What are you thoughts about Same-Gender Couples lack of access to 1049 Federal rights and responsibilities?

Question

There are at least 1,049 protections, benefits & responsibilities extended to married couples under Federal law, according to a 1997 study by the General Accounting Office. Gay & lesbian couples pay higher taxes and are denied basic protections under the law.

They receive no Social Security survivor benefits upon the death of a partner, despite paying payroll taxes. They must pay Federal income taxes on their employer’s contributions toward their domestic partner’s health insurance (married employees do not have to pay such taxes for their spouses).

They must pay all estate taxes when a partner dies. They often pay significant tax penalties when they inherit a 401(k) from their partner. They are denied family leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

CIVIL UNIONS DO NOT PROVIDE ANY OF THESE RIGHTS. And under current Federal law, neither will state-permitted same-gender marriages.

Isn't this Heterosexual Privilege? How is Gay Marriage a "special right"?

I have provided information so that people can respond to the QUESTION with some intelligence and information. It was clear from my earlier question that people were ill informed. This IS a question, and is meant to be so.

The reason I have posted this question in the R&S section is because the largest majority of people who oppose gay marriage do so on religious grounds. They pretend there is no cost to this opposition. Religion is costing American same-gender couples millions of dollars each year, money that straight couples never have to pay.

Answer 1

It is wrong that it is so.

We must continue to contact our elected representatives and let them know that marriage is a societal contract in the U.S. and should not be denied anyone on the basis of what "god" decrees legitimate. The constitutional separation of church and state applies here -- that certain religions feel same sex marriage is wrong should have no bearing on what our legislators pass into law.

edit -- Chewbacca, this is *absolutely* a religious and spiritual question. It is religious zealotry that is denying U.S. citizens their civil rights.

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Answer 2

We should pay taxes based on our incomes not our marital status, i am married with children and feel even singles gay or not should get tax breaks as well.I think this question is in the wrong category but gays should have the same rights, one day we'll look back and learn from today's mistakes on how we discriminate against gays, like we did so with blacks

Answer 3

This isn't a question, except in the rhetorical sense. it's more of a rant.
Just for the record, I agree that marriage laws discriminate in favor of heterosexual monogamists, and I think that's wrong. I think marriage laws should recognise other kinds of families besides the usual one man one woman model.
However, laws are based on custom, which changes very slowly and with great effort. This is why there are laws on the books in every state that seem very strange and quaint, but reflect the problems and customs of that time and place.
In the case of gay marriage, there are a great many people in this country who fear that what happened to Sodom will happen to us if gay marriage were to become legal. They're more afraid of their god than anything else.

Answer 4

Bottom line is that marriage is and always has been between one man and one women. Why should this change for same gender partners. This is just trying to get benefits that don't belong to them. The family is the bedrock of society and so it is a 2 fold wrong. One is in the economic difficulty of paying benefits designed for marriage and the other the impact on society which every study shows as negative. It just is not as good of an environment for children to be raised in. They need a father and a mother not 2 of one. If this continues the way same sex couples would like then who can stop 3 somes or parent -child relationships or who knows what. I know many gays are fine people and can raise fine children but its not the norm. For most its not fine and for many who are gay it is a lifestyle they are trapped in that is not normal and never will be. Our economic picture is already bleak and overburdened and to heap this on and everyone else who wants to jump on the bandwagon just can't be done. No amount of distortion can make sex between same genders normal.

Answer 5

Sexual preference is not a "class". ".....In other words, marriage imposes legal restrictions, taking away rights that individuals might otherwise have. Yet "gay marriage" advocates depict marriage as an expansion of rights to which they are entitled.
They argue against a "ban on gay marriage" but marriage has for centuries meant a union of a man and a woman. There is no gay marriage to ban....."

Answer 6

i be attentive to persons who've been denied visitation rights whilst their stepchildren (the toddlers of their companions) pass to the wellness midsection, with the aid of fact they are no longer legally stepparents. i be attentive to this is likewise a controversy of wellness midsection team being unbelievably stupid, yet this could unquestionably be prevented if the couple can get married in simple terms like immediately human beings, and the stepparent can declare their rightful status to work out their toddlers.

Answer 7

Give 'em heck! I'm tired of this religious barf denying people civil rights based on narrow-minded ignorance. If people who are amped on considering homosexuality as a "sin" want to wallow in their idiocy, fine but don't FLAUNT IT... nobody's crawling into their beds trying to "do" them. And anybody who thinks that this is all we GLBTs are after, boy do they have a SERIOUS issue with thinking WAY too highly of themselves.

Answer 8

You are trying to use logic on people who are persuaded by nothing but emotional appeals and religious fantasy. I mean do you really expect people who worship a trinity and call it monotheism to understand logic and fairness? You must understand these people live in a fantasy world where everyone is evil but them.

Answer 9

Ask yourself, is this a spiritual/religious question, or a political question, or a "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered" question?

You are a GRUMPY little fella, aren't ya?

I wonder why this question is so important to you. No wait a minute. No wonder.

Answer 10

Sounds right to me.