Why should only married people get special rights? Should we let anyone get married just for the benefits like friends or family members, or should just people who are having sex get these rights?
2006-12-22 08:24:56 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Because "equal rights" actually means "I want to be treated special" and have more rights than the status quo.
2006-12-22 09:14:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
Have you ever thought it's not to get special rights, but simply be allowed to do what every other heterosexual person is allowed to do?
Haters keep hammering away on the argument that this is all just a finance numbers game. That those wanting gay marriage are greedy and desiring of things they didn't earn. If you think that way, you are an A S S H O L E.
We just want the same rights everyone else has. Why is that so difficult to understand?
By the way, your argument is weak. Heterosexual friends and heterosexual people who are just having sex already DO have those "special rights". It's called marriage. Jeese. What a lightweight.
As for family. Marriage is a public statement that a couple is sexually monogamous. You're bringing incest into this again. How many times do you people have to be told that gay marriage has no relation to incest?
2006-12-22 08:47:46 · answer #2 · answered by kickbutt 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Gay marriage is an important issue. IN marriage, each spouse is entitled to the other's benefits. In the case of serious injury/hospitalization, a gay person would not be allowed to visit their partner, nor be able to request options, only family is allowed. Another example, is if one passes, and you are not married, you lose what the two of you built together as the law would not recognize you as family. That is unless you resided in a state that had common-law in place or you declared each other legal beneficiaries and had documents to prove such.
The list could continue, but the simple solution is that gays should be allowed to marry so they can share the same protections a married couples.
2006-12-22 09:56:49 · answer #3 · answered by Spectraguy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Marriage is performed BY THE GOVERNMENT. It is a government right, not a religious one. This is why it has to be done "fairly and equally" in most states where it is challenged. This is also why states change their constitutions, so they can get away with writing hate into them. Its not about friends having rights, its about two loving people in a committed relationship. If one gets sick, the other can not even visit them in the hospital without consent. They cannot decide whether their loved one can have surgery or not, they cannot not decide whether their loved ones body should be buried or cremated. In other words, it doesn't matter if they've lived together 50 years, they have no rights as a gay couple. This is why gay marriage and other rights are important. If they bought a house together, 1/2 of it may go to HIS family, not his lover when he dies.
2006-12-22 09:36:08 · answer #4 · answered by AdamKadmon 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Watch "If These Walls Could Talk 2." Pay special attention to the older lesbian couple and the hell one of the women goes through when her partner dies.
On top of mourning for her life partner, she is barred from knowing anything about her partner's condition when she enters the hospital. Then when the partner dies the poor woman is left sitting in the waiting room for hours after because no one bothers to tell her because she "isn't family." Then she is kicked out of her home by her partner's family even though she helped pay for the house because she "wasn't family."
That scene is set in the 60's, but the things she goes through still happen today.
That is why gay marriage is needed for equal protection. There are many different laws that protect biological family ties, so family members don't have to get married to protect their bonds from the system.
And I dunno about you but I know a lot of straight people who get married to friends just for the benefits. Ever know someone who just wants a green card and doesn't care how the get it? I have. So friends can get married already, and they already do. Because as long as they're heterosexual no one questions their union.
2006-12-22 09:03:27 · answer #5 · answered by Jen 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gay people are discriminated against in many ways...the equal rights of marriage is one. This is a federal (predominately) issue rather than a state so common law doesn't apply. Here's one way we are affected: When a spouse should pass away from a heterosexual marriage, there is something called the Unlimited Marital Deduction. That means that 100% of assets (whether it's $2 million or $200 million) can pass without taxation. Currently, with proper trust and will planning anyone can pass one $2 million at death. Gay people, with proper planning are no different. If assets are valued over that (and it's not too hard to get there between a home, life insurance, and retirement plans), they are taxed at estate tax rates (beginning at 37% and going as high as 55%). If you have a committed couple with 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years of paying taxes, making contributions to a community, raising fanilies, stable, loving, and MARRIED (not legally cuz we havent been "afforded" that right), they may lose a good portion of their assets due to varies taxes including Estate Taxes. THAT's discrimination...This isnt a matter of allowing ANYONE getting married...this is a matter of correcting a form of discrimination against deeply loving, committed, and healthy couples who have made huge contributions to our country and to our communities....
For those of you with children especially, but all of us....should have our wills, trusts, and financial planning (with a qualified planner who understands the laws and issues that affect us) in place....to take advantage of all the tools which help to protect us...
If you have questions...visit my 360 and leave a message for me...
2006-12-22 08:44:04 · answer #6 · answered by City 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You are making more of an issue than it needs to be, when 2 non-related adult people love each other and want to get married, then to deny them would be discrimination plain and simple. You don't need to make it into a slippery slope question because it's not. Just by allowing 2 people to get married does not mean that other rules of society and laws would have to change. You would not see family members trying to get married, multiple partner marriages, and any of those other stupid arguments as to why you need to discriminate against same sex couples. Take your head out of your *** and think about it
2006-12-22 08:38:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
For one thing, my estranged brother has more say about my health if I'm unable to make decisions myself than my life partner.
And with a 50% divorce rate and there being more people who've been divorced that than married only once, I don't think heteros have much room to tout family values as a good reason ban gay marriage.
Married people shouldn't get special rights.
2006-12-22 08:49:30 · answer #8 · answered by RJ 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As with straight people now, there's no way that anyone's going to play sex police and come knocking on your door to see if you're doing it. As such, yes. Legal marriage probably should be allowed to any two people of appropriate age. There were a number of religious leaders who were very much against gay relationships but who considered these situations as appropriate for the legal contract.
2006-12-22 17:57:34 · answer #9 · answered by Atropis 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's why I like NY. NY has common law so if you've been living with the same person for 7+ years you have a Common Law Marraige. So eventually, when gays can finally marry, common law is a nice alternative if you don't want to go through the whole marraige process. I know I don't lol.
BUt for those who do, keep your heads up. Biracial couples were completely discriminated against just like we are now... it can only get better from here!
2006-12-22 08:29:08 · answer #10 · answered by IceyFlame 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Suppose you had a stroke and the person to whom you had devoted your life couldn't make decisions about your treatment or your disposition according to your wishes or inherit your worldly goods according to your will. Suppose you were brain dead and your will said no extreme measures - your life mate wants to honor your wishes, but your parent(s) want to keep your corpse on life support indefinitely, and they have the legal power? How about your child - your ex-husband was a wife and child abuser, you and your partner have raised your child in a loving home, but something happens to you - what happens to the child?
That's what it is about - if hetero couples, even if they are worthless spouses or parents, get these rights and accommodations, why shouldn't decent, committed life partners of the same sex get them?
2006-12-22 08:41:20 · answer #11 · answered by Skeff 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋