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Originally Posted by Antitrust32
it would be the same with gay marriage...
Gays are not looking to bust down church doors and rub our homosexuality in the face of the religious people out there.
We are just looking for equality. Its hard for gay couples, especially with children. God forbid something happens to your partner, then you dont know if you will be able to keep your child... or be in the hospital room with your partner if he/she is ill or injured.
We just want security in our relationships and equal rights!
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I agree. There are some renegade gays out there who absolutely want to prove a point. Of course. Just like there are some renegade Christians out there who want to strip all same-sex couples of ALL benefits, period (or God forbid, as we've seen, want to kill them altogether...though I guess that would kind of fix the benefits thing from the top down, right?!
).I have no problem with the premise listed above, because it's exactly how it is right now, and I am of the thinking that this is mostly a very effective scare tactic used by anti-gay folks to keep people in line, even though it's an almost entirely disingenuous argument.
A good way to get a quick feel of why it's so important, or why civil unions being equal down to the very last drop at the federal level is important, is to take a quick look at health insurance.
Do some quick research (not you Lori, since I assume you're somewhat versed on it). Let's say my company offers Domestic Partner benefits (they do). Take a quick look at the amount of money it will cost you to insure you and your opposite-sex spouse vs. what it will cost me to insure myself and my same-sex Domestic Partner. The premium paid out of my paycheck will be the same...but take a quick dive into figuring out how the deductions for him are taxed and how the contributions my employer makes to HIS premiums are taxed.
Insuring a partner isn't such a sweet sounding deal once you get to the nuts and bolts of how much more expensive it is to do, even if my employer offers it.
Hospital visitation, inheritance, etc -- all important. But putting it in purely monetary terms is usually a good way to start, since there is a very heavy emphasis on taxes and spending for lots of conservatives.
Talk about unfair taxation of someone's money.....I just think there's a lot more to it than people realize. You can't exactly draw that tax break up in a legal document with a partner, like you could visitation rights, etc.