Gay Marriage

The biggest social issue in the world today seems to be the gay marriage controversy. That is, should gay marriage be legalized and placed on an equal footing with heterosexual marriages.  Just the other day over 300,000 French citizens rallied protest the legalization of gay marriage. It is odd, given that France is a fairly liberal nation in regard to social behavior.  But then, some of the least likely places and people one would assume to be in favor or against gay major sometimes hold the opposite view. The issue is quite hard to categorize.

Since 2001 when the first nation to legalize gay marriage, The Netherlands,  made gay marriage legal there have been nine others to do the same. Six of those are European. Legislation to make gay marriage legal is also pending in eight nations, including Finland and Australia, and civil unions or some form of gay partnerships are legal in more than 20 countries. The U.S. has legalized gay marriage in several states but not nationwide, as  the constitution defines marriage as a state law province, and each state determines its own marriage rules. This may change with upcoming court case about states and the federal government denying entitlement benefits to same sex couples. If the court rules that no state or the federal government can deny entitlements such as the social security death benefit to same sex partners, gay marriage may be de facto instituted everywhere in the U.S.

The change in attitudes here about same sex couples being allowed tom marry has been an amazing one the past few years.  It has changed so fast. Just five years ago the vast majority of people in the U.S. did not favor legalization. Now the majority does. In this country there are numerous social and legal reasons why gay people should be allowed to marry. Here are a few of the legal ones.

* Health care- Legally married spouses are considered next of kin and thus are allowed to make critical health care decisions and have visitation rights. Also, unmarried partners are not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid and must pay taxes on health care coverage if they're lucky enough to be included on a family plan.
* Taxes- Unmarried couples are not permitted to file their tax returns jointly, and therefore are ineligible to take advantages of the many tax benefits of filing as a couple. They pay much higher tax rates as a result. Also, the transfer of personal property between unmarried couples causes bad tax consequences, which do not occur when the couple is legally wed.
* Death- unmarried couples suffer on the death of one.  The survivor is not eligible to draw on various social security and retirement benefits that married couples can.
* Immigration- Gay unmarried couples don't have the ability to claim U.S. residency at the same rate as married couples.
* Insurance- Unmarried couples cannot purchase joint homeowner's or auto insurance, automatically forcing them to pay higher rates that married couples do not have to pay. In a great number of cases, unmarried partners or their children are ineligible to be covered under family health insurance plans.
* Property- The rules that protect married couples in dividing property after a split do not apply to unmarried couples who own property together.
* Family Leave- Unmarried partners are not entitled to the rights extended by the Family Medical Leave Act. If a partner in a same sex relationship had a serious health issue where he or she needed taking care of, their spouse would not be permitted to take time off from work to do so. In effect, either they'd have to hire someone to do it or risk losing their job from taking too much time away from work.
* Inheritance- Partners in a legally unrecognized relationship do not automatically inherit property from a deceased partner without a will. They are also ineligible to receive the many inheritance rights afforded legal spouses.

So these things alone explain why gay people see gay marriage as an important civil rights issue. Unfortunately, for the sake of their cause, many people see it as a religious or moral issue. The mater will be settled by that divide between legal and moral views. In this country and other democratic ones it will be a question of whether religious or moral opposition will defeat the legal discrimination that is currently in place. I think the legal advocates will win the day and gay marriage will become a more accepted and common practice in many places around the world. It should be interesting to watch the debate.