The issue of same-sex marriage has been in the forefront of the American conscience now for several years, due in large part to a series of landmark decisions made by the Supreme Court of the United States, or SCOTUS.
The most recent of those decisions, Obergefell v. Hodges, finally settled the issue once and for all by declaring the right to marry to be a “fundamental right.” As such, the individual states lack the legal authority to pass legislation that bans same-sex marriage.
For those not directly involved in the debate the underlying question may be “Why do gay and lesbian couples want to get married?”
As you may well imagine, the answer to that question is complex and typically has both a personal and practical aspect.
From a personal perspective, gay and lesbians couples want to get married for the same reasons heterosexual choose to marry – to solidify their love for each other and to make a lifelong commitment to each other. Delving into the emotional aspects of love and marriage, however, isn’t the best way to answer the question though.
There is a much simpler and easier to understand way to answer the question that involves looking at the legal and practical benefits of marriage.
Although most people do not enter into marriage in the hope of gaining anything practical or financial out of the union, the reality is that in the United States there are numerous practical benefits that come with marriage.
In fact, experts estimated that same-sex couples were denied over 1,000 federal benefits by not being allowed to legally marry prior to the recent SCOTUS decision. Some of these benefits are things that heterosexual married couples are aware of and have always taken for granted, such as the tax benefits of being able to file as “married” every year on their federal tax return. Retirement and pension benefits are also often only available to a legal spouse as are things such as Social Security and VA benefits. Add to that the health insurance benefits that are often available to the spouse of someone who has employer sponsored health insurance and you begin to see just a few of the benefits to being legally married in the U.S.
Finally, there are the “next-of-kin” benefits that only a legal spouse has. If you are married and your spouse is suddenly involved in a catastrophic accident that renders him/her incapacitated, your spouse’s physician will legally turn to you to make life and death decisions because you are legally married to the patient. Should the worst happen, and your spouse doesn’t make it, you will at least be afforded the right to make funeral and burial arrangements for your spouse and you will, by law, inherit from his/her estate – again, because you are legally married. A same-sex partner, without the right to legally marry, would have to sit by and watch someone else make those life and death decisions as well as the funeral and burial arrangements only to be left with nothing from his/her partner’s estate unless the family honored the relationship between the couple.
If you have additional questions about same-sex marriage, contact the experienced Florida discrimination law attorneys at Celler Legal, P.A. by calling 954-716-8601 to schedule your appointment.