “If the ECJ follows it, all 27 member-states will have to grant same-sex couples access to all the employment benefits married couples enjoy, no matter if they allow registered partnership or not,” said Dr. Helmut Graupner.
Such a legal theory taken to its logical end could go further than just changing employment benefits and would likely be used to try to overturn traditional marriage laws in each of the 27 countries of the European Union. This scenario has been met by strong opposition from center right human rights lawyers.
"The European Union was founded on respect for national sovereignty,” Roger Kiska, Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, told the Friday Fax. “If the Advocate General's opinion is followed, it destroys this sovereignty making all European nations vulnerable to legislation promoting anti-life and anti-family laws despite the national will of that country. It is not the role of the ECJ to legislate for all of Europe without Europe having a say in the matter," said Kiska.
The case, Jürgen Römer vs. City of Hamburg, involves a retired government employee from Germany who entered into a same-sex registered partnership under German law. Römer sued the German city for receiving a lower pension than that received by a pensioner that was married. German law allows for marriage only to opposite-sex couples and registered partnerships only to same-sex couples.
Because the case involves question of state law potentially conflicting with European Union law, the case was referred by a German court to the European court for a preliminary ruling to determine whether the German law violates a recent EU Anti-Discrimination Directive that applies to employment. The ECJ’s ruling is binding on Germany to the extent that the ECJ interprets EU law in the case.
Last year, Germany came under pressure from homosexual rights groups for initially blocking the anti-discrimination directive, arguing that there was no legal authority for the EU to intervene in some of the areas covered in the directive.
According to the European Commission website, “Registered partnerships allow 2 people who live together as a couple to register their union with the relevant public authority in their country of residence.” Currently, 12 of the 27 EU states do not recognize registered partnerships as being equivalent to marriage.
Court observers believe a final ruling by the judges of the ECJ in the case is imminent.
Ping!
Fine with me. No “marriage benefits” unless you have dependents.
got enough to worry about today.
Groundbreaking? More like sinking into the muck.
What was once a sexual perversion is becoming a protected 'right' while normal marriage is being called 'discriminatory' to humans engaging in same-sex 'marriage'. We are truly in the Last Days.
Eliminate marriage benefits, there and here. Get the State/Government out of the marriage business.
Or, establish good reason why they should be in the marriage business and to what degree.
“What was once a sexual perversion is becoming a protected ‘right’”
Obama actually had the gall to call homosexuality a “strength” when he repealed DADT.
Don't tempt God. But I'd say it's a pretty sure thing that what was once called Western civilization is in its waning years (and maybe months). Hope everybody left will like Sharia.
That isn’t tempting God. God doesn’t care where we think we are on His timetable.
We are nearing the end of the times of the gentiles. God says people will see the signs and know it’s close. Nobody’s talking about the day or hour, just that it’s nearing the end. And they are right.
Or, establish good reason why they should be in the marriage business and to what degree.
This is what most don't get: as soon as gov't defined the word "marriage" it was lost. The "tradition" is at odds with the principle that gov't is a gov't of ALL the people therefore the gov't welfare program, a collection of benefits and responsibilities it calls "marriage," cannot be discriminatory.
Government here in North America has been very successful for 400 years in legally defining marriage as being between man and a woman. This definition is merely a refection of the prevalent Judeo-Christian culture. It is the liberals, the libertarians and gays (lots of overlap here) that come along and try and undo common sense law. Why? Because they have law degrees and figure they will jerk around the silent majority. Because they think they know better and can do better when in reality they have one foot in the abyss
You are absolutely correct; government created nothing, they just recognize marriage for what it is, and consequently must decide NOT to recognize other types of relationships as such in order to make distinctions.
I can't stand it when Libtardtarians try to convolute this issue, and say that the government is in the "marriage business." What a bunch of hooey.
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