Costa Rica court blocks gay civil union referendum

[arcos]

Source: AP

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rica's top court has blocked the electoral tribunal from holding a referendum that would have let voters decide if same-sex civil unions should be allowed in the Central American country.

The Constitutional Court's 5-2 decision released Tuesday says such a referendum would put a minority at a disadvantage in a largely Roman Catholic country. It also says gay civil unions is a legislative issue and not an electoral one.

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Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g40lOag3EwWPFK76QhqyozeV_45QD9HGVRUG0

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Awesome news!

The referendum was proposed by ultraconservative religious groups, associated with Opus Dei and fundamentalist evangelicals. There was a fair chance for the bill to be approved last year, but the possibility referendum caused the bill to be blocked.

They basically used the referendum to filibuster civil unions, because they knew that voters would have never ever supported equal rights... not right now anyway. It is unlikely that Congress will approve this soon, but at least it will not face a horrible death at the ballot box.

[tomm2thumbs]

1. frankly, I'm surprised California hasn't put FoxNews to a vote - they'd be out of work if they did

for at least as long as it took to wind through the courts (as the far righties are hoping with Prop 8)

In fact, anyone wants to put that on a ballot, I'd love to see it just for symbolism's sake

[awoke_in_2003]

2. k&r, nt

[David Zephyr]

3. Kudos to Costa Rica. Voting by the mob on civil rights is sick and, sadly, very American.

K&R.

[EFerrari]

4. K&R

[Divine Discontent]

5. nice to see other countries show that civil rights aren't up for popular vote based on what the

majority may feel about a certain group! How refreshing. I am hoping we will be pleasantly surprised when the marriage for all challenge gets to the SCOTUS...

when will that be? It should be done by the end of the year due to the MILLIONS of lives it's effecting! But, of course, it probably won't be til early 2012 or something ridiculous.

[crim son]

6. Read it wrong the first time. Another reason to love Costa Rica!

Who wants to move there with me?

[hughee99]

7. I'm glad about the ruling, but aren't all "legislative issues" electoral issues?

You vote for your legislature. Wouldn't this be a legal issue, and not a legislative issue?

[arcos]

8. No, the point is about law creation...

You definitely vote for your legislature, and you are delegating the power in Congress to represent you and do what the Constitution says.

So the question was whether law creation is a legislative matter, or an electoral one. It is legislative because that's the normal way to do it, they ruled that even when a referendum is called it is still a legislative issue that is just delegated to voters.