Protections and Responsibilities of Marriage
There are over 1,100 protections and responsibilities (pdf) conferred on married couples by the federal government including access to health care, parenting and immigration rights, social security, veterans and survivor benefits, and transfer of property—and that doesn't include at least several hundred state and local laws, and employers, or the intangible security, dignity, and meaning that comes with marriage (pdf). Excluding committed same-sex couples from marriage means shutting out families from the safety and security created by these protections and responsibilities.
More...
Use the key resources below to learn more about the protections and responsibilities of marriage from which same-sex couples are excluded.
FROM EVAN WOLFSON:
Discrimination: Protections Denied to
Same-Sex Couples and Their Kids
From Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
Here are just some of the ways in which government's denying the freedom to marry punishes couples and families by depriving them of critical tangible as well as intangible protections and responsibilities in virtually every area of life.
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WHERE YOU CAN GO TO GET INVOLVED OR LEARN MORE:
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD): Marriage Info and Resources
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders quantifies the inequalities of excluding same-sex couples from marriage with an Overview of Protections, Benefits & Obligations of Marriage Under Massachusetts and Federal Law (pdf) and Protections, Benefits, and Responsibilities of Marriage (html)
Human Rights Campaign (HRC): Rights and Protections Denied Same-Sex Partners
The Human Rights Campaign presents an overview of the protections and responsibilities that come with marriage, along with a Detailed Overview of Federal Rights and Protections Granted to Married Couples.
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LEGISLATIVE STATUS OF OUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE U.S.:
There are currently no federal protections or responsibilities for gay and lesbian couples in the U.S. As such, it is important to keep track of these developments on a state-by-state basis. For updates about news in the states, click on a state below.
Legal recognition of same-sex
relationships by state
Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
The Human Rights Campaign lists each state's laws concerning
marriage/relationship recognition.
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THE NUMBERS: POLLING & STATISTICS:
Marriage provides 1,138 federal (and hundreds more state-level) protections and responsibilities, along with intangible benefits, to committed couples and their families. As long as marriage discrimination exists, same-sex couples and their families will not have access to these protections and responsibilities.
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PUBLICATIONS:
Lambda Legal’s Safety Scale: Respect for Same-Sex Couples’ Relationships
Thinking about traveling or moving to another state but wondering if they respect same-sex couples’ relationships? Check this scale to see where each state falls.
Defense of Marriage Act: An Update to Prior
Report
The U.S. government's General Accounting Office counts 1,138
federal statutory provisions classified to the United States
Code in which protectionas and responsibilities are
contingent on marital status or in which marital status is a
factor.
1324 reasons for marriage equality in New
York State (pdf)
The Pride Agenda Foundation and the New York City Bar
Association released a report documenting once and for all
the 1,324 New York state statutes and regulations that confer
a right or duty on married individuals in New York State —
most of which cannot be obtained by any other way but though
marriage.
Marriage Inequality in the State of
Maryland
Equality Maryland reviewed the Maryland Code for provisions
that discriminated against same-sex couples based on marital
status or the definition of family. Their review found more
than 425 provisions that disparately treat or unambiguously
discriminate against same-sex couples, who are unable to
marry.
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NEWS:
BLOG: Commentary: Inequality is Inconvenient
Terrance reflects on the answer to the question, "Are you married?" He writes, "there are a thousand different ways in which the answer to that question can impact our lives and our families, because we can’t legally marry, and the law can’t figure out what to do do with us, or how to define us, and hasn’t caught up with us as we forge ahead with our lives, making commitments to each other, and creating our families as we go. In those cases, we don’t often get the benefit of the doubt."
Gay Couple Loses Benefits With Move
A gay couple in a civil union from New Jersey moved to Idaho and found they lost many of the protections to which they had grown accustomed. The ACLU is helping them fight for health insurance.
Geography of taxes
Regardless of your political affiliation, one debate that usually inflames passions in the Washington Metro Area is whether it’s best to live in D.C, Virginia or Maryland. The question becomes more important if you are a same-sex couple. For example, let’s say you’ve saved $1 million in your retirement account, which you planned to leave to your partner at death. In which jurisdiction would the taxes be the lowest on your estate: D.C., Virginia or Maryland? If you said D.C., you’d be wrong. Maryland? No, guess again. The answer is Virginia. Yep, that’s right, the anti-gay Commonwealth.
MA Man Can't Get Passport Under Married Name
The U.S. State Department denied a passport to an international AIDS counselor using his new married name because the department refuses to recognize his marriage to a man in Massachusetts.
For My Wife
When a flash flood killed the renowned audiobook narrator Kate Fleming, her partner, Charlene Strong, endured firsthand the cruel consequences of having been unable to marry and secure legal protections. Now she is making a documentary to tell their story and change the law--in memory of the woman who was her wife in every way but legally.
Documentary "Freeheld'' nominated for Academy Award
"Freeheld,'' Cynthia Wade's documentary about terminally ill Ocean County police detective Laurel Hester's fight to transfer her pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree, was nominated this morning for an Academy Award for best documentary short subject.
Crossing the border
With New Hampshire joining the ranks of the civil union states this year, same-sex couples can now obtain all of the legal state benefits of marriage in four of the six New England states, either through civil unions in New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut or through marriage in Massachusetts. But what happens when you cross state lines? Legal professionals at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) answer some intricate questions dealing with civil unions and what they mean for couples, particularly dealing with parenting.
Moved with partner, woman denied
unemployment compensation
This case once again shows that same-sex couples in
long-term, committed relationships are not entitled to the
benefits that non-gay married couples enjoy. The benefit in
question is unemployment compensation, which a Pennsylvania
woman was denied after she quit her job last year to follow
her partner of eight years to Florida. The reason for the
denial: She is not married. Her rebuttal: She didn't have
that option.
Lambda Legal to File Lawsuit on Behalf of
Lesbian Homeowners in Federal Court Against Self-Described
'America's #1 Home Loan Lender'
Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of two women in
upstate New York whose mortgage company has threatened
foreclosure because it does not recognize their domestic
partnership status.
Suze Orman on finances and
marriage
When asked if she would like to be able to marry her partner,
Suze Orman replies, "Yes. Absolutely. Both of us have
millions of dollars in our name. It"s killing me that upon my
death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have
to estate taxes. Or vice versa."
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MULTIMEDIA:
A Marriage Equality Story
Fernando Lopez narrates his and his partner's story of
marriage discrimination when his partner had a medical
emergency.
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From Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
Here are just some of the ways in which government's denying the freedom to marry punishes couples and families by depriving them of critical tangible as well as intangible protections and responsibilities in virtually every area of life. (link)
The Human Rights Campaign presents an overview of the protections and responsibilities that come with marriage, along with a Detailed Overview of Federal Rights and Protections Granted to Married Couples
Empire State Pride Agenda
June 12, 2007
The Pride Agenda Foundation and the New York City Bar Association released a report documenting once and for all the 1,324 New York state statutes and regulations that confer a right or duty on married individuals in New York State's most of which cannot be obtained by any other way but though marriage.(pdf)
Equality Maryland
February 2006
Equality Maryland reviewed the Maryland Code for provisions that discriminated against same-sex couples based on marital status or the definition of family. Their review found more than 425 provisions that disparately treat or unambiguously discriminate against same-sex couples, who are unable to marry. (pdf link)
