From 365gay.com:
In an unprecedented ruling, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the government on Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad.
The lone dissenter on the seven-judge panel was an observant Jew, highlighting the controversy the decision touches off among ultra-Orthodox Jews and other deeply conservative groups in Israel.
Efforts by Israel's gay community to win approval for same-sex marriage, a key issue in North America and Europe, face a major obstacle because Israel's rabbinate has a monopoly over Jewish marriage and divorce.
Why is this so big? Well first off, the marriage laws in Israel are very different from what we are used to here in the states. Only Orthodox Jewish rabbis are allowed to issue marriage licenses, thus the only marriages performed inside Israel are Orthodox Jewish marriages. There are no avenues for marriage for reform or conservative jews, catholics, muslims or secularists unless it is an out of state marriage. Thus in affect, this is the closest Israel will get to same-sex marriage until ALL marriages of every religion and marriages for athiests and agnostics-opposite or same-sex- are allowed.
This is a stunning, but not too surprising victory. The Economist predicted that the Israeli Supreme Court would rule this way about a year ago (sorry no links available for that).
Same-Sex Marriage victories are coming faster and sweeter by the year!
Sorry my post is not too long today, I'm heading back for the Thanksgiving holiday break. If you're also heading back to the family, you may want to get some books by Queer Writer Quentin Crisp, who died 7 years ago today at age 90. Some of his books (or books about him) include:
The Stately Homo: A Celebration Of The Life Of Quentin Crisp
The
Naked Civil Servant
The Gay and Lesbian Quotation Book