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That and SS and forcing employers to give the same benis as they offer married couples, if was not they would go to nearest Unitarian church and we would never hear a peep. You know the old saying " follow the money".
Hospital visitation, inheritance, staying together in elderly care facilities, sick and disability leave, health care plans, pensions, immigration, widow(er) benefits - shall I go on?
"Oh", the traditionalists will say, "you can do all that with wills and powers of attorney". Which would have been true, if people in a position to thwart the wills of one or both of a same-sex couple would respect those sort of documents - only they don't.
Sally Ride's partner of 27 years got zilch from the Federal government. Perhaps a legal document saying "you two were married" would have been kinda nice?
Why is getting a legal document from the government saying you're "married" important?
It's not. Not to me, anyway.
I've been with my girlfriend for 15 years, and have yet to find a reason to ask the government for its approval of our relationship.
"Marriage" (the word) should be confined to religion. Every religion can define it however they like, without any legal implications whatsoever. The only role government should play in the relationship two adults have is with regard to contract enforcement.
"Marriage" and "civil unions" should be completely separate things, and if one wants the benefit of having their church recognize their relationship and that of having the government recognize their relationship, they should be required to do both. If they're not religious, or they don't care about having a specific label attached to their relationship, but want the tax breaks and other bennies that the government doles out, then all that's needed should be a civil union. If they have a personal need to have their church recognize their relationship but don't care about the legal side, they can do the opposite.
It's such a stupidly simple and obvious solution, but not a single politician will bring it up. Both sides of the aisle are happy as clams to use this (non-)issue as a wedge, and it seems that their constituents are, too.
Just remember, you get the government you deserve, and until people start thinking for themselves and demanding more of their representatives, things will only get worse.
As an unmarried but engaged st8 person, I can tell you first hand the bull **** that one goes through when their spouse goes into the hospital and you cant get information..
Tax incentives, spousal allowances, hospital visitation, visas, etc. There are 1500 Federal and State benefits associated with that document.
Actually that number is bull crap, because most of them are just relisted with new wordings..
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