On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 5:44 PM, Cameron Childress <[email protected]>wrote:
> > On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote: > > Which then leads us to CamChi's point: why have ANY marriage > > I am confused as to what government has to do with a religious > concoction anywho. Maybe I am missing a history lesson here, but > isn't marriage a construct of the church? > > I guess The Man does have to get his taxes, doesn't he? > Well that's kind of the thing, or part of the thing. My wife, being *legally* married to me, gets health benefits as my spouse. My wife and I, as a *legally* married couple, file our taxes as a married couple, which (presumably) has a different outcome than if we filed separately. So there are two facets to this. One is the legal definition of a married couple versus two people living together and sharing a life. There are certain benefits to that. I believe that I heard some states will recognize partners, in the case of gay couples, and extend those same benefits. I'm not sure if it's all states, and I'm not sure if I'm even correct in that. But as far as the question of "should two people who share a life together be entitled to the same benefits"... the answer is absolutely yes. Ralph and Frank, who have been living together for 11 years and share bank accounts and the like should be entitled to every benefit that I receive after living together as a married couple with my wife. But that also becomes a gray area. My wife and I are, again, *legally* married. Should that union dissolve, we'd get a divorce and said benefits would end. She'd no longer get the benefit of health coverage from my employer,etc. In the case of Ralph and Frank, there's no *legal* beginning to that union, so there cannot be a *legal* end. So... how does ABC Health Company know whether or not Frank is legally entitled to coverage on Ralph's health plan? The marriage ceremony itself is a construct of the church moreso than the actual institution of marriage. The institution of marriage is a civil union. You don't have to get married in a church. You can get married at city hall. Gay couples do get married at churches. Those marriages just aren't recognized as legal civil unions. Therein lies the rub. Ralph tells his healthcare coverage company that Frank is his partner and they live together as spouses. The healthcare company can't really confirm that Frank and Ralph have lived together for 11 years (unless they're willing to spend time and money doing some investigative research). Whether or not a religious institution recognizes the marriage is almost irrelevant. The government needs to recognize (well, first it needs to allow) the civil union between two consenting adults. Whether it's a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. Every legal adult deserves to be treated in the same way, receiving the same benefits (and yes, the same penalties) as any other adult. Until every adult is given the right to partake in a civil union, a recognized civil union, then voting, tax-paying citizens of the United States are being discriminated against. I get that the thought of a man with a man or a woman with a woman doesn't appeal to everybody. But that's kind of irrelevant. My Aunt Gladys is pretty unappealing. You could fix her up with George Clooney and the thought of the two of them together would still be unappealing. Doesn't change the right that Aunt Gladys and George have the unalienable right to get married and have hot monkey sex 8 nights a week. Same goes for Ralph and Frank. In my opinion, of course :) -- I have failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my life. I love my wife. And I wish you my kind of success. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:294541 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
