Feb 4, 2008 6:59 pm US/Central
Group To Rekindle Same-Sex Rights Debate In Minn.
(WCCO)
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Life could not have been better until the dreaded day when Eric found out he had a brain tumor. That was just the start of even more battles for the couple.
CBS
When state lawmakers open the new session next week a new group will try to rekindle the debate over whether same-sex couples should have the same rights as men and women who are married.
Project 515 focuses on 515 state laws that it says discriminate against same-sex couples and families. Some affect couples in their professional lives, others in times of tragedy.
When Tim Reardon looks back on his life, he thinks of the best of times and the worst of times he and his partner, Eric, experienced together.
"That's why I'm telling this story. It's hard to tell the story. I have to relive the pain of what we went through," said Reardon.
Reardon and Eric fell in love and expressed their devotion to each other six years ago at a commitment ceremony.
Through a surrogate mother, they brought Tess into the world. Life could not have been better until the dreaded day when Eric found out he had a brain tumor. That was just the start of even more battles for the couple.
"We did a power of attorney. We had a will drawn up. We had a health care directive. We had a partnership agreement. We did everything legally we could, and in the end, it wasn't enough," said Reardon.
He talks of the medical examiner's office not recognizing their relationship, and the cremation society not considering Reardon next of kin with the right to make decisions about Eric's remains.
"I felt the oppression of not having the same rights as any married couple would," said Reardon.
Tom Prichard believes that giving same-sex couples the same rights as married couple devalues what marriage is, and threatens to destroy it.
"We should be doing all we can to strengthen marriages, not redefine it out of existence," said Prichard, who runs the non-profit, Minnesota Family Council. He believes this is just the start of what Project 515 really wants.
"They want same sex marriage, and this is a way to get that, is by getting all the benefits and recognitions of marriage, but then, they'll come back the next day and say, we want the word 'marriage' as well," said Prichard.
However, for Reardon, it's not about the word marriage. It's just about being human.
"I think it's about fairness. I think it's about equality," he said.
Reardon knows he can't change what he and Eric went through, but hopes he can help change the law for other gay and lesbian couples.
"No one should have to go through what we went through," said Reardon.
Those who run Project 515 said their organization is really a grass-roots effort. They say they have no plans to push for marriage, at least not for the time-being.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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