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[Phoenix]

Now there's a bill in the House that would prevent most gay marriage cases from reaching the federal courts. Yeah, that'll work.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040715_90.html

They failed before they started when they said 'recognize gay marriages in another state' thus it becomes interstate and thusly a federal issue automagically and the US code already states that its between a man and a woman.

Such ridiculousness would only happen during an election year.

 

[teh_pwn]

This is hilarious.

Why the hell do people care what gays do? As long as it isn't in front of kids and they don't get tax benefits that families do, who cares?

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

This is hilarious.

Why the hell do people care what gays do? As long as it isn't in front of kids and they don't get tax benefits that families do, who cares?

Well, the legal benefits that marriage entails are a large part of the point.

 

[SteveMeister]

IMO I don't see the point of gay marriage but oh well, good news for the US gays.

Here's some stuff I saw posted on another forum about this:

10 Facts regarding Gay Marriage from information from the 2000 U.S. Census

1. There are an estimated 3,136,921 same-sex couples living in the United States
2. Same-sex couples live in 99.3% percent of all counties nationwide
3. Fifteen percent of same-sex couples live in rural settings
4. One out of three lesbian couples is raising children, one out of five gay male couples is raising children
5. Between 1 million and 9 million children are being raised by gay, lesbian, and bisexual parents in the United States today
6. At least one same-sex couple is raising children in 96% of all counties nationwide
7. The highest percentages of same-sex couples raising children live in the South. Among those with the highest percentages: Mississippi, South Dakota, and Utah
8. Nearly one in four same-sex couples includes a partner who is 55 years or older, and nearly one in five same-sex couples is composed of two people 55 years or older
9. More than one in 10 same-sex couples include a partner 65 years or older, and more than one in 10 same-sex couples is composed of two people 65 or older
10. The states with the highest numbers of same-sex senior couples are also the most popular for heterosexual senior couples: California, New York, and Florida

Why same-sex couples want to marry:

1. Hospital visitation—Same-sex (ss) couples can be denied the right to visit a sick or injured loved-one in the hospital. In January, Nick had to have an emergency appendectomy; it was quite scary. Luckily, the hospital (Hillcrest) gave us no problems allowing me access to him, however, I could make no decisions on his behalf, only his brother can.
2. Social Security benefits—ss couples (on average) lose $5,528 annually upon the death of a partner.
3. Immigration—U.S. citizens are not permitted to petition for their ss partner to immigrate.
4. Health Insurance—Some companies do provide health benefits to ss partners of their workers, however, the employee must pay federal income taxes on the value of the insurance
5. Estate taxes—Gay or lesbian taxpayers is forced to pay estate taxes on property inherited from a deceased partner; married couples do not pay this tax
6. Retirement savings—Married straight couples can role a deceased spouse’s 401K into an IRA without paying taxes, a gay or lesbian partner who inherits a 401K can end up paying 70% of it in taxes and penalties
7. Family leave—ss couples cannot take advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act should their partner become ill
8. Nursing homes—married couples have a legal right to live together in nursing homes, since ss couples are not married they do not have the right to live together in their last years
9. Home protection—laws protect married seniors from being forced to sell their homes to pay high nursing home bills, ss couples have no protection
10. Pensions—surviving partners of ss couples are excluded from their partner’s pension benefits

Why civil unions are not enough:

Couples eligible to marry may have their marriage performed in any state and have it recognized in every other state in the nation and every country in the world

Couples who are joined in a civil union have no guarantee that the protections granted them will travel to any other state. Moreover, couples in civil unions receive several state-level protections, but do not receive more than 1,100 federal benefits and protections of marriage that married couples automatically receive.


As for religious institutions:

Religious institutions are not required to perform marriage ceremonies or civil unions, whether that is for hetero- or homosexual couples. Churches can (and do) refuse to marry anyone.

What about the proposed Constitutional amendment?

The US Constitution has been amended only 17 times—in each instance (with the exception of Prohibition, which was repealed) it was to extend rights and liberties to Americans (repeal slavery, extend the right to vote for women and all races, etc), not limit them. The amendment under consideration would be the only one to single out one class of Americans for discrimination by ensuring ss couples would not be granted the equal protections that marriage brings to American families. It would also strip away the limited rights already afforded such as access to health insurance for domestic partners and their children.