the happy chica has an entry today (11/6/03) detailing the prez candidates' positions on gay marriage. or whatever we're supposed to call it. some few of the candidates are okay with, apparently, everything. some support civil unions, or partnership benefits, but don't support gay marriage. one in particular thinks all homosexual people should be packed into missile tubes and dropped in the middle of the night over "axis of evil" countries.
what i want to know is this: what, exactly, are we talking about here? what is the difference between civil unions, and partnership benefits, and marriages? why should candidates for government office have any position whatsoever on marriage, if by marriage we mean religious ceremonies in sectarian houses of worship performed by religious clergy of whatever stripe? and if that's not what we're talking about, what are we discussing? as a lesbian who has been in a relationship for 22 years, i'd love to be able to have access to the civil/legal benefits (tax, health insurance, medical visitation/permissions, survivorship, etc.) of what is generally known as "marriage." these, i take it, are the "partnership benefits" that "civil unions" would grant?
i have no desire at all, however, to be "married." i really don't see why anyone has, straight, gay, or otherwise. married by the church or by the state...all i can say is: not me. this seems to be an unpopular position in the GLBT community right now. marriage has always appeared to me as an antique institution from the days when women were considered property whose ownership passed from one man to another, as symbolized in the changing of patronymic to husband's last name, at least in cultures of anglo-saxon descent. women no longer bring dowries of land, money, cattle to their marriages, but all the symbolism of the marriage ceremony still shouts "property transfer."
2 comments:
You're soooo kewl girl!!
Marriage and Civil Unions are just lables to satisfy the Fundies. They're the same thing. The give a legal standing to the union of two people in the eyes of the state.
Partnership benefits are simply all those rights that married couples get that gay couples don't, such as combined health benefits, shared retirement benefits, the right of a survivor to keep the children if the spouse is killed, etc.
and while we're on the subject of marriage, why does our government favor marrieds as opposed to singles? why are they given tax breaks for example, when singles are faced with the same financial challenges? why is being married still considered a better option than singlehood?
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