1,138 REASONS THAT MARRIAGE EQUALITY MATTERS
According to a 2004 report from the General Accounting Office that was drafted at the request of Senator Bill Frist, there are one thousand, one hundred and thirty-eight rights and benefits provided to married couples that are denied to couples that cannot participate in a civil marriage. (For a summary and explanation of the report, click here.) There are a lot of people that voted for Proposition 8 who did not fully understand this and who believed that anyone who got a civil union was completely equal to a married couple in the eyes of the law. It is important for them to know that this is not the case.
While the civil union laws help with some state-related issues, the larger issues are Federal and are not covered by state law. This is why it is critical to first get the states to legalize same-sex marriage and then to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (aka DOMA), which defines marriage in the eyes of the Federal government to only be between a man and a woman. So what’s the big deal? Let’s give an example…
A same-sex couple is legally married in one of the states where it is allowed. While on vacation in another state, one of them is hurt in a car accident and is rushed to the hospital. Their partner runs to the hospital to visit their loved one and says, “But we’re married!” Because visitation rights are not afforded to same-sex couples in that state, they are not allowed to be together and medical decisions cannot be made by their spouse. If the injured person dies, their husband or wife is not allowed to make funeral arrangements for them and, even once they are back in their home state, they are denied survivor benefits from the Federal government.
Social Security pension, survivor benefits, visitation rights…these are just some of the major reasons why civil unions are not equal to marriage. Until same-sex couples can get married and have that union acknowledged by the Federal government, committed gay and lesbian couples will not be equal to their heterosexual counterparts.
It is important to remember that while much of the debate sounds theoretical, there are painful examples of why marriage rights for everyone is such a critical goal. Please read this heartbreaking example about a woman who was not allowed to make medical decisions for her partner and their children were not allowed to say goodbye to her. Gay woman fights over hospital rights in Miami court by Laura Figueroa in The Miami Herald. (For a powerful editorial from The Seattle Times about the real emotional impact of this story, please read here.)
For a more thorough list, please check out the more complete list from EqualityMatters.org:
One Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty-Eight Reasons that Marriage Equality Matters
THE 13 BASIC CATEGORIES UNDER WHICH MARRIAGE BENEFITS FALL
- SOCIAL SECURITY AND RELATED PROGRAMS, HOUSING AND FOOD STAMPS – In many of these programs, recognition of the marital relationship is integral to the design of the program. For example, the law establishing the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Program (Social Security).
- VETERANS’ BENEFITS – Include pensions, indemnity compensation for service-connected deaths, medical care, nursing home care, right to burial in veterans’ cemeteries, educational assistance, and housing. Husbands or wives of veterans have many rights and privileges by virtue of the marital relationship.
- TAXATION – The distinction between married and unmarried status is pervasive in federal tax law; this is one of the largest categories with 179 provisions.
- FEDERAL CIVILIAN AND MILITARY SERVICE BENEFITS – Typically, these laws address the various health, leave, retirement, survivor and insurance benefits provided by the United States to those in federal service and their families.
- EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND RELATED LAWS – The rights of employees under employer-sponsored employee benefit plans that provide for continuation of employer-sponsored health benefits after events like the death or divorce of the employee.
- IMMIGRATION, NATURALIZATION AND ALIENS – Laws governing which non-citizens may enter and remain in the United States, be deported, etc.
- INDIANS – Right of a surviving spouse who is neither an Indian nor a member of the deceased spouse’s tribe to elect a life estate in property that he or she is occupying at the time of death of the other spouse.
- TRADE, COMMERCE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY – It permits spouses to file jointly for bankruptcy protection.
- FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST – Employees or officers of the federal government to confer rights to their spouses.
- CRIMES AND FAMILY VIOLENCE – Spouses as victims of crimes
- LOANS, GUARANTEES, AND PAYMENTS IN AGRICULTURE – Spouse’s income and amount of benefits depends on marital status.
- FEDERAL NATURAL RESOURCES AND RELATED LAWS – National battlefields, monuments, seashores, or parks that are donated or sold to the gov’t. A person who donates one of these to the government can continue to live on the property until death, at which time that right passes on to the “married” spouse. An unmarried spouse gets tossed off.
- MISCELLANEOUS – example: the VFW have as one of their purposes to assist the widows and children of servicemen.
For more detailed explanations, scroll back up and read any of the previous reports, but these are the basic categories under which all the rest of the marriage rights fall…all of the marriage rights that are not currently conferred upon same-sex couples, even in states that recognize their marriage or their union.
