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| | THE BATTLE OVER SAME-SEX MARRIAGE / In tiny, Catholic Belgium, gay marriage no big deal / Law has spurred few protests ... |
 | | The only things the gay, middle-aged Flemish couple missed were the throngs of media, the oceans of newspaper ink, and the sense that they had been pitched into a feverish national controversy that could even tip a presidential election. |
 | | The estimated 6,000 gay nuptials since then roughly mirrors the rate of heterosexual marriages, according to Henk Krol, editor of the Dutch Gay Krant magazine. |
 | | Not only are the numbers of gay, wedded couples relatively insignificant, but pension and health perks accorded with marriage are offset, say analysts, by higher joint taxes in Belgium, or in lower unemployment benefits. |
| www.sfgate.com /cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/15/MNG275KMPE1.DTL (899 words) |
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