Same sex marriage is more than just a symbolic issue.

[Nine]

Most of what I'm about to post is copied from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, but I don't think there's a copyright issue since this is what they're trying to promote as a nonprofit. The reason I'm posting it is that I think sometimes people forget or don't realize that same sex marriage issues are about a lot more than cake toppers and wedding rings. It's about real stuff that affects real people. There are financial and legal issues. People need to be educated about this stuff. So here goes:

Currently in the United States, same-sex couples in long-term, committed relationships pay higher taxes and are denied basic protections and rights granted to married straight couples. Among them:

Hospital visitation. Married couples have the automatic right to visit each other in the hospital and make medical decisions. Same-sex couples can be denied the right to visit a sick or injured
loved one in the hospital.

Social Security benefits. Married people receive Social Security payments upon the death of a spouse. Despite paying payroll taxes, gay and lesbian partners receive no Social Security survivor benefits — resulting in an average annual income loss of $5,528 upon the death of a partner.

Immigration. Americans in bi-national relationships are not permitted to petition for their same sex partners to immigrate. As a result, they are often forced to separate or move to another country.

Health insurance. Many public and private employers provide medical coverage to the spouses of their employees, but most employers do not provide coverage to the life partners of gay and lesbian employees. Gay and lesbian employees who do receive health coverage for their partners must pay federal income taxes on the value of the insurance.

Estate taxes. A married person automatically inherits all the property of his or her deceased spouse without paying estate taxes. A gay or lesbian taxpayer is forced to pay estate taxes on property inherited from a deceased partner.

Family leave. Married workers are legally entitled to unpaid leave from their jobs to care for an ill spouse. Gay and lesbian workers are not entitled to family leave to care for their partners.

Nursing homes. Married couples have a legal right to live together in nursing homes. The rights of elderly gay or lesbian couples are an uneven patchwork of state laws.

Home protection. Laws protect married seniors from being forced to sell their homes to pay high nursing home bills; gay and lesbian seniors have no such protection.

Pensions. After the death of a worker, most pension plans pay survivor benefits only to a legal spouse of the participant. Gay and lesbian partners are excluded from such pension benefits.

...

“Can’t same-sex couples go to a lawyer to secure all the rights they need?”

Not by a long shot. When a gay or lesbian person gets seriously ill, there is no legal document that can make their partner eligible to take leave from work under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act to provide care — because that law applies only to married couples.

When gay or lesbian people grow old and in need of nursing home care, there is no legal document that can give them the right to Medicaid coverage without potentially causing their partner to be forced from their home — because the federal Medicaid law only permits married spouses to keep their home without becoming ineligible for benefits.

And when a gay or lesbian person dies, there is no legal document that can extend Social Security survivor benefits or the right to inherit a retirement plan without severe tax burdens that stem from being “unmarried” in the eyes of the law.

These are only a few examples of the critical protections that are granted through more than 1,100 federal laws that protect only married couples.

[BrownianNotion]

1. The people involved certainly aren't abstract symbols.

Much as we sometimes discuss politics in an abstract logical debate manner, there are real human beings and real lives involved here, not abstract philosophical symbols.

[Zenlitened]

3. "There are real human beings and real lives involved here..."

"... not just abstract philosophical symbols."

[Zenlitened]

2. Excellent post

Amazing as it seems at this late date... at least to those who've been working on the issue... people do indeed need educate themselves about marriage equality.

It matters, in so many ways.

[Nine]

4. my parents have been dealing with a lot of this stuff...

I think the fact that my parents have been dealing with a lot of this stuff - hospitals, nursing homes, etc. - makes it all the more real to me. I can't imagine how much more difficult it is for a same sex couple with fewer protections. They pay into the system but are denied from benefiting. That's what makes this a civil rights issue. It's not that their love is not being sanctioned, it's that they are being made to struggle and suffer in very real ways, especially economically.