it's about equality!!!
- added December 27, 2007
- 5 responses
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- ollin
- added this
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- Sex and Love (4651)
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This government was based on the idea that church and state would be separate from each other. So please don't use religion to defend your stance against gay marriage. This nation is about granting people equal protection under the law. It's about equality!!!
The following rights are not granted to gay couples:
* 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 workers receive no Social Security survivor benefits ? resulting in an average annual income loss of $5,528 upon the death of a partner.
* 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 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.
* Retirement savings. While a married person can roll a deceased spouse?s 401(k) funds into an IRA without paying taxes, a gay or lesbian American who inherits a 401(k) can end up paying up to 70 percent of it in taxes and penalties.
* 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.
* Immigration rights. Bi-national families are commonly broken up or forced to leave the country to stay together. The reason: U.S. immigration law does not permit American citizens to petition for their same-sex partners to immigrate.
* Nursing homes. Married couples have a legal right to live together in nursing homes. Because they are not legal spouses, elderly gay or lesbian couples do not have the right to spend their last days living together in nursing homes.
* 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.
(and more...)
list taken from www.hrc.org
The following rights are not granted to gay couples:
* 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 workers receive no Social Security survivor benefits ? resulting in an average annual income loss of $5,528 upon the death of a partner.
* 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 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.
* Retirement savings. While a married person can roll a deceased spouse?s 401(k) funds into an IRA without paying taxes, a gay or lesbian American who inherits a 401(k) can end up paying up to 70 percent of it in taxes and penalties.
* 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.
* Immigration rights. Bi-national families are commonly broken up or forced to leave the country to stay together. The reason: U.S. immigration law does not permit American citizens to petition for their same-sex partners to immigrate.
* Nursing homes. Married couples have a legal right to live together in nursing homes. Because they are not legal spouses, elderly gay or lesbian couples do not have the right to spend their last days living together in nursing homes.
* 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.
(and more...)
list taken from www.hrc.org
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Exactly... the government tries to fool us though. They try to make us think that they support individual rights as well as "group" rights. However, they are really just trying to keep us all divided by putting us into different groups: sexual orientation, sex, religion, race, social status, etc. We are supposed to be free of being discriminated against based on one or more of these groups that we fall into. But in reality, by putting us into these groups they are making us label ourselves and opening up the gates for hate to flood through. It's not until we think of ourselves as individuals rather than members of a group that we can overcome the hatred and find some sort of equality. We are all humans, regardless of the color of our skin, gender, sexual preference, social/economical status. You are right, the church and state DO need to be kept separate. Marriage should be open to all and I can't believe that it has become such an issue.
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- amydanielle21
- 9 months ago
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Thanks for sticking up for the little guys. Everybody is equal, no matter what. If you turned us all inside out, we'd all look the same. So what's so different if we act different, look different, or are attracted to the same sex? Everyone has rights because everyone is human...no matter how inhumane some people might act.
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- key2destiny13
- 9 months ago
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How can you define love for a group of people or an individual.
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Thanks for that comment Al_St8te. I'm glad you support same sex marriage and the gay community. But I think most of us would have a problem with you calling it "an alternative lifestyle." I know you mean well, but there are some who believe that being gay is a choice. I strongly believe it is not. This is who I am, i was born this way, I'll always be this way. If it was a choice, I think most people would find it hard to choose to be potentially ostracized from their family, their friends, their community, maybe their country, and sometimes risk being bullied, beaten, and some countries brutally tortured or killed.
Please help the cause by not referring to us as "alternative lifestyle people." Recommended terms: the gay community or the LGBT community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trangender).
Thanks for being an advocate! =) -
clarification in my comment above:
by "some countries" i seem to be implying that it doesn't happen in the U.S. I was wrong by making that implication. The torture and killing of gay people happens here too.
RIP Lawrence King
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