Gay couples in committed relationships and with adopted and natural born children face family crisis such as this every day. However, they are left powerless to make medical decisions or to maintain their lifestyle through benefits and aid should the worst happen.
What's the Issue?
When most people formulate an opinion over gay marriage, the issue centers around a comfort level with the sexual relationship between same gender loving people. Being an lgbt person is more than what happens behind closed doors. There are key factors of gay relationships that are often not considered or misunderstood.
Do Gay Couples Want More Rights Than Others?
Gay couples seek the same life-long commitments and families that others desire. However, same gender loving people are left without protection for their loved ones, such as the authority to make medical decisions, handle insurance claims, supervise estate planning, receive relief aid and other very important benefits of marriage. These basic needs are no more and no less than what others have come to expect in times of crisis; givens written in the small print of our institution of marriage that most consider a natural right, not something that requires additional consideration.
What Does This Mean for Gays?
A gay partner of ten years must sit and watch his partner on life support without the legal right to make a decision on his survival. A lesbian resident of Florida who loses her partner in a tragedy also faces losing the children they raised together because she could never legally adopt them. A gay partner cannot receive disaster relief assistance for his missing partner because they have no legal ties; just as with the partners of many gay 9/11 victims who did not meet the eligibility requirements for federal aid not due to inadequate proof of relationship or financial ties, but because there was no legal basis for their commitment.
Under the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex couples cannot receive assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the overseers of disaster recovery on American soil. State level and Social Security benefits are only allocated to legally defined married couples as well, which does not include gays.
When gay advocates speak of gay rights, they speak of equal rights not special rights. Gay couples, who live without the legal protection of gay marriage or gay adoption (a move that the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, North American Council on Adoptable Children and other organizations support), want the comfort and ability to make important decisions and protect their families in times of crisis. A time when families are strengthened through love and support even in the wake of tragedy.
Here are 10 ways you can support gay rights and help gay victims of tragedy protect their families.
Support Disaster Relief:
More on Gay Marriage and Gay Adoption:
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