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Showing posts with the label Republic of Ireland

German federal court: give gay civil partners same tax breaks as married couples

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The Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the country’s same-sex registered partners must be granted the same tax breaks as couples in natural marriages. In their June majority decision, six of the eight justices ruled that treating civil unions differently amounts to “unequal treatment because of sexual orientation” and that failure to guarantee equality “leads to discrimination against a minority”.  Married couples in Germany can declare their taxable incomes jointly, which results in significantly lower tax payments. The court ordered the government to enact legislation and amend relevant laws retroactive to 2001.  The German Constitutional Court In Germany, registered partnerships currently provide nearly all the same rights as natural marriage except joint adoption and full tax benefits, but the Federal Constitutional Court is slowly chipping away at the last of these differences. In February 2013, the court allowed one member of a civil partnership to adopt eith

Northern Ireland legislature rejects ‘gay marriage’…again

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For the second time in a year, the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland has rejected attempts to install “gay marriage” in the province, in a vote of 53 to 42. A similar motion was defeated by 50 votes to 45  last October . Mike Judge, communications director for the Christian Institute said the motion was introduced by Sinn Fein following a decision by the Republic of Ireland to have a referendum on redefining marriage. Northern Ireland's Legislative Assembly “But the proposal in the Assembly did not give the people of Northern Ireland any say in the matter – and that spoke volumes.” But Judge said that the active opposition of Christians both in Northern Ireland and in Britain had a decisive impact. “It just shows that the plans to redefine marriage can be defeated when people are prepared to take action,” he said. The vote against same-sex “marriage” will likely cause tension between Northern Irish MPs at Westminster and the efforts by the David Cameron g