NRP threatens to bolt gov't if 'couple registration' bill passed
By Yuval Yoaz and Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service


The National Religious Party will quit the coalition government if a bill proposing a "couple registration" is passed into law, NRP chairman MK Effi Eitam warned on Monday.

Eitam said that if the bill, which will allow couples not willing or unable to marry through the Chief Rabbinate to register as a couple and thus be entitled to all rights granted to married couples, is passed, he will convene the party convention which will then declare the NRP's immediate resignation from the government.

Eitam termed the bill "a danger to the unity of the nation and the beginning of the destruction of the global Jewish family."


~

Dems To Vote On Platform Supporting Gay Families
by Michael J. Meade
365Gay.com Newscenter
Boston Bureau

(Boston) Delegates to the Democratic National Convention this week will be asked to endorse the party's most pro gay platform ever, but one which stops short of supporting gay marriage.

But, while it does not call for equal marriage rights, it does not oppose the idea either.

"We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families," the draft platform that was worked out earlier this month.