[DOWNLOAD] "Foreword: The Next Normal-Developments Since Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples in New York." by Columbia Journal of Gender and Law * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Foreword: The Next Normal-Developments Since Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples in New York.
- Author : Columbia Journal of Gender and Law
- Release Date : January 01, 2004
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 309 KB
Description
I. INTRODUCTION The Association of the Bar of the City of New York issued its Report on Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples in New York (2000, (1) calling for the recognition of same-sex marriages, not long after Vermont enacted legislation giving same-sex couples the right to enter into civil unions. The Report comprehensively treated state and federal constitutional and statutory issues surrounding the recognition of same-sex marriage in New York, and served as a template for similar efforts elsewhere. In connection with the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law's publication of the Report, an update seemed appropriate because the ground has shifted in New York and in American society. The 2000 United States Census revealed 594,000 same-sex couples nationwide, with 46,490 in New York alone (2)--figures that may undercount the true number of couples by as much as 62 percent. (3) Reflecting a gay baby boom accelerating over the past decade, 34.3 percent of female same-sex households and 22.3 percent of male households have children nationwide (the figures for New York are 34.3 percent and 21.7 percent, respectively). These rates are not that much below the national rate for married opposite-sex couples of 45.6 percent and of unmarried opposite-sex couples of 43.1 percent. (4) Using reasonable estimates, this would suggest around 400,000 children being raised by same-sex couples nationwide, and 31,000 in New York. (5) It is increasingly clear that same-sex couples are here to stay as a significant factor in American life--1 percent of all coupled households in the United States, and 1.3 percent in New York. (6)