by Barbara A. Black

Created on: September 27, 2010

Actually, the question should never be asked. Homosexuals are people, and the benefits of marriage should apply to ALL couples who have made a decision to set up a home and be a family. They haven't given up their citizenship, their schooling, their hopes and dreams, or any of the other "rights" that every person is born with, especially those born here in the United States. They have also, for the most part, not CHOSEN to be homosexual; they have, at some point in their lives, realized that it is their innate nature.

Homosexual couples are just as dedicated to their unions as heterosexual couples are. Of course, some homosexuals find it hard to remain celebate for long, just as heterosexuals do. The sexual urges do not "go away" or "disappear" just because one is homosexual. So what is that person supposed to do? The obvious answer is to choose a partner, who is also homosexually inclined. But most people, regardless of their sexual orientation, will soon wish for a permanent partner. That is where the trouble comes in.

In our society, same sex couples (which I prefer to use rather than the word homosexual) are more numerous than most people want to admit. They live in the same apartments, houses, or other domiciles. But they are not allowed to put their partners on their insurance, or have them as their dates for social occasions, etc. And they definitely are not to have children, either through artificial insemination or with the help of another same-sex couple who are of the opposite sex. Yet many do have children, again through one of the two choices already mentioned. And the children, raised by these couples, are just as apt to be bi-sexual as if they had been born and raised in the "normal" family! (After all, where do you think all the same-sex people came from, in the first place?)

So the same-sex couple should definitely be allowed, BY LAW, to have insurance on each other, and on their children. They should be allowed to have their partners with them when they are in the hospital, and the partners should be legally the one signing any papers that the "married couple" partner would have to sign. And when one of the partners dies, the other partner, as the husband or wife would be allowed to do, should be the one who is in charge of making ALL the decisions concerning the remains! That is only right and should never be in question; the two, together, had made a life for themselves (and any children), and they are the ones who have talked about what each one wants done. The dead person's birth family needs to honor those choices, and stand beside the one who is left, to show their support in the decisions made.

And the widow (or widower) of the one who died should also, BY LAW, receive all the benefits that the surviving spouse of heterosexual couples receive. That includes child support, the right to pursue a higher education if necessary or chosen, and even Social Security benefits. The marriage was a true marriage; it was not just a couple "shacking up" together!

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