Mayor's Statement on Passage of the Civil Unions and Marriage Ban

Madison – Mayor Dave Cieslewicz made the following statement today regarding the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 53, the Civil Unions and Marriage Ban amendment to the constitution: “The Republican Legislature has had their say, now it is time for the people of Wisconsin to have our say on whether we should write discrimination into our constitution. I am growing in my confidence that when this question is put to the voters, they will reject this immoral and unfair proposal. “The extreme language of this amendment doesn’t just ban gay marriage, it goes a step beyond and bans ‘substantially similar’ legal status. A legal analysis by our City Attorney has indicated that this language would threaten our ability to offer domestic partnership benefits to our employees, erasing an important competitive advantage. “Madison is competing globally for first-rate entrepreneurs, employers and employees to sustain our strong economy and create good-paying jobs. Writing discrimination into the state constitution and preempting our ability to offer competitive benefits to potential employees is tantamount to putting a ‘closed for business’ sign up. I look forward to being active in the months to come in the effort to defeat this discriminatory, anti-economic development measure.” (A copy of the City Attorney’s opinion is available online at http://www.cityofmadison.com/attorney/2005opinions/05-001.pdf.)