(Israeli) Bill Would Let Gays Inherit From Deceased Partners
Bill Would Let Gays Inherit From Deceased Partners
By Gideon AlonThe Knesset yesterday passed a bill allowing same-sex partners to inherit from his or her deceased partner, if they died intestate.
The bill, submitted by MK Ilan Leibowitz (Shinui), was approved on its preliminary reading by 26 MKs and opposed by 24. Yahad and Shinui supported the bill, as well as Omri Sharon (Likud) and ministers Ophir Pines-Paz, Tzipi Livni and Haim Ramon. The religious and ultra-Orthodox parties and several Likud and National Union MKs voted against it.
The law stipulates that customary alimony arrangement of "common-law spouses" applies to homosexual couples.
Leibowitz said that the term "common-law" recently has been interpreted by the Family Court as referring to heterosexual couples only, unacceptable in the case of couples who have accumulated property.
Shas chairman MK Eli Yishai lambasted the bill. "Shinui is trying to introduce norms that even animals abhor," he said, adding that Shinui is trying to turn Israel into a "faded copy of other nations." MK Nissim Zeev (Shas) said "this is a gay government and a disgrace. They ask why there is prostitution here. What is homosexuality if not prostitution?"
This Article appeared on June 9, 2005 in www.haaretz.com