New Jersey bill will not call gay unions marriage
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A panel of New Jersey lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday that would create civil unions giving equal rights to gay and lesbian couple, shunning a push to call those partnerships "marriage."
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The U.S. House of Representatives failed on Thursday to muster the two-thirds majority needed to pass a proposed constitutional amendment backed by President Bush to ban gay marriage.
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By Zane Wilson, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.  Feb. 16--COLUMBIA -- A Midlands Senator on Thursday blocked passage of a bill that would allow city and county council members to excuse themselves, rather than having to resign, if business with associates or relatives comes before them.
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A bill passed by state lawmakers would have barred school textbooks from using language that is discriminatory to gays, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused Wednesday sign it.
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The House defeated a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage yesterday in a vote on an election-year wedge issue that had already failed to pass the Senate.
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The Supreme Court sidestepped the nationwide battle over same-sex marriage yesterday, declining to hear a case aimed at overturning the Massachusetts law that made it legal this year for gay couples to marry.
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HARTFORD -- The US Supreme Courtâs refusal Monday to consider a challenge to state authority over gay marriages could boost the chances for same-sex marriage or civil union legislation in Connecticut, one key lawmaker said.
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WASHINGTON Oct. 1, 2004 - The House followed the Senate in decisively rejecting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, ending for this year debate on what has become the dominant issue for the Republican Party&#39;s conservative base.
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Sixty percent of New Jersey voters support a law allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions, but half oppose a law allowing gay marriage, according to a poll on Thursday.
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The Supreme Court on Monday sidestepped a dispute over gay marriages, rejecting a challenge to the nation&#39;s only law sanctioning such unions.
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Under pressure from New Jersey's highest court to offer marriage or its equivalent to gay couples, lawmakers gathered on Thursday to vote on whether to create civil unions.
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The La. Supreme Court yesterday declined legal challenges to keep a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriages and civil unions off the Sept. 18 ballot, leaving open the possibility of challenging the amendment if it passes.
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NEW YORK, Dec. 14 -- With a mandate from New Jersey's highest court to offer gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals, the state legislature voted Thursday to create civil unions but stopped short of using the word "marriage."
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The House joined the Senate Thursday in refusing to approve a constitutional amendment to bar gay marriage, described by supporters as a vital protection for traditional families but denounced by foes as a divisive pre-election ploy to inflame prejudice.
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New Jersey would be the third state, after Vermont and Connecticut, to establish civil unions for gay couples.
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The U.S. Supreme Court refused on  Monday to hear a constitutional challenge to a 1977 Florida law  that bans gays and lesbians from adopting children, the only  such state law in the nation.
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THE AMERICAN HOUSE OF REPS HAS VOTED AGAINST AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE. The proposed gay marriage ban was defeated in the US House of Representatives on Thursday following a vote on amending the constitution.