Marriage is a fundamental human right, not a legally granted privilege. The gay couples I know who are now or are soon to be legally married have been de facto married for years, even decades; some have kids, a home mortgage and all the other burdens/joys of the wedded state. It's about damned time they had the status if they want it.
Best of all, the public attitude is changing. In the performing arts community, gayness has for several decades been as normal as breathing; no one thinks anything of it... you have to remember your good friends' spouses' birthdays as surely as you do in the straight community. It's just not that big a deal, and hasn't been for over 30 years.
But for the LGBTQ community, the deal could scarcely be bigger. One of many reasons I want to live another decade or so is that it will give me the opportunity to watch this transformation into a love that damned well CAN speak its name... at the altar if it wants!
Bless you all. It is a good time to be queer!
Progress! Now if we can just keep the damned Baptists, Catholics and Mormons at bay. Until these contracts are acknowledged at the Federal they still remain prejudicial and second class. Couples who have been productive citizens for decades still cannot collect Social Security as surviving spouses. In states that do recognize these contracts there remains the problem for seniors, who collect housing or health benefits actually receive less when in such a contractual bond. Therefore, the poor or economically marginal seniors cannot undertake such contracts because it will work against them and prejudice them on the federal level. It's a Catch 22 built into the system.
ReplyDelete"keep the damned Baptists, Catholics and Mormons at bay."
Deletekarmanot, don't you mean "keep the damned Baptists, Catholics and Mormons UNDER the Bay"? preferably without SCUBA gear? }-P
I am also worried... on behalf of gays and straights as well... that third parties will attempt to intervene in the most personal end-of-life decisions of couples, or attempt (especially with gays) to prevent one member from seeing the other in an extreme medical circumstance. Emergency visits to the hospital are challenging enough when there is no societal predisposition to intervene (ask me sometime about the night my mother died, and how I had to tell a representative of an organ donation service to SHUT... UP! as I attempted to phone my dad, who was a hundred miles away), and unimaginable when a sky pilot who never met either of you attempts to make your life-or-death decision for your partner.
Yep, For compassion's sake I like the idea of teaching the above mentioned to breath under water. That later concern over hospitalization and end of life care rights can be resolved with a power of attorney plus a health power of attorney.These are simple documents obtained in many cases on line. Fill them out and have half a dozen copied and notarized. Many of us became very savvy about law during the plague when we had to fight for basic rights against institutions. I can't emphasize strongly enough how important is the POA---have it handy and close. That includes all couples, not to mention common law couples and the GLTB commodities.
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