[Vision2020] Domenstic Benefits?

[Art Deco]

Phil writes:

"So I guess I am wondering why it is that simply because two people make a choice to sleep together and live together in some sort of bonded relationship, those of us who have been there and done that and got the 
Tshirt, but are not to particularly wanting to do it again any time soon, are expected to pay higher taxes and spring for higher bills for insurance and the rest, simply because somebody else is having a wonderful time of 
matrimonial bliss."

Phil, I think that for many same sex couples, their relationship is more than "sleeping together and living together in some sort of bonded relationship."  In actual practice and feelings, it would be hard to describe these relationships in different terms from that of same sex marriage.  That is where "equal protection" and fairness comes in.

As a single person for a number of years, I received these employer provided benefits.  Divorced persons even with children received these benefits.  Many single gay, bisexual, and transgenedered people received the same benefits.  Of course, married persons also received these benefits, except more of them.

Why deny benefits to those that make a choice to share their lives, raise children, etc simply because they chose to do this with a member of the same sex? 

It is a question of fairness.  

Except for curiosity, couples' domestic arrangements and proclivities, regardless of the gender of the parents, seem not a matter we need be concerned about except where the partners' and/or children's health/welfare may be at stake.  This view is shared not only by "liberals" and some conservatives, but many libertarians also espouse views with the same practical consequences.


Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
deco at moscow.com





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Nisbet" <pcnisbet1 at hotmail.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 3:12 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Domenstic Benefits?


> There was a spirited discussion on spreading benefits about for gays and 
> lesbians and transgenders, etc.  Though it has dried up, I was wondering,
> 
> Why is there a benefit for people simple because they happen to be sharing 
> the same bedroom?
> 
> Don't get it wrong, I benefited from it back while I was married and before 
> I became a single dad, but now I am happily not married and intend to spend 
> the rest of my life in happy bachleorhood.
> 
> So I guess I am wondering why it is that simply because two people make a 
> choice to sleep together and live together in some sort of bonded 
> relationship, those of us who have been there and done that and got the 
> Tshirt, but are not to particularly wanting to do it again any time soon, 
> are expected to pay higher taxes and spring for higher bills for insurance 
> and the rest, simply because somebody else is having a wonderful time of 
> matrimonial bliss.
> 
> As long as we as a society chose to favor couples with tax breaks and 
> benefits, I do not see how all types of relationship are not granted special 
> privileges equally.
> 
> Those who suggest that marriage is one man and one woman and deserve 
> benefits are doing so based on the premise that this is about kids, the 
> having and raising of them being something that society needs to assist.  
> But there are one heck of a lot of single parents, people who do not have 
> two people raising children or two paychecks to cover the costs who are just 
> as deserving of assistance, but as singles are expected to shoulder the 
> burden for those who are not single.  And of course, lesbian and gay couples 
> can have households with kids as well.  Then you have childless couples, the 
> Double Income No Kids (DINKs), who never are going to have kids.
> 
> So if taking care of children is the key, why not attach the benefit to the 
> kids and not to the couples?  That means that DINKs do not get a benefit 
> simply because they are sleeping together, but that struggling single 
> parents see the same benefit as two parent households.
> 
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