Legal Protection for Same-Sex Couples

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Legal Protection for Same-Sex Couples

Legal Protection for Same-Sex Couples

Has anyone considered a compromise solution to the issue of legalization of same-sex marriages?

As an attorney who has spent years conducting research on the advantages and disadvantages of marriage vs. living together, my viewpoint is a legal one, unobscured by religious or moral questions. Legal recognition of a status for these couples is called for, as is their current need for self-help in making the laws work for them while they are still in flux.

Traditionally and legally, marriage has been defined as a union of a man and woman. Changing that definition is at the heart of the problem. Marriage, throughout history, has had more to do with procreation than romantic love or legal convenience. This legal definition and the issue of procreation have both been used to bolster the denial of the right of same-sex marriage.

What same-sex couples need, and should have, is the ability to form a legal relationship. The semantics used to describe this relationship should not matter as much as the rights and duties arising from it. Denial of these rights is the discrimination same-sex couples decry. We should not forget that only during the last generation was the denial of the right of marriage to members of different races overturned. The law is meant to serve the needs of the members of society - including same-sex couples.

My compromise solution is a law which allows same-sex couples the right to a legal relationship without the hot-button title of "marriage." With a simple change of terms, these couples could become legal "domestic partners" which confer the same rights and duties of their state's marriage contract. Similar licensing statutes could be enacted, along with the inevitable relationship dissolution laws.

The marriage contract from any state comes with built-in advantages and disadvantages. Married couples are bestowed with automatic inheritance rights. They enjoy the right to sue for loss of consortium if a third party injures their spouse, denying them services and companionship. Because a married couples has rights, they cannot be denied hospital visitation or the right to make medical decisions for each other. Employers often offer medical coverage and benefits to spouses of employees. Why should same-sex couples be denied these benefits?

Couples who live together do have flexibility to create their own rights and duties vis-a-vis each other. A same-sex couple can execute wills, written cohabitation agreements, durable powers of attorney for health care (giving a partner the right to hospital visitation and the right to make medical decisions in the event of an emergency) and, with careful financial awareness, create many of the advantages of marriage.

The question of medical insurance and benefits should be balanced against the "marriage penalty tax," which still exists.

The denial of the choice to same-sex couples, however, is the true discrimination. Same-sex couples should have the option of forming a legal relationship under the law, no matter what title it is given.

About The Author

Johnette Duff is the author of The Spousal Equivalent Handbook: a legal and financial guide to living together, The Marriage Handbook: a legal and financial guide to your spousal rights, and Love After 50: the complete legal and financial guide. Nationally, she has appeared on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and in The Wall Street Journal, Self, Smart Money, New Woman and Modern Maturity promoting information on love and the law. Ms. Duff has recently opened a web site titled, love and the law.

info@loveandthelaw.com

In The News:

Will sex education help school children? - Zambia Daily Mail (blog)

Zambia Daily Mail (blog)

Will sex education help school children?
Zambia Daily Mail (blog)
The ugly truth has prompted Ministry of Education, UNESCO and other stakeholders to develop a comprehensive sexuality education framework that will be infused into the school curriculum. The new curriculum is coming into effect in 2014, and only pupils ...

'Sexuality education' for 5-year-olds is 'not about sex at all', NZ Planned ... - Lifesite

Lifesite

'Sexuality education' for 5-year-olds is 'not about sex at all', NZ Planned ...
Lifesite
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, November 7, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The New Zealand Family Planning Association is trying to save face after public backlash over the Association's plan to release a sexuality resource for children aged 5 to 8 later this month.
If College Students Can't Say What 'Consent' Is, Then We...The New Republic

all 2 news articles »

UPDATED:Commentators accuse PEI government of sexualizing children - Journal Pioneer

UPDATED:Commentators accuse PEI government of sexualizing children
Journal Pioneer
CHARLOTTETOWN – Prince Edward Island's new parental guide to childhood sexual behaviour is being decried by some commentators as a “destructive” document that promotes pedophilia. Children's Sexual Behaviors: A Parent's Guide ... In a follow-up ...

and more »

Texas School District Sex Education Compares Non-Virgins To Chewed Gum - Huffington Post

Texas School District Sex Education Compares Non-Virgins To Chewed Gum
Huffington Post
Sexual health advocate Katie Gustainis Vela recently obtained what appears to be an instructional worksheet meant for teachers who lecture on sex ed. Vela tweeted a photo of the worksheet -- which likens people who have premarital sex to pieces of ...

and more »

sex ed guidelines start at Year 1 - New Zealand Herald

sex ed guidelines start at Year 1
New Zealand Herald
Teachers of students as young as 5 will soon have access to new sexuality education guidelines addressing issues such as identity and relationships. The guidelines commissioned by Family Planning are designed to help teachers of students in Years 1 to ...

and more »

UF not responsible for drop in sexual health rankings - The Independent Florida Alligator

UF not responsible for drop in sexual health rankings
The Independent Florida Alligator
“Stanger-Hall and Hall discovered that the states with the lowest teen pregnancy rates institute 'abstinence-plus' sex education, ensuring that abstinence and information about sexual health and contraceptives are both covered,” PolicyMic stated.

Quality sex education vital for combatting rape culture - Scoop.co.nz (press release)

Quality sex education vital for combatting rape culture
Scoop.co.nz (press release)
To address this issue, Ms Walker has created a sex education programme called GET A GRIP teenz which aims to assist parents and schools to partner together to talk about sex in a healthy way and address abusive sexual behaviour head on, helping ...

and more »

Legal Protection for Same-Sex Couples

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