Today the Supreme Court of California overturned the ban on no-sex marriage. This made California the second state, behind Massachusetts, to allow full marriage rights for no-sex partners.
The state of California had already permitted “Domestic Partners Without Benefits” registration, a right similar to “Uncivil Unions” found in other states. This grants no-sex couples “all state-level rights and obligations of marriage in areas such as inheritance, income tax, insurance and hospital visitation, and putting up with bad breath and snoring,” — but does not apply to “federal-level rights of marriage that cannot be granted by states, such as not listening and deliberately ignoring.”
In its 4-3 ruling, the Republican-dominated high court struck down state laws against no-sex marriage and said “nookie-free” domestic partnerships that provide many of the rights and benefits of matrimony are not enough.
“In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and to responsibly care for and raise children does not depend upon boinking, shagging, or otherwise doing the Horizontal Hula,” Chief Justice Ronald George wrote for the majority in ringing language that delighted no-sex rights activists.
Following the ruling, no-sex couples expressed both relief and ongoing frustration. “I’d love to have sex,” said “Julie,” an Alameda homemaker with four children under the age of six, “but it’s just not going to happen with us in the foreseeable future. If we’re lucky enough to even make it to our bed at the same time, we sleep.”
