Clean Up of Terminology

I listened to my boys, all three, last night and enjoyed the sounds of Clayton making them and himself giggle during bath time. Never in my life has there been a sweeter sound than our children’s laughter as they enjoy the simple task of bath time. While I was listening to the sounds of laughter in my house I was reading the events of the day at the US Supreme Court. A recent tragedy to a close friend of mine reminded me why the briefs this great country is reviewing are so important to me and many other people who want to protect, be responsible for, and just plain love another person. We are all familiar with the many benefits marriage can bring to a couple but I am wanting to focus on the not so widely known benefits and why they are important to the LGTQ community.

·         Federal Civilian and Military Service Benefits

o   Extends benefits to the spouses of the service men and woman who sacrifice their lives every day for our freedoms

o   Includes health insurance, survivor benefits, priority for receipt of final paycheck, insurance benefits if a beneficiary is not designated, unpaid leave to care for a spouse with serious medical issues, commissary privileges, and transitional services for spouses of employees leaving the military.

·         Private Employee Benefits Regulation

o   Continuation of health benefits after employee’s death

o   FMLA, Family Medical Leave Act, allowing employees 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a spouse

o   Spousal access to pension

o   Black lung disease benefits for coal miners

o   Death and disability benefits for harbor and longshore workers

o   Railroad pension plans

o   Recovery for employee injury  due to railroad negligence

·         Federal Natural Resources

o   Extend life estates of individuals and their spouses owning homes on property which the government has purchased for national parks, monuments, battlefields, and other federal lands.

o   Determining property ownership eligibility for government leases of irrigation water and mineral rights.

·         Trade, Commerce, and Intellectual Property

o   Joint filing for bankruptcy protection (Saves on filing fees)

o   Survival of alimony payments after bankruptcy

o   Limitation of mortgage “due-on-sale” provisions in cases of sale between spouses

o   Surviving rights of copyrighted work

·         Immigration

o   preferred immigration consideration

·         Indians

o   Eligibility for Indian Health Services

 

Finally I want to look at the terminology related to marriage. The word marriage means many different things to many different people. Often when we thing of getting married many of us thing about a wedding in a church or being orchestrated by clergy. In today’s society this is not always the case. There are many couples that are now opting to have a close friend or family member conduct the ceremony and this is legal in many US states. Another option couples are using is to have their friend become “ordained” using an online site through a church such as The Universal Life Church.  In these cases the couples are simply getting married. The ceremonies that are performed in churches are holy matrimony due to a member of clergy is performing the ceremony and is usually done in the church of the couple. Same-sex couples are not asking to have the ceremony of holy matrimony performed in your church especially if that is against your core beliefs. What same-sex couples are asking for is the civil right to have a marriage performed in order to gain the many benefits (local, state, and federal) that so many other Americans already enjoy.

I have not discussed civil unions because civil unions are not the same and separate but equal does not work. This has been tested time and again throughout history. The above benefits are by far not a listing of all the benefits that married individuals already benefit from, usually unknowingly, but it is a start on the benefits many people are not aware of. In our family we have around ten legal documents to ensure the other will be consulted for medical decisions, making financial decisions, and to receive any funds that are not held jointly after death. As you can imagine we constantly have to ensure these documents are up to date which costs money with any alteration but would no longer be needed in some cases if we just had a simple piece of paper, a marriage certificate. I hope that this article has helped those who are against same-sex marriage understand that we are not after the right to be married in your religious institution but the right to ensure our loved ones are protected.