North Dakota legislative committee to consider gender neutral language

BISMARCK — A North Dakota legislative committee will consider amendments to almost three dozen sections and subsections of state law to include gender-neutral language on Wednesday, Jan. 4.

Senate Bill 2043 comes about a year and a half after the U.S. Supreme Court said gay couples had the right to marry under the Constitution. The amendments included in the bill include replacing "one man and one woman" with "two individuals" in the section of North Dakota law defining marriage, along with similar changes in sections of state law regarding adoption and fishing licenses.

Sen. David Hogue, the Republican chairman of the interim Judiciary Committee, said last March that he didn't like the Supreme Court ruling, but added there "are simply too many references to husband and wife, so I think it should be changed."

In 2004, 73 percent of North Dakota voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A federal judge ruled North Dakota's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and invalid shortly after the Supreme Court's June 2015 decision.

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/north-dakota/4191614-north-dakota-legislative-committee-consider-gender-neutral-language