Domestic Partnerships / Nevada

There is a domestic partnership bill in the stack of bills on the Governor’s desk a week and change from the end of the 2009 Nevada Legislative session.  The Governor has until Tuesday, May 26th to sign the bill into law, not sign the bill in which case it becomes law or veto it and send it back to us.

Nevada is one of the states with a definition in its constitution, restricting marriage to a union between a man and a woman so domestic partnership legislation was the avenue for extending civil rights for the sponsor of SB 283, Senator David Parks of Las Vegas, the highest ranking openly gay elected official in Nevada. 

Nevada may become part of the wave of legislative actions and court decisions in our nation, in the last couple of months, which extend the benefits of marriage to all adults.  I hope so.

I did not have to agonize over my vote on this issue.  But as an unapologetic member of the baby boomer generation I am struck at this recent shift in the national zeitgeist.   This chestnut of the cultural war of the last thirty years seems to be turning mostly because of the passage of time.  This army of young people brought to the political scene by the Obama campaign is insisting that we consider their concerns, global warming, health care, the use of resources.  These young people are demanding an agenda that reflects maturity and wisdom.  They want no part of our cultural war.  For this baby boomer they are like the cavalry coming over the hill to save us from ourselves.  I’m so glad they’re here.