The legacy of the city of Madison is one of being a leader in progressive politics with a chiefly liberal population. There are peace rallies, numerous non-corporate, cooperative grocery stores, rallies for the Democratic presidential nominee with over 80,000 attendees and great democratic leaders, Mayor Dave and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. However, what is the legacy of the state of Wisconsin as a whole? Is it in line with how we view ourselves in our Madison bubble?
Well, if you have ever been outside of the city boundaries, you know the answer to that is no, not quite. Unfortunate as that may be, we must not let ourselves be too wrapped up in our city so as to forget what is going on in the rest of the state.
Governor Jim Doyle has done his best for Wisconsin in order to uphold a standard of decency, common sense and civil rights that so many of us value dearly. He has vetoed the Conceal and Carry Law that the legislature, thankfully, has failed in its attempts to override. In addition, Governor Doyle has vetoed the latest effort at creating a lower class of citizens known as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Congress passed DOMA at the federal level in 1996. Under this legislation, the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages. DOMA also reiterates the fact that a marriage in one state does not have to be recognized as legal in another state.
In Wisconsin, DOMA was passed by the state legislature and then, in a great display of strong leadership, was vetoed by Governor Doyle in 2003.
In his veto as posted on www.wispolitics.com, Governor Doyle states, “This bill is just another example of a legislature focusing its time and energy on divisive, mean-spirited bills that do nothing to grow Wisconsin’s economy, make health care more affordable and accessible, or improve our public schools.”
However, this does not mean that Wisconsin allows gay marriage. On the contrary, the Wisconsin ban of same-sex marriage actually predates the federal DOMA, making Wisconsin one of four states to ban gay marriage before the federal government did. (The other three states are Maryland, New Hampshire and Dick Cheney’s home state of Wyoming. Yes, we are in grand company.).
So congratulations, Wisconsinites; we were denying civil rights to the gay community in our state constitution before the federal government was officially doing so. Our very own Congresswoman Baldwin, the first openly lesbian woman in Congress, is now being directly adversely affected by our decisions. Good job, really.
In fact, the Wisconsin legislation happens to be particularly heinous. Not only is the right to marriage denied, but so is the right to a civil union, however that may be defined.
In his veto, Governor Doyle also states that it is a redundant bill that Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager said was “legally indistinguishable from current state law.” This law, however, is not yet set in stone.
So fear not, those of you who long to have the love you share with your partner of the same sex be acknowledged by the law in a way that is on par with the rights of every heterosexual couple. Things can still change in this state. The new state legislature will be voting on this again as early as January 2005. Then in April, in order for this amendment to become permanent, the general public must also vote.
This is where the new leaders in the state senate and assembly come in. Judith Robson, the newly appointed Democratic leader in the state senate must work with James Kreuser, the leader of the Democrats in the state assembly to rally the state legislators together to defeat this bill.
Moreover, if that doesn’t work (our numbers are pretty weak; 39-60 in the state assembly and 14-17 in the state senate), we must be ready to get our message out to the entire state of Wisconsin come April.
Just keep the wisdom of Governor Doyle in mind: this bill provides nothing beneficial to the state of Wisconsin. The only thing that a ban of same-sex marriage can do is divide us and deny basic civil rights to a segment of our community. So write to the state legislators and let them know how you feel. United and progressive we stand.
Julie Isen ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science.