Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons vetoed a domestic partnership bill that would have offered a few of the rights and privileges of marriage in that state. Gibbons, a 64-year-old Republican, believed that the law “conflicts” with the state’s 2002 constitutional amendment establishing man-lady marriage as the only kind recognised in the state.The bill Gibbons vetoed would’ve ended some discrimination against domestic partners by giving them the same community property and debt rights as married couples. It would have been open to same-sex and opposite-sex couples alike.
Gibbons, a Mormon and former lawyer, said that if “domestic partners” want to get a few of the meagre provisions of the bill he vetoed, they can always sign private contracts. One assumes he wasn’t a very good lawyer, or he’d know that such contracts are woefully inadequate. Or, maybe he’s just a very good Mormon, because that church, contrary to its earlier suggestions, has indicated opposition to any kind of formal recognition of same-sex relationships, including Nevada's marriage-lite-lite domestic partnerships.
Add it all up and Jim Gibbons is the Dickhead of the Day.
Update 01 June 2009: The Nevada legislature has overridden Gibbons’ wrongheaded veto. The state's Assembly voted today (Sunday, local time) 28-14 to override, following the state Senate's 14-7 vote yesterday. Both were barely what was needed to override. A large part of the credit for the victory has been given to the Nevada casino industry, which lobbied hard for the bill and then for the override.
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