Idaho Senate defeats same-sex marriage ban News
Idaho Senate defeats same-sex marriage ban

[JURIST] Members of the Idaho Senate [official website] voted against a proposal to ban same-sex marriages [text] Wednesday for the second consecutive year. The defeated measure would have amended the Idaho Constitution [text] to read:

SECTION 28. MARRIAGE. Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status similar to that of marriage.

The Senate vote was 21-14, three votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to send the measure to voters. Proponents of the ban say the bill will likely be reintroduced next year. AP has more. The Idaho Statesman has local coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.