Gay Marriage
Liberty and Justice for All?
Naturally everyone believes that they deserve the rights they are granted by the government. Paying taxes to the country, serving the community and abiding by the law should be enough to be afforded the rights of an American. However, every day there are people being denied their basic American rights. Gay, and lesbian couples are consistently denied rights that most Americans don’t even appreciate. Many gay and lesbian couples are denied the right to marry despite the freedoms the great American nation was founded upon. They are constantly being looked over and held at an unfair disadvantages, only because of their sexual orientation. Gay and lesbian couples are still made up of two, real, feeling people, who should be afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples. An issue gay and lesbian couples that are denied the right to marry is their inability to claim their partner’s social security after he or she has passed. This problem does not occur to heterosexual beings after the death of their spouse. The Human Rights Campaign, which work to obtain equal rights for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people, supports the efforts to gain survivor benefits for domesticated partners. Because of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), insurance plans are not required to provide a qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA) or a qualified pre-retirement survivor annuity (QPSA) to a participant with a same-sex domestic partner or spouse. The Human Right Campaign made a statement, “The equity issue here is not the total amount of the benefit, but rather the right of a participant to elect survivor benefits for his or her surviving same-sex partner or spouse.” They do not necessarily care about the money as much as the principle of the matter. Presently, there are no programs that give homosexuals survivor benefits like the ones that are provided for heterosexuals couples, divorced or married. Gay and lesbian couples are
Naturally everyone believes that they deserve the rights they are granted by the government. Paying taxes to the country, serving the community and abiding by the law should be enough to be afforded the rights of an American. However, every day there are people being denied their basic American rights. Gay, and lesbian couples are consistently denied rights that most Americans don’t even appreciate. Many gay and lesbian couples are denied the right to marry despite the freedoms the great American nation was founded upon. They are constantly being looked over and held at an unfair disadvantages, only because of their sexual orientation. Gay and lesbian couples are still made up of two, real, feeling people, who should be afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples. An issue gay and lesbian couples that are denied the right to marry is their inability to claim their partner’s social security after he or she has passed. This problem does not occur to heterosexual beings after the death of their spouse. The Human Rights Campaign, which work to obtain equal rights for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people, supports the efforts to gain survivor benefits for domesticated partners. Because of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), insurance plans are not required to provide a qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA) or a qualified pre-retirement survivor annuity (QPSA) to a participant with a same-sex domestic partner or spouse. The Human Right Campaign made a statement, “The equity issue here is not the total amount of the benefit, but rather the right of a participant to elect survivor benefits for his or her surviving same-sex partner or spouse.” They do not necessarily care about the money as much as the principle of the matter. Presently, there are no programs that give homosexuals survivor benefits like the ones that are provided for heterosexuals couples, divorced or married. Gay and lesbian couples are