As the Wisconsin legislature continues its gay bashing, it's interesting to see the opinion of people who make REAL Swiss cheese.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=JIB4RKLT0PFALQFIQMFCM5OAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2005/06/05/uswiss.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/06/05/ixportaltop.html
QUOTE:
Separately, Swiss voters have also approved a proposal to register same-sex partnerships, giving homosexual couples the same legal rights as married couples in areas such as pensions, inheritance and taxes.
Swiss vote for 'Schengen' and gay rights
(Filed: 05/06/2005)
Switzerland has voted by a narrow margin to join the European Union's passport-free "Schengen" zone, bringing the fiercely independent nation a step closer to its European neighbours.
According to Swiss state television SF, 55 percent of voters approved the country's accession to the "Schengen" treaty, named after the Luxembourg village where it was drawn up, as well as joining the so-called Dublin accords which harmonise asylum procedures across Europe.
The Schengen agreements permit free movement between member states by doing away with systematic border checks on individuals. The Treaty of Dublin regulates and streamlines asylum issues between member states.
But the crisis in the European Union has left its mark on non-EU Switzerland, where voters were less enthusiastic about opening their borders and sharing police information with surrounding countries than opinion polls suggested just weeks ago.
Swiss voters' support for closer ties with Europe comes days after French and Dutch voters rejected a new European Constitution that was supposed to cement the bloc's union.
The treaty's supporters, which include the country's four-party coalistion government, said signing up to the Schengen and Dublin accords will improve Switzerland's security, help resolve asylum problems and bring economic benefits.
Critics, led by the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) whose most prominent member, billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher, is also the country's justice minister, fear it will undermine the country's centuries-old neutrality and security.
The SVP has waged a fierce anti-Schengen campaign and collected more than the 50,000 signatures needed to force a popular referendum on the issue.
Schengen and Dublin form part of a series of bilateral treaties hammered out between Switzerland and the EU after Swiss voters in 1992 rejected joining the bloc that surrounds them.
Separately, Swiss voters have also approved a proposal to register same-sex partnerships, giving homosexual couples the same legal rights as married couples in areas such as pensions, inheritance and taxes.