The Battle For Gay Equality

First off, I want to apologize for not posting on here since last Wednesday, I meant to write a short post to warn my readers that I was going to be out of town and would not have internet access where I was going. When I returned late Monday night, I did have the best of attentions to put up a post on Tuesday. But thanks to my infection in my mouth, I was in so much pain yesterday that I did not get a post up. Today I am going to post an argumentative paper I just wrote for my English Compassion course. The objective of the paper was to argue your side of a situation. I choose gay equality. Please let me know what you think.

The Battle For Gay Equality

Lately, you are unable to pick up a newspaper or watch the news without hearing about gay marriage. Although supporters for a ban on gay marriage believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, same-sex partners deserve the same benefits as their straight counter-parts. People throw the word marriage around like it is worth it’s weight in gold, but marriage is really only a word. What the Gay and Lesbian community is fighting for is to stop being treated like second class citizens. Most of our past president’s have only touched gay equality when it mattered to them yet the Obama Administration is finally coming out against the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA). Most people think that Gay equality is only about "marriage" but it is about being able receive the federal benefits that straight people receive.

Gay rights has always been a low priority in politics. For most candidates, they only throw this issue out during an election year only, yet advocates for the gay rights movement are stating cautiously that it seems obvious to most people that denying same-sex married couples the same federal protection then those of opposite-sex married couples is discrimination, yet having the Obama Administration admitting that DOMA is wrong is a promising sign(1). The Obama Administration recently came out and said that once again it will do everything in it's power to overturn DOMA. If the President is starting to make strives toward equality for everyone shouldn't we?

Another side effect of not having gay equality is that partners of gay or lesbian people cannot honor the wishes of their partner when something tragic happens. There is no guarantee that the partner’s would be able to stay by their lover’s side to provide comfort during hospital stays. Even if two gay men or two lesbian woman have been together for 20 years, they do not have legal rights to make any hospital decisions or even visitation rights to the person they spent their life with. .

Finally, even though gay or lesbian people are loving partners whom are committed to each other doesn’t mean they get the same federal benefits as those who are straight. Since gay and lesbian couples can not file their taxes jointly, they tend to pay more in taxes then their straight counterparts. Dean Hara, widower of the former congressman Gerry Studds was denied any of Studds’s federal pension. On Advicote.com Dean Hara was quoted saying, “I am not being treated the same as any other surviving spouse of any other federal employee or public servant who has served this country for 27 years, when I have been legally married,” (2). How can our government deny federal rights to all people regardless of sexual orientation.

Gay equality is making movements forward with the Obama administration talking about taking steps to over turning DOMA. Yet, until all people get the same federal benefits, the battle isn’t over.

MJ

1. Anonymous, 2009. United States: Still waiting; Gay-marriage laws. The Economist, Vol. 392, Iss 8645; pg 28. Retrieved August 23rd, 2009, from ProQuest database.

2. Garcia, M.(2009, March 4). Mass. Couples Sue for Federal Rights. Advocate.com Retrieved August 23rd, 2009, from http://current.com/1312m4c