CA Dem Wants ‘Husband,’ ‘Wife,” Banned from U.S. Code

A California Democrat has introduced a U.S. House resolution designed to ban the use of “husband” and “wife” from the United States Code.

Lois Capps, who represents California’s 24th district, comprised of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County, and the Los Padres National Forest, has sponsored H.R. 2976, which states that the federal government should “replace references to ‘wives’ and ‘husbands’ in Federal law with references to ‘spouses’, and for other purposes.”

Capps offered the resolution, titled “The Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act of 2015,” on July 8.

The bill boasts 26 cosponsors in the House, all of them Democrats, and 11 of them hailing from California.

Capps boasted about her resolution, “The Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act recognizes that the words in our laws have meaning and can continue to reflect prejudice and discrimination even when rendered null by our highest courts. Our values as a country are reflected in our laws. I authored this bill because it is imperative that our federal code reflect the equality of all marriages.”

Capps has sponsored or cosponsored other bills on gay rights and gay marriage–but never one that sought to eliminate traditional marriage itself.