Reader: Nebraskans Voted For Constitutional Amendment About Marriage

Post author:Stubborn_Facts
Post published:December 6, 2011
Post category:Education / Nebraska / Network Archives

NE Constitution – Click for PDF version

One of GiN’s readers has kindly offered to share his letter written to the NU Board of Regents about President Millken’s proposal to extend medical benefits to domestic partners of University System employees. The letter appears below, and thanks to Michael for sending it in. I’d also like to report that this subject has garnered more attention, both in amount of traffic to the article we published and in the discourse ongoing in the comments. At the very least, it’s a hot button issue.

Michael raises an excellent and important point not mentioned in the original article we published or any of the comments; Nebraskans passed – by 70%, reportedly – an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Nebraska in 2000:

Sec.29. Marriage; same-sex relationships not valid or recognized.

Only marriage between a man and a woman shall be valid or recognized inNebraska. The uniting of two persons of the same sex in a civil union,domestic partnership, or other similar same-sex relationship shall not bevalid or recognized in Nebraska.

Source: Neb. Const. art.I,sec. 29 (2000); Adopted 2000, Initiative Measure No. 416

Click HERE to read in Nebraska’s Constitution (found on p.7), HERE to see voting results.

LETTER

November 29, 2011

To the University of Nebraska Board of Regents:

President Milliken has recently proposed extending medical insurance coverage to unmarried domestic partners of University faculty, staff and students, if I correctly understand his proposal. His justification is to make the university system more competitive in recruiting faculty. On the surface, it looks to me like an end run around the recent constitutional amendment to recognize only heterosexual marriage and to give no legal standing to civil unions or domestic partnerships. In my opinion, he is flaunting the expressed will of the voters of Nebraska, and proposing to do so at their expense. His Fourteenth Amendment equal rights argument makes sense only if marriage has neither meaning nor significance. But of course marriage has always been given enough legal recognition to enable permissible discrimination, if you will, to be exercised between married and unmarried individuals.

Furthermore, President Milliken bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that Nebraskans’ rejection of gay marriage and civil unions has caused at least several irreplaceable potential candidates to look elsewhere: how significant is this problem? Also, can it not be solved by offering a higher salary to offset the added medical insurance cost? This does not seem to have prevented, for example, the Nebraska Medical Center from having hired a sufficient number of talented researchers to rise to the top tier of medical research institutions. Finally, is it not a buyers market: are there not far more Ph.D.’s looking for faculty positions than there are positions to fill?

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Michael [last name withheld]

Omaha, NE

[A Bachelor’s degree graduate and current graduate student at UNO]

District 4 Regent: Bob Whitehouse

Still need to round up contact information for the Board of Regents and find your regent’s name? Click HERE to view the previous article which includes links and information.

Tags: 2000 election, 2000 marriage amendments, board of regents vote, board of regents vote delayed, budget, CLibertyC, constitution of the state of nebraska, constitutional liberty coalition, cost of state employees, domestic partner benefits, Featured, for life and liberty, gay benefits, GiN, government run education, government spending, grassrootsne, health insurance benefits nebraska, Like Drunken Sailors, Nebraska, nebraska board of regents, nebraska constitution, nebraska constitutional amendment gay marriage, nebraska heterosexual marriage amendment, nebraska initiative 416, nebraska public employees, nu board of regents, out-of-wedlock shacking up, policies, same sex marriage, Shelli Dawdy, state employee benefits, university of nebraska, university of nebraska system, unmarried cohabitatin

Stubborn_Facts

Shelli Dawdy is first and foremost the mother of three children whom she has taught at home via the classical method since removing her children from school in 2001. During her early years as a homeschool mother, she worked part-time as a freelance writer. Born and raised in the Iowa, Shelli and her husband moved to the state of South Dakota in 1997, attracted to its more limited government and friendly tax environment. In 2006, Shelli and her family relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska, when her husband’s employer offered a new position. She took a break from work and politics for a time, recognizing the need to focus solely on her childrens’ schooling with two now of high school age. Distressed by many things she was witnessing on the national political scene and disillusioned about the Republican Party, she decided to start writing again, this time online. Motivated to get involved with others at the grassroots level, she networked with activists on the social media tool, Twitter. She was involved in organizing the first tea party rallies inspired by Rick Santelli’s “rant” on CNBC in February 2009. Recognizing that activism should generate on the local level, she founded Grassroots in Nebraska in March of 2009. The group’s mission is a return to Constitutional, limited government, according to its original meaning. While the group has held several tea party rallies, it’s focus is to take effective action. Among its many projects, GiN successfully coordinated testimony for the hearing of the Nebraska Sovereignty Resolution, networked with other groups to ensure a large show of public support at the hearing, and coordinated follow up support to ensure its passage in April 2010. While working to build up GiN throughout 2009, she was asked to work as writer and producer of the documentary film, A New America, which lays out how Progressivism is responsible for how America has moved away from its Constitutional roots. You can see more of her work on Grassroots in Nebraska (GiN) and StubbornFacts

LETTER

Stubborn_Facts

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