What rights does one gain with marriage?

Question

I am doing a report on gay marriage and the rights one obtains with the sacrament of marriage. For example, with marriage one has the ability to share health benefits from one's career. What other rights does one obtain? Thank you.

Answer 1

Great answer Tracer. These are from religioustolerance.org:

joint parenting;
joint adoption;
joint foster care, custody, and visitation (including non-biological parents);
status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent;
joint insurance policies for home, auto and health;
dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support;
immigration and residency for partners from other countries;
inheritance automatically in the absence of a will;
joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment;
inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate);
benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare;
spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home;
veterans' discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns;
joint filing of customs claims when traveling;
wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children;
bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child;
decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her;
crime victims' recovery benefits;
loss of consortium tort benefits;
domestic violence protection orders;
judicial protections and evidentiary immunity;

They also state that there are over 1400 federal benefits to be gained through marriage and about 400 state benefits. Hope this helps. Yours truly,

Mervin DePervin

P.S you might also discuss the similarities between the U.S's policies on homosexuality and minorities/women in the past. Homosexuals were banned from military service, just like blacks then other minorities and woman. Then they were allowed to come in as long as they didn't say that they were gay. (Not something you can really do as a woman or minority.) Now we are at the stage where they are allowed but only tolerated. (Same thing happened to women and minorities.) If it follows the trend, which it is in the process of doing now, soon we will accept homosexuals as the equal members of society that they are, just like woman and minorities. Soon the government will have to except discrimination against homosexuals is wrong, adopt a strong pro-homosexual policy and begin a heavy anti discrimination campaign; the same as it did with woman and minorities. Just thought I'd give you a little ammo for the pros side. :)

Answer 2

What rights are obtained through the sacrament of Marriage? Absolutely none. The "sacrament" as you call it is strictly a religious ceremony and infers no legal rights. The rights you refer to are brought about through the legal process of obtaining a Marriage License from the State. After the Marriage License is obtained the Signature of an authorized person and two witnesses are all that is required to make a marriage legally valid. Any Church service(or sacrament) is superfluous in respect to gaining legal rights.

As for the rest, there are 1049 Rights, Privileges, and Obligations that go along with being married(sometimes more or less depending on exactly where you live) many of which have been named by other posters within this question.

Answer 3

Through only marriage there arent really any unless your healhcare states it.

Some health care allows others to share benefits even if they arent married. Dells in Texas does had a friend who put her sister on her plan under spouse.

Every other benefit can also be obtained by getting medical power of attorney or a general power of attorney, so really the only difference worth fighting for is being recognised by state and law which is all most same sex supporters want.

Answer 4

Its estimated there are at least 70 something rights you get from marriage. This is why its importent for it to be a gay right also. That and the fact that since its a government institution, its owed to us as equals.

You get the right to make medical decisions, make decisions for any minor children involved, make financial dicisions, you actually get to go and SEE them when they are in the hospital and not stay in the lobby, you can be on their income tax or not, you can make legal decisions if they are incapacitated, and alot of other things that people just take for granted.

Answer 5

There are so many reasons. Tax laws, insurance laws, custody of children in the relationship, death benefits. If something happened to my partner of 2 years I would have no control of her medical care and no time off work to be with her. Does that sound fair? Her will could be challenged by her family. Many adoption agencies won't adopt to same sex couples and would rather stick kids in abusive foster situations! In some states, lesbians cannot even obtain sperm for IFT unless it's frozen which decreases the chances of concieving. There are just so many injustices in the land of the free! Look at the site below for a list of more.


http://hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Center&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=16761

Answer 6

Automatic rights to make medical decisions for your spouse (when they are incapacitated). The terms of splitting up are legally dictated (i.e. who gets what and property rights are ensured). Inheritance of property is assigned to the spouse unless there is a will stating otherwise. Social Security benefits.

That's all I can think of right now.

Answer 7

I think it grants the same rights as a regular man/woman marriage...only they're not yet ready to call this anything beyond a "civil union".

Answer 8

Health benefits, Social Security benefits, depending on the income tax benefits, lower car insurance rates.

Marrieds are given preferential treatment when purchasing real estate, getting loans, etc, etc.

The list just goes on and on of the benefits that married people get.

Answer 9

They would gain equal rights to be hauled through the divorce courts and be fleeced by lawyers the same way hetero couples are.

Answer 10

Tax breaks