The Country's Most Unpopular Governor Won't Sign Domestic Partnership Legislation

by Michael Jones · 2009-04-15 04:12:00 UTC
Topics:

Jim Gibbons

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons is about as much a marked man in politics as you can possibly get.  Practically no one thinks that he'll be able to win re-election, in part because he's been involved in numerous scandals, including (1) hiring an undocumented housekeeper, (2) being accused of sexual assault against a woman in a parking garage, (3) failing to report donations to his legal defense fund, (4) interfering with a federal investigation, (5) participating in a fraudulent land deal, and (6) holding up official legislative sessions so that he could text message an alleged paramour.  (Which you can watch on YouTube right here.)

And those are just a few of the things that Jim Gibbons will be remembered for.  Now, unfortunately, you can add one other blemish: Gibbons has refused to sign into law a proposed piece of legislation that would create domestic partnerships for same-sex couples in Nevada.  Per the Las Vegas Review Journal:

Gov. Jim Gibbons said today that he would not sign the domestic partners bill that would give same-sex couples many of the same legal rights as married couples.

“I just don’t believe in it,” said Gibbons following a meeting of the state Board of Examiners....

Gibbons noted that California voters recently rejected a ballot question to allow gay marriages in their state.

He said that domestic partnerships are essentially the same thing as marriages.

So Gibbons is not only politically inept, he's also in need of serious education when it comes to knowing what domestic partnerships are and what marriage equality is.  The two are not the same, not even close.  But that's not stopping Gibbons from rehashing one of the radical right's most ardent talking points: that signing any LGBT piece of legislation - whether it's domestic partnerships or simply something related to anti-discrimination - could be a slippery slope to same-sex marriage.  That line of thinking is faulty, incorrect, and politically immature.

But I guess you can't expect anything less from a Governor with a record like Jim Gibbons.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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