That dang marriage thing!

Being un-politically aware and blissfully ignorant of most things - I did not actually know the following. I just knew that denying me the right of marriage was wrong. Interesting point, below, regarding Massachusetts and the rights they still do not have. My surrogate older sisters were married in Massachusetts several years ago when it first became legal. Then together they had a child. It was a joint pregnancy - one woman carried the other's egg. Both of their names appeared on the birth certificate. But then one day they decided to go on a vacation outside of the country and since their rights didn't extend outside of the state the mother that did not physically bear the child had to ADOPT her own flesh and blood son. Just IN CASE something happened on their trip. I was appalled when I heard that. It hadn't even crossed my mind that something like that would need to happen.

So please read below (which I quote from a forwarded e-mail which was cut and pasted from a blog... I don't know where the original source material is or I would cite it):

Civil unions/domestic partnership DO NOT give gay/lesbian couples the same rights as straight couples. Here are examples of some rights that are denied.

Question: What are the legal benefits of marriage?

With the denial of gay marriage, gay and lesbian couples are kept from more than just a ceremony and marriage certificate. There are many real legal and economic benefits of marriage that gays and lesbians are denied because they are not allowed to marry. What are the legal rights and benefits of marriage?

Answer: According to Lambda Legal Defense, more than 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon heterosexual married couples in the United States. By not being allowed to marry, gays and lesbians are denied these rights. Even in the state of Massachusetts, the only US state with legalized gay marriage, most of the benefits of marriage do not apply, because the Defense of Marriage Act states that the federal government only recognizes marriage as "a legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife".

Here are some of the legal rights that married couples have and gays and lesbians are denied:

1. Joint parental rights of children
2. Joint adoption
3. Status as "next-of-kin" for hospital visits and medical decisions
4. Right to make a decision about the disposal of loved ones remains
5. Immigration and residency for partners from other countries
6. Crime victims recovery benefits
7. Domestic violence protection orders
8. Judicial protections and immunity
9. Automatic inheritance in the absence of a will
10. Public safety officers death benefits
11. Spousal veterans benefits
12. Social Security
13. Medicare
14. Joint filing of tax returns
15. Wrongful death benefits for surviving partner and children
16. Bereavement or sick leave to care for partner or children
17. Child support
18. Joint Insurance Plans
19. Tax credits including: Child tax credit, Hope and lifetime learning credits
20. Deferred Compensation for pension and IRAs
21. Estate and gift tax benefits
22. Welfare and public assistance
23. Joint housing for elderly
24. Credit protection
25. Medical care for survivors and dependents of certain veterans

These are just a few of the 1400 state and federal benefits that gays and lesbians are denied by not being able to marry. Most of these benefits cannot be privately arranged or contracted for within the legal system.

Now go on over to my blogroll at the right ----------> and click on "The Gay Marriage Thing" blog. And visit The Gay Marriage Thing movie site: http://www.thegaymarriagething.com/ I bid you to do this if you wish to know more about my surrogate sisters that I reference above.