As Same-Sex Marriage Becomes Legal, Some Choices May Be Lost (Gays: Be Careful What You Wish For!)

New York Times ^ | July 8, 2011 | Tara Siegel Bernard

[lbryce]

Now that same-sex marriage has been legalized in New York, at least a few large companies are requiring their employees to tie the knot if they want their partners to qualify for health insurance.

Should companies require gay employees to marry if they want health coverage for their same-sex partners?

Corning, I.B.M. and Raytheon all provide domestic partner benefits to employees with same-sex partners in states where they cannot marry. But now that they can legally wed in New York, five other states and the District of Columbia, they will be required to do so if they want their partner to be covered for a routine checkup or a root canal.

On the surface, this appears to put the couples on an even footing with heterosexual married couples. After all, this is precisely what they have been fighting for: being treated as a spouse. But some gay and lesbian advocates are arguing that the change may have come too soon: some couples may face complications, since their unions are not recognized by the federal government.

“Even with the complications, many people will want to get married for the reasons people want to get married,” said Ross D. Levi, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda. “But from our perspective, to hinge something as important as insurance for your family to what is still a complicated legal matter for same-sex couples doesn’t seem to be a fair thing to do.”

He said that there were a variety of reasons — legal, financial and personal — that companies should keep the domestic partnership option at least until gay marriage was recognized at the federal level. Legally speaking, getting married could create immigration issues or it could potentially muddy the process of adopting a child.

[Albion Wilde]

They want all the reward without any of the sacrifice, all the benefits without any of the responsibilities.

That's why they went gay in the first place. Reproductive fitness is too big a responsibility.

[longtermmemmory]

Homosexuals seperate too fast for any property claims. With a 1 year or less “marriage” with seperate jobs, bank accounts or lives then there is no money for the lawyers.

If lawyers had been smart they would have kept marriage as solid as possible to keep divorce expensive.

The ABA’s model law group is infested with feminists and homosexuals which sold out the law.