Aug 31, 2007Quickie Link: Set Back on Gay Rights Feared in Israel
By vanrozenheim
(Israel) - Gay rights activists yesterday fiercely criticized Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann for bowing to pressure by religious parties in his decision to redraft inheritance laws. The revised bill would preclude homosexual couples from inheritance laws that apply to people in common-law marriages. The bill proposed by Friedmann contradicts the recommendations of a public commission (headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel) that was set up in 1999. The minister decided to limit the proposed inheritance law to "a man and a woman who lead a family life in a joint household." The original bill, which the committee approved, proposed to regard all "partners who live together in a common household" as each other's legal inheritors.
