by Jim Barton on Friday, October 14, 2011 at 9:15pm
The Texas Movement for Marriage organized several marches in Texas cities 10/14/11 to demand marriage equality for lesbians and gays. Getting married is not the issue. Lesbians and gays can go to a number of states or countries to have their union legally recognized or just live as they wish without state sanction or recognition. The issue is deprivation of basic rights routinely granted straight couples. In other words, this is a human rights, not a sexual orientation issue.
One of the principle roadblocks seems to be the Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Clinton in 1996, commonly called DOMA. The act gives legal recognition only to marriage between "one man and one woman," effectively depriving gay couples basic rights and privileges most of us take for granted, such as:
* The right to make decisions on a partner's behalf in a medical emergency.
* The right to petition for same-sex partners to immigrate.
* The right to assume parenting rights and responsibilities when children are brought into a family through birth, adoption, surrogacy or other means. In Texas, there is no law providing a noncustodial, nonbiological or nonadoptive parent's right to visit a child - or responsibility to provide financial support for that child - in the event of a breakup. There are over 17,000 children being raised by same sex couples in Texas.
* The right to share equitably all jointly held property and debt in the event of a breakup, since there are no laws that cover the dissolution of domestic partnerships.
* Family-related Social security benefits, income and estate tax benefits, disability benefits, family-related military and veterans benefits and other important benefits.
* The right to inherit property from a partner in the absence of a will.
* The right to purchase continued health coverage for a domestic partner after the loss of a job.
The group also wants the Texas Constitution adjusted to remove the ban of same sex marriage.
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My opposition to the "gay marriage" thing is the unattended consequences. This will be opening a "Pandora's box" because now polygamist will demand their rights, people who are into "animals" are going to want to marry their horses, dogs, & God knows what else.
ReplyDeleteIt will further erode the traditional family structure and will be devastating for society as a whole.
In the end IT STILL TAKES A MAN AND A WOMAN TO CREATE CHILDREN!!!!!
How ignorant, radical and discriminatory comment, everybody should have the same rights with their loved one, I am strictly heterosexual but I think it is very unfair that our laws prevent individuals from making their choices
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