Second Michigan county passes antimarriage resolution

Jackson County, Mich., commissioners have passed a resolution opposing gay marriage. The commissioners voted 7-3 on Tuesday in favor of the resolution, which supports a definition of marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman. Though it carries no legal weight, opponents of the resolution say it will hurt the community's reputation. "Because of the lack of necessity for the vote, I think it can send only one message, which is a message of intolerance," Neeta Delaney, director of a planned Jackson County artists' community, told The Jackson Citizen Patriot. But county commissioner Rick Baxter, a Republican who voted for the resolution, said the matter is important to the county. "The historical, grammatical, and contextual definition of marriage is one man and one woman," Baxter said. "Why is this important? What it means to be married ultimately affects the family unit and what it means to be a family." Oakland County, Mich., passed a similar resolution opposing gay marriage earlier this month. No statewide legislation on gay marriage has been introduced in the Michigan legislature, although state senator Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) has promised such a bill this fall.