Rainbow bLAWg

The Kansas House’s Federal and State Affairs Committee is meeting today to consider a bill that protects individuals, groups and businesses who wish to discriminate against same-sex married couples for religious reasons.

Kansas state Rep. Charles Macheers, the legislator pushing the bill says it’s designed to protect religious freedom amid an uncertain legal climate after Federal judges in Oklahoma and Utah recently struck down those states’ bans.

Said Republican Gov. Sam Brownback: “I think it’s something we that need to protect, our people’s religious liberties and religious rights.”

The Kansas bill says no individual, business or religious group with sincerely held religious beliefs could be required by any government agency to provide services, facilities, goods, employment or employment benefits for a same-sex marriage or domestic partnership. The measure also would bar anti-discrimination lawsuits.

Critics of the bill say it promotes discrimination against gays and lesbians. Ya think?

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There is hope that someday soon the state of Kansas will grant LGBT residents the dignity of having the right to marry the person they choose. Until then, LGBT couples living in Kansas (and most other states) remain without any legal protections whatsoever – unless they go to the effort and expense of getting specific legal documents, i.e., living will and medical power of attorney (to empower a partner to make medical decisions and have hospital visitation rights), last will and testaments and/or living trust (to leave property to a partner) and other supporting documents that empower a partner to make decisions about finances, burial and cremation and many other rights denied to same-sex partners who live in non-marriage equality states.

For the most part, couples who can afford these documents will get them. Many LGBT couples are struggling financially because of the economic downturn. For them, Rainbow Law’s state-specific will and trust packages provide an affordable alternative – and their free advance directives are available to any LGBT person who asks.

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You can give Rainbow Law’s legal document preparation service a risk-free try by ordering state-specific advance directives (living wills, medical & financial powers of attorney with hospital visitation & more). Payment can be made via a small donation or you can get them for free in exchange for a Tweet or Facebook post!

Just double click on the rainbow banner:

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Carrie Stone