Same Sex Marriage

Brilliance in Maryland!

On Wednesday, March 1st, 2006, in Annapolis at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify.

At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?"

Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

The room erupted into applause.....

Rights Currently Being Denied Us

It pains me when I hear that some gays say they don't care about the fight for same sex marriage. Some even go as far as being against same sex marriage because they say it would be "imitating heterosexual marriage". Why is the battle for Same Sex Marriage so important. Look at just some of the benefits currently being denied you and your life partner. And this is just a partial list. Passage of Same Sex Marriage laws would give you these and more rights.

• Access to Social Security after spouse's death.
• Access to health insurance through spouse's workplace.
• The right to custody of children after divorce or death of spouse.
• Visitation rights for non-biological children.
• Joint parenting rights, such as access to children's records.
• Bereavement leave after death of a spouse.
• Burial determination after the death of a spouse.
• Sick leave to care for spouse or non-biological child.
• Ability to live in neighborhoods deemed "families only".
• Access to insurance in spouse's workplace.
• Access to survivor benefits in case of emergency.
• Automatic inheritance of shared assets after spouse's death.
• Ability to file joint tax returns.
• Access to tax breaks for married couples.
• Assumption of spouse's pension after death.
• Automatic next-of-kin status for emergency medical decisions and hospital visitation status.
• Immigration and residency priority for spouses from other countries.
• Ability to invoke spousal privilege in a court of law.

Same Sex Marriage . . . it really does matter.

For more on this and how we stand with our local senators, check our our Politics page.