Roe vs. Wade.....

[flowerseverywhere]

It's definitely "easier" to be married than to construct your own partnership through contracts and other such things. It's very much still a "Whites Only" drinking fountain separate-but-not-equal situation in our society.

So true. And if your world consists of seeing no hate and prejudice you are lucky. I live in Florida. There are many many people who identify as Christian republicans (they still have trump bumper stickers, signs and flags) who openly speak derisively about non whites, gays and so on. And treat them poorly. I am pretty dark skinned due to African and Native American ancestors but when I pass a black man on the street he will most likely cast his eyes down.
Of course when there was a Trump parade a white old guy screamed "white power" at some peaceful anti trump protesters standing at the side of the road. the national news gleefully broadcast it.

Another woman who was ecstatic about the total abortion ban replied when I asked her who would take care of all the unwanted babies, " well the white ones will be adopted".

There does come a time when being married vs living together can be a disadvantage. I know some older couples who remain unmarried so they can maximize medical, pension type benefits they will lose if they remarry. But by and large being a white, married heterosexual middle class couple puts you in a special class of preferential treatment.

[JaneV2.0]

I think we (Washington) still have a domestic partnership law that covers the senior/SS problem. As I noted earlier, there's a strong legal advantage to actual marriage. I don't know how anyone can advocate the "separate but equal" approach with a straight face.(Pun unintended.)

[Teacher Terry]

If gay people can’t marry there’s no equality.

[ApatheticNoMore]

There are advantages to being married. That occasionally in rare circumstances outweigh the disadvantages to being married

[JaneV2.0]

There are advantages to being married. That occasionally in rare circumstances outweigh the disadvantages to being married

The important thing is that you have a choice. Clearly, the disadvantages swayed me.

[jp1]

Back when gay marriage was only a thing in a few states one of my insurance clients was a solo lawyer whose main practice was selling what she called a ‘gay package’. Basically for a flat fee of like $3,000 a couple could buy all the various documents that bae mentions to create as close to the equivalent of marriage. But that still was a second class citizen arrangement since she couldn’t put into existence documents that mimicked inheritance laws or social security survivor benefits etc.

Thinking about unintended consequences generally I wonder how she transitioned her practice once her potential client base no longer needed her services. If I recall correctly she had streamlined the process and had enough paralegals(this was actually an issue I had to deal with since lawyers malpractice insurance underwriters don’t like it when too much of the work is done by non lawyers) that she could bring in about $500,000/year.

[bae]

Back when gay marriage was only a thing in a few states one of my insurance clients was a solo lawyer whose main practice was selling what she called a ‘gay package’.

My Dad and his husband were together 44 years. During much of that time, gay marriage was not legal. Or not legal in all states. They had all sorts of complex plans for dealing with their pensions/social security after retirement, to deal with the problems associated with one of them dying before the other, potentially leaving the other destitute.

The average heterosexual marriage in the USA lasts ~8 years...

[jp1]

Aside from the straw man argument of ‘the federal government shouldn’t be giving benefits to people for being married’ (since the federal government DOES in fact give those benefits and isn’t likely to rescind them in any of our lifetimes since the activist hacks on the Supreme Court presumably are fine with them) I wonder how the anti marriage equality crowd justifies the obvious second tier status for same sex couples that would exist if the obgerfell decision gets overturned.

[jp1]

By the way, just out of curiosity, are you married to your significant other? I know you refer to him often but always as your SO, or maybe you've mentioned your official status in the past and I've just missed it.

So are you going to start asking the pro-choice women on this forum questions like ‘I suspect that you are of an age to have gone through menopause so the abortion issue won’t affect you directly. Am I mistaken?’

[gimmethesimplelife]

If gay people can’t marry there’s no equality.

Thank You. Rob