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NY Times Article
May. 8th, 2009 12:54 pmThis article is an excellent description of one of the main reasons that I am so staunchly for marriage equality, and for the repeal of DOMA. I put J on my insurance last year for a few months when she changed job, as her new employer had a 90 day period of non-coverage (not untypical in the non-profit world). I can't think if she even needed to go to the doctor in that amount of time, but I don't regret it for a minute - and I'm very thankful to have had the ability to do so.
But it gave me a giant kick in the balls come tax time. And off my paycheck.
That is not equality. We a married couple, we have our marriage certificate, we should be able to do simple things such as this without having to pay a penalty.
And there are people out there, using this as an excuse to argue against marriage rights for LGBT citizens, saying that the states and government would lose money, having to provide things like social security benefits to widowers, and by losing those extra tax dollars that we pay, when we're able to put our partners on our insurance, and that insurance companies would lose money by converting individual policies to family policies (as opposed to the wingnuts who say that insurance companies would lose money because LGBT people get sick more often than regular people. Really? REALLY?!? and even if that bit of insanity were true, these are - generally - people who are already covered; it just costs more to get the policy). And that absolutely infuriates me.
As it is right now, Marriage is a special right, and the people arguing against marriage equality, for whatever the reason, want to keep us from having access to the simple rights and responsibilities that they take for granted. I've said before that it "doesn't matter to me what other states do" and that remains truer than ever. Obviously, I want equality to win out over hatred and ignorance, but until the Federal Government gets rid of DOMA, no matter how many states attain marriage equality - be it through the courts, through bills, or through one day, hopefully, a vote of the people - most of what we want in those rights will still be out of reach, because these things are through the Federal Government, and not State Governments.
Obama has said it's a State Issue. If he truly believes that, then the only real way to let it be a state issue is to let the federal government recognize the marriages from those states (or countries) that have granted marriage equality.
( Text of the article behind the cut. )
But it gave me a giant kick in the balls come tax time. And off my paycheck.
That is not equality. We a married couple, we have our marriage certificate, we should be able to do simple things such as this without having to pay a penalty.
And there are people out there, using this as an excuse to argue against marriage rights for LGBT citizens, saying that the states and government would lose money, having to provide things like social security benefits to widowers, and by losing those extra tax dollars that we pay, when we're able to put our partners on our insurance, and that insurance companies would lose money by converting individual policies to family policies (as opposed to the wingnuts who say that insurance companies would lose money because LGBT people get sick more often than regular people. Really? REALLY?!? and even if that bit of insanity were true, these are - generally - people who are already covered; it just costs more to get the policy). And that absolutely infuriates me.
As it is right now, Marriage is a special right, and the people arguing against marriage equality, for whatever the reason, want to keep us from having access to the simple rights and responsibilities that they take for granted. I've said before that it "doesn't matter to me what other states do" and that remains truer than ever. Obviously, I want equality to win out over hatred and ignorance, but until the Federal Government gets rid of DOMA, no matter how many states attain marriage equality - be it through the courts, through bills, or through one day, hopefully, a vote of the people - most of what we want in those rights will still be out of reach, because these things are through the Federal Government, and not State Governments.
Obama has said it's a State Issue. If he truly believes that, then the only real way to let it be a state issue is to let the federal government recognize the marriages from those states (or countries) that have granted marriage equality.
( Text of the article behind the cut. )