dcnovice
Posts: 37282
Joined: 8/2/2006 Status: offline
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(Bias alert: I am gay myself.) I would definitely vote for gay marriage. Others have pointed out the myriad practical/legal benefits that marriage confers. Some of these can be duplicated through careful lawyering, but doing so is burdensome and far from foolproof. Permit me an example from my own family. When my aunt died, the doctor asked who was the next of kin. My aunt's longtime partner introduced herself. "No," said the doctor, "I need a member of the family." My aunt's partner pointed out that she had durable power of attorney. "That died when the patient did," the doctor replied. "Now really, who's a relative?" It's hard to imagine that same scene unfolding if my aunt had been married to a man, or if her partner had been a legal spouse. This did not happen, by the way, in some shadowed, homophobic past. It happened in 2006. Gay marriage is not just about wills and hospital visits. It is about dignity. It's about legal recognition as "a member of the family." * * * Some posters have questioned whether the state should be in the business of recognizing/dignifying relationships. I can see where they're coming from, but for today, states do recognize relationships. Given that, I'd like to see them recognize gay ones as well.
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No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up. JANE WAGNER, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
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