This story illustrates how boring the news is right now

Actually, boring isn't exactly right, but repetitive and silly (the astronaut love triangle?). Actually some of the reports of talks between various groups is boring. None have reached a point where anything of substance has come out.

(Update below)

I love this. if the purpose to marry is procreation, as fundies insist, there should be consequences if a couple doesn't and those incapable should be denied marriage. So an organization in Washington State has presented an initiative to the Secretary of State.

This will go down in flames at the polls, but its sorta fun to push fundie's buttons.

Ballot Title
Statement of Subject: Initiative Measure No. 957 concerns eligibility for marriage.

Concise Description: This measure would limit marriage to those couples who are biologically capable of having children together, and would invalidate the marriages of couples who fail to procreate children within three years after marrying.

Ballot Measure Summary
This measure would restrict marriage to a male and a female who are capable of having children together. Couples would be required to declare their ability to procreate children together in order to obtain marriage licenses. If a couple failed to procreate children within three years of marriage, their marriage would be subject to annulment. All other marriages would be defined as “unrecognized.” Persons in unrecognized marriages would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits.

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From the the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance press release>

The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance (WA-DOMA) announced on Thursday that their proposed initiative to make procreation a requirement for legal marriage has been accepted by the Secretary of State and assigned the serial number 957. The initiative has been in the planning stages since the Washington Supreme Court ruled last July that the state’s Defense of Marriage Act was constitutional.

“For many years, social conservatives have claimed that marriage exists solely for the purpose of procreation,” said WA-DOMA organizer Gregory Gadow in a printed statement. “The Washington Supreme Court echoed that claim in their lead ruling on Andersen v. King County. The time has come for these conservatives to be dosed with their own medicine. If same-sex couples should be barred from marriage because they can not have children together, it follows that all couples who can not or will not have children together should equally be barred from marriage. And this is what the Defense of Marriage Initiative will do.”

Mr. Gadow also stated, “Our agenda is to shine a very bright light on the injustice and prejudice that underlie the Andersen decision by giving that decision the full force of law.

If passed by Washington voters, I-957 would:

* add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage;
* require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled;
* require that couples married out of state file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as “unrecognized;”
* establish a process for filing proof of procreation; and
* make it a criminal act for people in an unrecognized marriage to receive marriage benefits.

Update: I need to clarify the use of the word "silly" in reference to the astronaut love triangle. This appears to be, at least, a case of stalking and possibly a case of intent to murder. Neither of those is silly at all. They are quite serious.

I used the word "silly" to reflect the fact every single news outlet is giving more attention to this than is deserved, probably because of the astronaut angle. I'm sure this sort of thing is happening all the time with other people and those incidences never get into national and international news sources.

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