Gay marrige?

Well, the way I see it, marriage = rights guaranteed by the government.

No marriage, no rights.

 

There are rights that you cannot have if you are in a relationship but not married.

 

Why were black people complaining? There was nothing stopping them from getting on the bus, as long as they sat in the back and didn't speak to the white people. What was the problem?

(Yes I'm being sarcastic)

 

Yup.

Things that come to mind are:

• Wills (You're partner's family can contest their will even if they leave everything to you coz..guess what..YOU WEREN'T MARRIED!)
• Hospital visiting rights etc.
• I'm not sure if it can also affect your some tax/mortgage thingies.
• And then of course there's issues regarding children.

That's all I can think of. But ye, you can see how you get some pretty important rights in a legal marriage. It's not about just being equal.

 

Yes, of course it's important. I'm not sure how you could even ask this. It almost seems like a trollish thing to post on here tbh.

Besides, there are rights only afforded to married couples. Currently, LGBT couples are denied these rights.

Here are some of the rights only given to married couples:

Survivor's benefits
making medical decisions on your spouse's behalf (ie, if your spouse is incapicated)
making funeral arrangements for your spouse
Social Security pension

So yeah, our right to marry is pretty important. I for one won't accept being treated like a second class citizen and neither should you. We deserve more than that.

 

spellbound, I don't think you were rude. You had a question, so you asked!
As everyone above explained, living together by itself does not guarantee legal rights and protections that marriage does. But I think there are other non-legal benefits of marriage.
One of them is social acceptance and increase in tolerance towards gay people. Most people can relate to the concept of marriage and seeing gay people married, they can at some level connect to them. Which I think makes us less of a unknown entity that is often mistrusted/feared.

 

Darn it, Ridiculous. I was just about to put on my ranting cap before I saw the small disclosure. Wretched fine print -_-"

 

Good point!

For me, I don't really care about the idea of marriage so much. I just want gay marriage to be legalized because it's an issue of equality to me. To say that these loving couples who have been together for 10, 20, 30 years and who share their lives together are not allowed to be recognized as a couple is just not right. And, it's also the issue of all the legal rights or "benefits" that come along with being legally married. Without the marriage title, gay couples basically have no right and no say in each other's business, whether it comes to money, health issues, etc. Gay couples aren't even allowed to visit their partners in the hospital because of the "family only" policy. And I've heard stories of couples who could not inherit their partner's possessions after death because they were not married or whatever. In short, there's a whole lot of legal implications that come with the institution of marriage. If not for that, I wouldn't care for the LGBT community to become assimilated into such a messed up institution.

On a side note, have you heard the joke:

What's the #1 cause of divorce?


Marriage.


:lol:

 

Okay. How's this? Your girlfriend is from another country. You can't get a visa for her to stay, and she gets deported. Because you're a dyke.

Or how about this? Your girlfriend gets into a car crash. You want to visit her at the hospital. You're told you need a power of attorney. You can't get one from her because she's in a coma. She dies a few days later. And you couldn't be at her bedside. Because you're a dyke.

 

I think this gives a good reason why gay marriage is so important:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR9gyloyOjM&list=FLtnNnvB8wBTzz23Gw0Yad7g&index=26&feature=plpp_video[/youtube]
Just one example

 

Ugh... Knowing how oppressed we are pisses me off

But at least this lovely community exists. It helps me cope with the ugly realities of this unjust world.

 

Right now, DOMA defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Because of that, same-sex couples don't have certain federal benefits.

I saw a news article last month about a lesbian couple, one of which passed away. When the living partner inherited her deceased partner's house, she had to pay a federal estate tax of $363,000. Had they been a heterosexual couple, she wouldn't have to deal with such a financial burden. However, she won the court case and didn't have to pay. But this situation demonstrates the financial ramifications of DOMA for same-sex couples :/ It's absolutely unfair and unjust. I hope the Respect for Marriage Act, which repeals DOMA, will pass in Congress.

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.co...o-the-supreme-court/politics/2012/07/16/43844

 

DOMA should be renamed AOMA. Attack on Marriage Act.

 

My point wasn't to make everyone sad. :dry:

I was just trying to point out to the OP that, yes, marriage kind of is a big deal.

 

For me it isn't about the piece of paper that says I am married because I already know i am in love I don't need it written down. However, the rights afforded to married couples are just that...rights, not privleges, and since they are then we should have equal rights...as someone mention the African-American fought for theirs and Women fought for theirs...

 

Yep, we deserve marriage equality. I'd like to point out that we're not fighting for "gay marriage", we're fighting for marriage equality. That's an important point to this fight. We don't want anything but equal marriage rights, not a different type of marriage called gay, simply to be included in what already exists. I implore all of you to use the right words when talking about this. Many people have mixed feelings about gay people, but most people agree with equality.

Many couples have tried their best (at great cost to themselves) to get all the legal documents to protect their relationship, but without marriage, their best attempts always fail. Just look to the Edie Windsor case.

Edie Windsor vs. DOMA May Be Best Chance To Strike Federal Gay Marriage Bar

Whether you want to get married or not, we should all support marriage equality.

 

you're right, it basically is. and the reason for getting "marriage" and that piece of paper is for the 1700 legal marriage rights denied to same-sex couples. ALSO, in my opinion when a same-sex couple can hold a marriage certificate it symbolizes the progressive movement of acceptance and tolerance towards gay people. it's like after so many struggles and so many to come, like adopt and donate blood, marriage just seems to be a symbolic step paving the way for homo to be the norm.